Well, we're back in Baltimore (Lydia & Tim this time) for a unplanned and untimely visit just days before Christmas. Lydia's X-ray last week showed a fracture in her tibia and a 10 degree sideways bend at the lengthening site, so we had to rush off to get it looked at. Apparently it's not uncommon in these cases, since the bone is still not fully hardened. So after a looooong flight with a 4-hour delay in Vegas, we arrived in Baltimore at 4:30am. Lydia was in high spirits, drawing pictures for strangers, saying HI to everyone, even carrying her own boarding pass and high-fiving the security guards!
We spent the next day (Monday) in the clinic getting X-rays and consulting with the surgeons. They said they would either put a rod inside the tibia to hold it in place and keep the bone from bending further, or just cast it for 4 weeks, and they'd decide that after the surgery started. Either way they would also put an 8-plate -- looks kind of like a big figure-eight shaped staple -- which over time will make the bone grow back into a straight line. It was an exhausting day for me, but Lydia was a real trooper, making friends in the playroom and having a ball. That evening in the Ronald McDonald house, what seemed like the entire Baltimore police department and every Maryland State Trooper and County Sheriff in the state along with one Santa Claus came racing up to the house with sirens and lights flashing and tromped inside with armloads of presents for the kids. There must have been a hundred of them, and enough presents for 5 times the number of kids in the house. The house director made a speech and talked at length about how this place changes the lives of so many children from all over the world. There are some pretty hard cases here right now - liver transplants, leukemia, cancer, total disablement plus more mild problems like Lydia's. It was touching, and caused more than a few tough-looking cops to blink back tears. I struggled as well. Poor Lydia was just too tired and I had put her to bed before they arrived. I did sneak downstairs and got her a present later on.
So on Tuesday we went in for surgery at 6am, and they decided to skip the rod and just cast her, plus put the eight-plate in. We're glad because it meant it was a short, simple surgery with a quick recovery. She does have to wear a removable cast for 4 weeks, which is a bummer since she was just starting to get around really well after the fixator was removed in September. She's been riding scooters and tricycles and really "blooming" which was great to see after the long time in the fixator which had kept her down all spring and summer. As usual, she accepted all the surgical prep without a fuss, but woke up from the anesthesia pretty unhappy - but that's normal.
This morning they almost cancelled the surgery completely, because she had signs of a cold or stomach bug, and anesthesia can be very risky under those circumstances. So she had an examination by an impressive team of doctors, anesthesiolgists, and surgeons and they said she was OK to go ahead, but at one point in the discussions I began to panic and almost cancelled the whole thing! Needless to say this did not make me less anxious in the waiting room during the surgery. I'm glad she was well enough to go ahead, because otherwise we'd have had to stay here through Christmas, or return having accomplished nothing and had to return in January by which time the bone might have bent even further.
This trip has been the hardest yet on me. Sometimes it seems like Lydia is the tough one and I am the one losing it.
Anyway, we have a 7am flight tomorrow, Christmas Eve, so will be getting up at 3:30am so I need to get some dinner and get to bed. It will be a relief to be home for Christmas. :)
Tim
