The 6 Week Cast Change

Who knew a person could be so happy about their kid being in a cast?!?!

The actual cast change itself did not go so well in terms of Mackenzie's happiness.  However, we are so so so happy with the cast she came out of there with.

We had to be at the hospital for 7 am this time so didn't have to get up until 4:30 instead of 3:30 am like last time.  I got Mackenzie up, fed her one last time, loaded her up in the car, picked up her Auntie and hit the highway by 5 am.

I felt so much better about everything this time going in.  I knew where the best place to park was.  I knew where I was supposed to be going.  I knew what the procedure would be when we got there.  I also knew that my baby would for sure be coming out of there with a cast on.  I was much better prepared.

After we checked in at the Day Ward we had to wait in the waiting room for awhile before they called us back to take Mackenzie's weight (kinda silly with a huge body cast), give us some lovely striped hospital pyjamas, took her blood pressure and put the numbing cream on her hand for the IV.

She must remember being there last time.  As soon as any nurse would come near her and try to touch her she would immediately start crying and freaking out.  

After she was suited up, we headed back to the waiting room for what felt like forever.  She was chattering away, entertaining the room like usual.  But then she started to get tired and cranky.  Finally we were called back to the OR holding room (that's what I call it, it's basically just another waiting room in a sightly different area).   The surgeon came to talk to us.  He was not our usual surgeon due to holidays, OR closures, yadda yadda yadda.  I actually really liked him.  He came right over and crouched down to Mackenzie and said "hi" to her.  Then listened and answered as I pulled out my phone with my list of questions.  The anesthesiologist touched base with us.  Then a resident that would be working with the surgeon, then a nurse.  Finally we were ready to get the show on the road.  

Mackenzie would not even consider leaving with the nurse so I had to go with her into the operating room.  Of course she started crying and getting upset as soon as I laid her down on the table.  I had to hold her arms and head down as they used gas to calm her.  As soon as she relaxed they told me I could leave.  I'm happy that all went quite quickly.  It would have been hard for me to watch much longer.   

My sister and I headed across the street to pick up the necessary Tim Horton's coffee and a bagel and yogurt to sustain us until we would be able to get something else to eat.  And then we commenced to waiting some more.  I don't know why, but it felt to take forever this time.  Maybe I was expecting it to be a lot faster than last time.  It definitely wasn't.  Finally our lovely pager went off and signalled that it was time to go back to the recovery beds to see Mackenzie.  

She didn't seem to be quite as upset as she was the first time when we got back there so immediately I was hopeful.  She also had one entire leg free from any sort of cast!  I was so excited.  I scooped her up as quickly as I could despite all the cords still hanging from her arm and tried to settle her down.  I brought a bottle this time after the disaster of attempting to nurse her last time.   She would drink a little and then cry and drink a little and cry.  She was very agitated and upset.  A nurse brought a popsicle for her to try which she took a few sucks of but then just went right back to crying again.  Nothing seemed to settle her down.  Our nurse gave her a dose of Tylenol and I just walked and bounced her the best I could despite her attachment to the machines.  They wouldn't unhook them until she had successfully kept her bottle down.  

**photo of new case removed due to inappropriate comments

I was planning ahead this time after waiting for what felt like FOREVER last time for the Occupational Therapist to show up.  Before Mackenzie even went in for her procedure I asked the nurse to call OT and tell them we would be needing someone to bring up one of the Hippo carseats to get us set up.  I always felt quite uneasy about the safety of the foam rigged carseat set up we had going on with the first cast.  

A free, but scaly leg

Maybe I jumped the gun a little bit because our OT showed up while Mackenzie was still very very upset.  I was happy to see Chelsea again, she was the same one we had last time and was one of the few people in the hospital to give us any peace of mind last time.  She said with only one leg casted Mackenzie's own carseat would probably be better.   And we actually only needed a small piece of foam behind her back and one under the knee of the casted leg and we were good to go in what looked quite safe.  While Chelsea was still there figuring out her paperwork the doctor stopped by and told me that everything went really well and that her hip was stable.  Come back in 6 weeks to get the cast removed.   

