Joking with the anesthesiologist before surgery.Lydia's surgery went really well. It took about an hour and a half. The orthopedic surgeon removed the screws and broken plate from the radius and checked to make sure the bones had rejoined. Because they had rejoined, he did not need to replace the plate. He then rotated her arm so the thumb is pointing upwards and then put it in a cast. The cast isn't for the bones - those are pretty much rejoined - but to hold her arm in a certain position to try and improve her mobility when the cast comes off. A month after the accident, she was still unable to turn her hand facing palm-up. She was in some pain right when she woke up, so they gave her a couple doses of pain meds and brought her up to a recovery room. She was still pretty groggy, but after mention of a snack and getting up to use the bathroom, she quickly perked up. After checking her vitals, they gave her the snack - crackers, juice, jello and ice cream - which she gobbled up right away since she had been fasting. Then they gave her some more pain meds and sent us home. She took it easy the rest of the day.
I couldn't resist taking this picture. I was trying to say something to them and they were totally zoned out.
Like father, like daughter :)
Wednesday she did go back to school, but came home a little while after lunch since her arm was hurting pretty bad. She has been little achy today, but that's getting better and she made it through the whole day of school. Well, actually, I went to get all the girls early for a mass dentist appointment. But she made it through that, her doctor's appointment, and a school dinner and is still doing fine.
They didn't put a window in the cast, so it's just a regular one that goes up past her elbow. She has been having fun letting her friends sign it. She will have that on for a couple of weeks. The orthopedist said it could be up to a couple of years before her bones and mobility are normal. She had an "amazing growth response" and has some extra bone mass that will eventually go away. I'm amazed by what our incredible bodies can do to kick into turbo drive to heal themselves! And then when there is too much of something, they will just take care of that too.
Lydia was disappointed that she had to miss her Idaho History program, as it was the day of her surgery. She also missed activity days that afternoon and will not be able to perform in her piano recital next week. Riding her bike is also out for awhile ;)
