Hospital Fun!!

She is a pro at hanging and spinning now. This was taken when she first learned to do her tricks! She hangs most of the time now. I'm a little nervous sending her to school tomorrow!! LOL She was released Friday 1 week early!!! WOO HOO!!! She is doing great and excited about starting school tomorrow :o)

We still have not made a decision about her getting the trach.....

Love,

ENT

Cool tat, Kaylea!!

Visiting with the clown

Kaylea has an appointment tomorrow with the ENT. They are suppose to let us know their reasoning for wanting to put in a trach. I'm still not for this option, but we will at least find out what they have to say and find out what it would entail and our options. I am hoping the hospital won't drop her as a patient if we do not have the trach put in, but we will deal with that issue, if it becomes an issue.

Kaylea is doing exceptionally well and tolerating the procedure better than expected. She is up to 15 lbs of traction. She will have pictures taken Friday to compare to the ones taken last Wednesday before her surgery. THEN....we should be able to bring her home over the weekend!! WAHOO!!! A whole week early!!! Which means she shouldn't miss any school, except they aren't expecting her. We do have to figure out the transportation issue and the issue of switching her from her walker to her wheel chair. They both have the traction pulley system attached so she is able to switch between the two.

I am going to a Women of Faith conference Friday night and Saturday, but we should be able to check her out of the hospital on Saturday and come home on Sunday.

She will go back to have the Halo removed the 1st of October. Then they will cast her torso for 6-8 weeks. Also, that week Owen will have a hand surgery. He is very excited that he gets to sleep in the hospital :o) He has been waiting for his turn!! If we can squeeze it in, Rylea will have surgery to correct her club feet! Sound like a busy fall to me!!

Love,

Surgery...

You can see how far over her rib cage is....

Different view

Another view

She is now in surgery to attach the halo to her head. It shouldn't be too much longer. Ok, just got a text and they are done! WOW! Quick for us. I'll post pictures later of the halo on her. For now, these are pictures of her back from this morning. Her curve is not as severe as some, but it is fairly significant. You can see in one of them that her upper body has shifted over to the right quite a bit. Her ribs are also smushed (sorry, the most appropriate word I could think of) together on that side, too.

Thanks for checking in with us!

Love,

Today...

Ready for bed....

Kaylea had tests run, pictures and video taken, appointments with doctors, fitting for her wheel chair and walker, and a bath! Her surgery is scheduled for 11am tomorrow! It is suppose to be a fairly short surgery and recovery. We are hopeful that this will work for her and give her relief in her right lung. I have read a couple of blogs today of children who have been through this or are going through this same procedure now. They are doing GREAT!!! After I get some pictures of her and hear how she is doing, I will probably go ahead and post here.

Thanks for the prayers and well wishes!!

Love,

Ronald McDonald House

Isn't she B E A U T I F U L ????

John and Kaylea are safely at the RMH. They will only be there one night as Kay will be admitted to the hospital tomorrow and they will stay the night there! They have a FULL day of appointments tomorrow to get her ready for surgery on Thursday. The surgery will not be too complicated or traumatic, I don't think....unless 4 screws in your head is traumatic! ? Ok, so maybe a little traumatic for her. The contraption she will be in is a bit barbaric to me! So, due that, I'll only be posting the pictures and in depth updates on the Rylea & Rubea blogspot. If you do not know the address and would like to know and be invited, please leave me a comment or send me an email. We have no clue what time the surgery is on Thursday, but I will update here when I find out. I will also post some generic updates here as well. This is all in preparation to straighten a very curvy spine :o) Over a year ago her curve was 87˚ so I am sure it is worse now. Thanks for any and all prayers!! We are hopeful that this will lessen the stress on her right lung and her stomach and that she will gain an appetite and some weight! She is still at 30-31 pounds and will be 9 in 2 weeks!!

Love,