Rhizotomy Post-Op Day 2

Let me begin by saying that I am amazed at how well Nina is doing, really incredibly well. The only pain she has complained about is the catheter and her hand (because she hates having the IV and the "red light" on). There have been some rough moments where she is over the top with her emotions and she gets a good cry. These moments come usually when she is very tired, or when there are too many people in the room checking her. These days, although have hard stressful moments, have really been better than we expected. We expected intense pain and muscle spasm, and we have thankfully not had to deal with that. We have been praying, and many of you have been praying with us, thank you. We know God is the one that is carrying us through.

The day did not begin as smoothly. I spent the night at the Ronald McDonald house and got to the hospital at 8:00 am. Nina had had a really great night, slept all night, and had been happy all morning. Then I showed up and she was not happy anymore. I think she wanted me to baby her, and she asked me to rub her legs. Let's just say she was not tolerating anyone touching her legs this morning, and we lost her quickly. I had to leave the room, because I was making her cry even more. I am not sure if she wanted me to hold her or if she was angry with me. When I came back she was settled down. Andy gets the best daddy award, he really does incredible in stressful situations like this.

She was fine for the rest of the day, but her legs were pulled close to her and she was "flopping" to the side quite a bit. At around 12:30 she was allowed to sit up more, and we had some discomfort with the new posture, but it did not last long. She was easily distracted by the arrival of balloons! Thank you friends!

We had been told the Physical Therapist was coming at 1:00 pm and we knew our dear friends were on the way with Ellie, so we did not have her take a nap. Ellie and the Heitz's got here and Nina was already very tired, so she was a little emotional, but still did pretty well. I think Nina was excited to see her big sister and Ellie is such a great big sister!

Nina got some precious cards from her pre-school friends, and we looked at them all. Her friends also took some pictures of them, laying on the floor spelling her Name. Those pictures and cards will be decorating her room!

Nina then had more visitors! And along with those visitors were some of Ellie's favorite friends. Nina was about to loose it at this time.

By the time the Physical Therapist came, it most have been at least 4:00 pm. Nina did really well, she got stretched for about an hours and she finally got her leg braces on, which we were told they were supposed to have been on since last night. We knew they were supposed to be, but we are also sure we were not supposed to be the ones to put them on. Nina tolerated those pretty well.

By dinner time Nina seemed pretty tired. Our friends offered to stay so that and Andy, Ellie and I could go out to eat and get Andy and I switched around for the night (him and Ellie get to sleep at Ronald McDonald's house, I am at the hospital). When we came back Nina was sleeping. We woke her up at around 8:00 and she had a great day until 10:00 when she went back to bed.

She really is a trooper!

Tonight, as we were getting ready for bed, Nina said, "I am wiggling my toes! Mom, the surgery is working, it is really working!" And I wish you could have seen her face.

Tomorrow we hope the epidural and catheter come out, and then we will start getting her up and moving. She is doing so well that there is really a great possibility of her going to the rehab unit on Monday. That is pretty incredible to me. It will be great to get her to have therapy as soon as possible. I am so anxious to see move again.

I am not being able to upload videos, but will as soon as I can!

And as she sleeps, Nina is holding her pillow pet "Fluffy" on her chest. Amazing what a pillow pet can do. You can see in the last picture that Fluffy was by Nina's feet to make her legs feel better even if she had to wear those braces.