Surgery Update

Mikayla had her pre-op appointment this morning. She had some x-rays done of her feet and we met with the surgeon. This surgery is a little more complicated than we had first thought. They will lengthen tendons in the top of both feet. Her left ankle has some structure damage to a couple of the bones... they basically are going to have to reform the inside part of her ankle. She will have pins put in this ankle. For 4-6 weeks she will have a cast on both feet... the right will stop below her knee, the left will go well above her knee. This morning Mikayla picked out her cast color... hot pink. They also let her pick out the scent of she will smell when they put her to sleep that morning... cotton candy!! The doctor actually rubs scented chapstick inside the mask before they put it on her. I think that is very cool... anything to make this easier on her!! I know it will be harder on me than her... she gets to sleep through it... I have to be awake waiting!! UGH! Dr. Mencio told us this morning that surgery would be 4 - 5 hours long!!! Maybe he will knock me out for that time period too... anxiety city!!!!! I know it will be fine... and this is for a great purpose. It is just hard on Mommy!! That will be a very long day!!! Anyway, just wanted to let everyone know what is going on.

I have not done an entry in a while because to be completely honest I have not wanted to share in our latest news. Mikayla had a urodynamics test done almost two weeks ago. This test checks to see if her bladder is emptying and filling up and functioning like it should. Well, to our total shock... Mikayla's is not working properly. This news felt like a punch in the face for us. Things seemed fine and we had started the potty thing. Most people with spina bifida have bladders that don't function properly, we just thought that Mikayla was going to be the exception. What is happening with her bladder is that it is only filling up halfway and then only emptying half of that... so she has a lot of stuff sitting in her bladder. This is causing there to be extra pressure on her kidneys which could eventually cause her to need dialysis. The solution to the problem is to catheterize her every 4 hours and have her on two types of medications. The two exceptions to the 4 hours are when she is at school and sleeping at night. The first few days were very hard for me. I know that Mikayla has differences from other kids but I wanted this to not be one of those. I wanted her to be able to go to the bathroom like every other kid. Hasn't she been through enough??? That was the mommy in me but the Christian and Believer needed a little bit of time to come out. I know that there is a reason for this... God's ways are not our ways. I cannot sit a dwell on this anymore... it is the place where we are for now and that is just the way it is. For now. Not for one second do I believe that this will be forever!! Does that mean it is not hard on me... no way!! But it helps to believe in God and believe that there is a higher purpose for EVERY single trial we go through. So for now, we are just doing this thing and taking one day at a time.

Her surgery has been changed... it is now Friday, October 2nd at 10am at Vandy Children's Hospital.

I have put some random pictures on here.
At the Wilson County Fair... she could not get enough of petting the animals. We could not get her to ride any though... maybe next year.

Sporting her UT jersey

Showing off her piggy tail braids!!

Flowers from my sweet hubby for our anniversary

playing with the straw from capri sun

enjoying her juice

Funny face

Petting her buddy, Duke