Mishell's Surgery

We have been blessed to have a Shriner's Hospital for Children so close to us. Flor went there and now Mishell has been greatly served by going there and meeting with their expert doctors. Mishell has a small issue of having one leg longer than the other, which means that she has somewhat of an awkward gait. The orthopedic doctor we meet with at Shriners felt it was significant enough that we should operate and help give her a chance of leveling her legs out. So, Mishell went under the knife on March 29 to stop the growth in her right leg. Since she is about at the right age to hit puberty, she should have some growth in the coming years left that will give her left leg a chance to catch up. The surgery itself was outpatient, but sounded pretty painful. Essentially, they took a drill and drilled a hole through the growth plate in her knee in her right leg. The xray images show what looks just like a screw or drill bit going in there and the doctor described doing it 40 times on each side to get the hole all the way through. Poor Mishell! The surgery was done on an outpatient basis and the surgery itself was only about an hour and a half, but by the time it was all said and done, we were at the hospital most of the day.

My mom was kind enough to come stay with the other kids (it was spring break that week) so I took Mishell early in the morning. She couldn't eat or drink and she was really nervous about the surgery. The first doctor to come in was the anesthesiologist and he was incredible with her. He took a lot of time explaining everything to her and made sure that an interpreter came in to help her understand in Spanish. When he found out she was from Ecuador, he was so excited because he has been there 12 times on medical missions. He pulled up his scrub top to show Mishell that he was wearing an Ecuador t-shirt! She was so excited to see this. He could see that she was nervous, so he had them give her some medication to help relax her. That totally did the trick because the next thing we knew, she was out, even before the official anesthesia. 

After surgery, she took some time to recover and had to be able to eat before we left. Devin came and had lunch with us on his break. Mishell finally woke up enough to eat something and then took a test run on her walker before they discharged us. She was pretty sleepy the rest of the day. The next few days we took it easy and she recovered quite well and quickly. She only used her walker for a few days and then was weight bearing again (Until later--I'll get to that). 

Trying to get a good picture when you've had medication to make you loopy does not go well...

Trying to stay awake long enough to smile

And...she's out.

Looking like a grandma with her walker :)

Oh this is only relevant because it is the only picture I have to show that Aunt Kirston brought us dinner and dessert one day and kept us company for a few hours. It was so incredibly sweet of her and we loved having them. A neighbor also brought us dinner after the surgery. People were so thoughtful! 

Everything went fine with Mishell's recovery until about 3 weeks later, when on a Sunday all the sudden, Mishell became non-weight bearing again on that leg. The knee also swelled up HUGE. Devin and I thought we would wait until Monday to see if it got any better. We could not tell what had happened and she denied having any falls or other accidents that would justify that kind of pain and swelling. Monday was no better, so after work I took her to the instacare. The doctor there freaked me right out of my brain and told me that she had a big infection and basically said we were dumb for not getting it taken care of earlier. He told us to go to the ER at Primary Children's immediately, where she would likely need IV antibiotics. This was the same week we were moving and having Mishell's sealing, so I was freaking out. I was imagining hospital stays and having to cancel the sealing, yadda yadda. Well, we went to Primary's and spent a solid 6 HOURS in their ER just to be told that there was likely nothing wrong with her knee. She was seen by 3 residents and one doctor and no one had a good explanation for what was happening. The last resident asked when we were following up with her surgeon (friday and this was monday night), so she sent us on our way and basically said "I don't know what's wrong, but she will be fine until Friday." So, lo and behold, the first guy freaked me out for nothing (although no one tested her for an infection at Primarys regardless-- needless to say I was not that impressed with them. Can't wait to get the bill.).  The orthopedic resident who saw her at Primarys assured us that she knew her surgeon from Shriners and would call her and let her know what happened so that we could follow up sooner if needed. Well, we went that Friday and the surgeon had heard nothing of it. The knee was still swollen quite a bit, but she too could not explain why or what had happened. SO-- that was kind of a big waste of time (and I am sure money-- again can't wait to see those bills!). She is back to normal now, so I guess we will chalk it up to a freak thing.

So that's the tale of Mishell's surgery. Hopefully that other leg catches on up now!