Good Things...Great Things (Part 3)

Part Three:
So here's where things started looking up. I spent a long, sleepless night in the hospital, worried sick that my daughter was going to have a lifelong side effect because of this crazy accident. I was battling fear and trying to hold onto my faith and the priesthood blessing that she'd had that promised her that she would be almost "as if it never happened." I was worried sick that the "almost as if" meant everything would be fine, except for these nerve/sensory problems. I also was worried about her recovery, and how much pain she would be in, and how I'd manage to take care of her with such a huge injury.

We spent the following day trying not to worry, and helping her manage her pain. She was getting morphine every 2 hours and it was helping, but she cried when we moved her into the wagon to go to Music Therapy/Play Time. So we knew she was hurting. It was a great distraction though to be able to have some fun stuff to take her mind off of everything. (Love this childrens hospital!- and as a side note, I did my internship in college in the Recreation Therapy department at Shriners Childrens Hospital in Honolulu, so I am an extra big fan of any Rec Therapy.)
(Oh yeah. The binkies are back. With a vengeance. We had her off them completely about 8 months ago, but then she started waking up all through the night, so we tied one to her bed to keep her in bed at night (it worked pretty well- but tie it short so it's not a choking hazard! Can't be too careful these days!) Anyway, she started asking for them in the ER, and course we obliged. But now she's fully hooked again and must have 4 or 5 of them nearby at all times. Eek!)

This hospital has cable, and a ton of kid movies "on demand" and that has helped pass the time too...thank goodness for Nick Jr- we don't have that at home, so it's even more enticing for her. She was on IV antibiotics the entire time she was in the hospital and she has to take her IV machine everywhere...so here she is spending some time with Dora/Diego/Max&Ruby:
The next morning the neurologist (Dr. Haynes) came in. She was awesome. She didn't seem rushed to get to another place, and she not only answered every one of our questions, she went to find other answers that our surgeon should have been answering. I love her and I wish all doctors could be more like her.

Dr. Haynes came in two days in a row and did a few quick tests on Kalia. She told us to get her up and moving and walking-- the more the better to get that nerve firing. We were shocked to think that our little girl could even stand and hold her weight up, much less walk around! But Dr. Haynes went on to have Kalia stand, walk on her heals, wiggle her toes, flex her ankles, everything...and she could do it all. We were astounded (AND BEYOND ECSTATIC!). Dr. Haynes tested to see if she could feel the difference between soft and a poke, cold and warm...and she could. I don't even know how that's possible. I mean, the Sciatic nerve carries both sensory and motor messages, and yet with only 25% of her nerve in tact, as Dr. Haynes said, "I can't detect anywhere that she's lacking right now." I asked her about the possibility of burning/tingling/pain down her leg for the rest of her life. She said we will just have to wait and see- it will depend on the way the nerve grows back together. So we've been praying and fasting extra for that nerve, and for a Master Physician to make it whole. Literally.

So yeah, we were encouraged to say the least. That's when we took her for her first walk around the hospital. I emailed it to my family to show them how their prayers were being answered. It was a big moment for our little family, and we gave thanks...lots of tears were shed, I'll tell you that.

Kalia just continued to recover at an amazing pace. Kids are resilient. It's true. But Kalia was acting like she'd never even had surgery, much less had a severed nerve. This video is from Friday (2 days after the big nerve repair surgery). It's similar to the one on facebook. We just marveled at this recovery. I mean, would you want to be doing this after surgery? With only part of your sciatic nerve working right? Truly-- it had to be a miracle. Right? I know.


They finally released us and we went home, and they had her on Hydrocodone for pain, 2 antibiotics, and just Bacitracin on all those stitches. There was no bandage or covering. She only cried out in pain when we had to but the Bacitracin on, and that wasn't too bad at first. But every day it started to get worse and worse. She was no longer willing to use the potty anymore, and started going in a diaper again. And to make matters worse, she had pretty severe diarrhea from the antibiotics. And that's probably why the infection set in a few days later.