Progress Begins

Met with the new dentist on Monday May 3rd who says that his part of the surgery is simple and will take about 10 minutes. Maybe that should be 9 minutes now-seeing as Kalyn lost one of the 10 teeth he was supposed to remove late last night. I innocently asked the girls how much they thought the tooth fairy gave for silver teeth. Alexis said "I think it's 100 dollars." I don't think so...it feels so good to laugh with the kids in spite of all that is going on. Anytime I am overwhelmed by what is going on, I just take 10-15 minutes to talk with the kids and they will make me happy and put everything into perspective. Kids have the right perspective...I wonder at what point in life we lose that?

I had to pick Kalyn up from school today because she was sick. She puked in the car on the way home...fun times. After a dose of Zofran for nausea and some Tylenol/Codeine elixir for the pain with the new molar coming in she is sleeping soundly on the couch. She is so pitiful when she is sick. She was very pale when we got home...Kalyn tends to get dehydrated very easily when she vomits. But her color looks a little better now that she is resting. I pray that she wakes up she is feeling much better.

Tomorrow we are scheduled for allergy testing at CHKD-let me clarify that- 4 hours worth of allergy testing at CHKD. They are trying to rule out a suspected Penicillin allergy so that when she has surgery she will be able to have a wider array of antibiotics to prevent any infection from setting in. Then Monday we are off to UVA to meet with Dr. Shaffrey for our second opinion consultation.

I had Kalyn's hair cut into a pixie on Tuesday to cut down on the shock of having it shaved for surgery and the halo. It will also make it easier to keep clean while she is in the halo after surgery. But this also made everything feel more real. Like "this is really happening". At this point I think we are ready to just get it done and start taking care of her and helping her get healed. Dr. Birknes is eager to get surgery done also and is attempting to schedule surgery as I type this post. We are looking at the first week in June for our first procedure. Tentatively June 2nd to implant the halo and complete dental surgery. That is 27 days away. Wow...just saying it makes it feel so much more real.

One concern that has arisen is that she will have to come off of her rheumatoid arthritis medicines for 2-3 weeks prior to surgery and 3-6 months after surgery. Kalyn has never fared well without the medicines and has a lot of pain when she her arthritis is flaring. Hopefully, her doctors will be able to find a way to keep the arthritis at bay without compromising wound and bone healing. I put my trust in them and pray that they can rise to the occasion. I don't really have any other choice. But all of you know me and you know how I am. I will be paying attention...and I don't have a problem letting anyone know how I feel or what I feel they need to do (especially when my kids are involved). So here we go... I know that time will start to fly now that we are looking at a date...guess we just have to hold on tight and pray as hard as we can. I know we will make it through.