Emersyn I traveled from Colorado back to California. Once we arrived back in California, Emersyn and I had two days to take care of our to-do list before her surgery. We shopped both days checking off the list and enjoyed long lunches at our favorite place, Aqui’s. The days were full, but I enjoyed the time with Emersyn.
Emersyn had to be at the hospital at 5am on Wednesday. The nurses checked her in and prepared her for surgery. She had a 7am surgery time. I was sent to the waiting room to wait. Jim’s Mom, Mimi, came to keep me company during the surgery. Her doctor came around 9:30am to tell me all went well and she could be moved to a room. The hospital has a children’s floor that feels very comfortable. She slept most the morning which was good because when she woke up she was in pain. The surgery performed was cut to her bone cyst in her ankle, scrapped it clean and added bone filler. The bone filler came from her hip. At this point, her hip hurt more than her ankle.
It was a long first day. She was on codeine pain medicine she could take every 4 hours. Food was delivered to the room for the child and one parent…she only has one parent here so that would not be an issue. I didn’t need to leave the hospital room to get food. Movies were available to take from the play room. I think they had every Disney video ever made.
We spent the evening time watching the Olympics. The nurse would be back at 11:30pm for the next check and meds. The Olympics end at midnight West Coast time. By the time we went to bed, it was 1am. Emersyn was up about every 4 hours in pain. It was a long night, but hopefully, we were on the road to recovery!
To be released from the hospital, the physical therapist needed to come to her room to show her how to use crutches. The PT had to sign a release for her to go home. She was on crutches for 5 weeks when she broke her leg so that would not be an issue. However, when the physical therapist came by and she got out of bed for the first time, it was too painful for her to hop with her hip. We now needed to wait for further instructions for release. All the nurses were very nice.
It was after 6pm before we were given the release to go home. Emersyn was still in a lot of pain. Our check-out nurse was extra nice in helping us get her home. I had to go and find the car as I parked it across the hospital for surgery check-in. I had not left the room hospital since we arrived. We got her in my truck, which was not easy, with no seat belt as it hurt too much. Good thing we were not going far.
Once we were home, we had another challenge of getting in the house. I could really use Jim’s muscle power about now. Elizabeth helped me to carry her in as she was not able to walk or hop. She was in pain by the time we got her settled on the sofa…her home for the next 12 days.
Emersyn’s bed for the next week would be the sofa. I slept in the kitchen on a blow-up mattress. The mattress had a slow leak so that by morning I was on the floor.
By the third night, Emersyn was sleeping through the night, finally. I moved upstairs to a real bed. I gave Emersyn the mobile phone. She would call the home phone when she needed something or to go to the bathroom. I had the home phone next to my bed. It was nice having a real bed again! I didn’t mind getting the call at 4am to come downstairs to help her go to the bathroom as I had a real bed to go back to sleep.
Eleri, Terri and Andy came home on Monday evening from Nebraska. Emersyn was beginning to feel better and get to the bathroom on her own – shuffling on Mimi’s walker.
Emersyn had her first lunch out on Wednesday, a week had past and she was ready to see the outside world. We went to lunch at Aqui’s. It was a beautiful day to sit out and enjoy the fresh air.
On Friday, we had Mall errands to check off the list before heading back to Shanghai. Mimi borrowed a wheelchair from a friend. It was perfect for getting around the Mall. With out it, we would had to cut our shopping short as she would have been tired on crutches. We enjoyed a last meal at the Cheesecake Factory.
