Minor Setbacks

Wow...little did I know that after I finished that last post I would be on my way to the ER with Kalyn. The GI bug kicked her tail. Poor baby would not rehydrate no matter how much saline they pumped in her. She was transferred from Mary Immaculate to CHKD for hydration. Thank you so much to my friends and co-workers at MIH for taking care of my baby girl. Especially to Dr. Hutchison...I'll bet you thought I never cried until that day. (Even tough girls have soft spots- mine is my kids) We were lucky that she did improve greatly overnight and was able to go home on Friday. So grateful to God for getting my baby girl through that.

Totally stunk that I had to catch her virus and spend all day Saturday in bed with Alexis taking care of all of us. That child has abilities that you would not believe. We spent mother's day recuperating together and went to UVA to meet with Dr. Shaffrey on Monday.

He was a very intelligent and kind man. He basically told us that Dr. Birknes is very capable of handling this surgery and that CHKD is the best place for Kalyn to have surgery because of all of the pediatric specialists that are available at that facility. (She already sees quite a few and they are very familiar with her) He also said that should any problems arise at CHKD then he would be happy to have her transferred to UVA so that he could care for her. He also suggested that she might not need the halo after surgery. As long as her bones fused well during the procedure she may be able to just wear a collar. He wanted to make us aware that this procedure will cause her to lose about 50% of the mobility in her neck. We look at this as glass half full news considering that we were expecting complete loss of mobility following surgery.

All in all it was a very positive meeting and we left with even more confidence in Dr. Birknes. This was enough to make the 6 hours worth of driving worth it. Dr. Birknes' office is attempting to schedule surgery now. We are looking to the first week of June around the 2nd but do not have a definite date yet. They are having to coordinate the schedules of 5 different MDs for the surgery. So this is a bit of a task. Bur we have faith.

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers while we continue on our journey. Thank you for all of your continued support that love.