We asked about the waterproof part of Mackenzie's new cast.  The doctor said you could totally submerge her in the tub or pool.  The OT suggested that she wouldn't do it herself because she would worry about not being able to get the skin completely dry under the cast.  It is nice peace of mind though to know that if she has a big mess we can wash the cast.  It is not a Gortex liner, the cotton part of the inside of the cast is more of a plasticy foam type material.  Seems like it is comfortable.  I hope she feels as comfortable as she did in the non-waterproof type.  

With all the technicalities out of the way, we now just needed to wait for Mackenzie to settle down so we could head home.  She did manage to finish a bottle and would occasionally get distracted by cords, the mirror, foam, or Aunties funny faces, and would settle down for short periods of time but she always started back up again.  Especially if a nurse tried to come anywhere near her.  Except the nice nurse who blew bubbles for her and played peek-a-boo.  She liked her!  

Auntie Julie and I pedalled her cast the best we could while I held Kenzie and Julie stuck the tape.  I think the cast was likely still a bit wet because the tape was not sticking very well at all.   Once the pedalling was done I nursed Mackenzie and she finally seemed to settle back down to her regular happy self.  We loaded her up into the car and she slept the entire drive home.  

She is so happy to have her leg free.  She kicks and kicks and kicks it all the time.  The skin is quite scaly, we will need to make sure we moisturize a lot.  I could not be happier with the cast we came away with.  She is fitting in her regular high chair (the one we bought to fit the brace), rode in a regular shopping cart.

I fit in a shopping cart again!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

We have returned from our 9 day visit with Mackenzie's Nana and Papa in Victoria.  All in all the trip was a success.  And really not that much more difficult than I think it would have been without the spica cast in tow. 

The foam padded carseat

I think I mentioned here before that she didn't fit properly in the Britax Hippo seat, the special carseat that they make for kids in spica casts.  So instead we have her regular Evenflo Triumph seat that we bought to fit her brace and it is doctored up with a bunch of foam underneath her.  We brought that with us and checked it at the main luggage check in the airport.  We also brought our Bumbleride Indie stroller with the pillow underneath her and wheeled her through the airport in that and gate checked it right at the plane.

Hanging out in the stroller waiting in line for fish and chips!

Both on the way there and the way back we were able to get the third seat in our row "blacked out" so that no one else would be sitting with us.  People are pretty accommodating when they notice that your baby is in a full body cast.  On the way home the attendant checking boarding passes and ID's even came to our seats in the waiting area and got ours from us and checked us in early so we could board the plane before they even called for pre-boarding.  How is that for service?

Of course in the airports she was up to her usual tricks of being as cute as possible and was entertaining everyone around us.  Makes you feel pretty good when despite everything people are just going on and on about how cute your child is.

The flights themselves were pretty short.  Just over an hour so it wasn't too long to try to entertain her.  On the way there she spent about 20 minutes playing with Daddy's face, and another 20 minutes shaking a wipe around.  She also like looking at and touching the TV screens in the back of the seats.  We took turns holding her.  We also laid her down for a bit on the middle seat between us but that was short lived as she couldn't see everything around here and wanted to be upright.

We definitely missed the spica chair at Nana and Papa's especially for feeding her and keeping her entertained while we ate.   But we made due.  One person would hold her while another fed her.  And Nana and Papa had enough new interesting things to explore that she seemed to be ok to just hang out and crawl around on the floor most of the time.

Checking out the seat life at the Aquarium

We went out to eat in several restaurants and just brought in her stroller and had her sit in there while we ate.  She doesn't like to be in it when it's not moving so there were a lot of snacks being given out to keep her occupied long enough to scarf down the food.  We toured around the Inner Harbor of Victoria, went to the Aquarium in Sidney, took in an Imax movie and Mackenzie even spent a full 24 hours with Nana and Papa while her mom and dad jetted on the ferry over to Seattle for a day.

For sleep she slept in a pack n play with the same adaptations as in her crib at home.  A pillow under her head/neck/upper back and a rolled up down under her knees.  She slept the best she's slept since the cast there!  Grandpa claims its because of the heavier air at sea level.  Whatever it is, I'll take it.

Passed right out!

I wish we had a quick short answer to give people when they ask about Mackenzie's cast.  Through the airports as well as on many of our outings in Victoria we were constantly being asked about it.  The quickest response I have come up with is just to say "She has hip dysplasia.  Her hip didn't develop properly so they did a procedure to put it in place and the cast is stabilizing it".

All in all the trip was a total success.  We had a great time and Mackenzie just rolled with everything like she always does.