Wrist Tendon Transfer

Last week we made our journey to Philadelphia for Jadon to have a wrist tendon transfer with Dr. Kozin.  It was quite an adventure due to winter weather conditions!  We left on New Years Day and knew that a big snow storm was heading for the eastern states.  We were crossing our fingers hoping we could beat it there.  We did but by only an hour!  It was a close call but thankfully, we managed to get into the Front & Erie Ronald McDonald House!  Here is a pic of Jadon with Ronald....we try to get one of him each time we stay!

When we woke up bright and early on Friday morning there was about 9 inches of snow on the ground.  Luckily, we only had to drive about 5 miles to the hospital!  Jadon was one of the first surgeries of the day.  We were a little nervous about how Jadon was going to react to leaving for surgery.  Thanks to the awesome staff at Shriner's there were no issues.  Jadon was relaxed and happy as usual.  It was pretty entertaining when they gave him Versed to make him relaxed so they could put him to sleep.  He was so loopy.  Laughing at nothing.  When the nurse took him from us they walked off singing "Wheels On The Bus" together.  Later, the nurse called me to tell me he was asleep and they were getting ready to start surgery, she also told me that when they got to the part; "The horn on the bus goes"...Jadon yelled "Honk, Honk, Honk" very loud.  She said it was adorable and everyone got a good laugh.

While we waited for Jadon to get out of surgery we got a chance to talk with another BPI family.  They were in the waiting area waiting for their son's turn to have surgery.  Their son was 15.  I always like to meet the older kids and see that they are happy, successful children.  Visiting with two families in the waiting room, made time fly by.  Before we knew it we were being called to come to the PACU.

Just like after his shoulder reduction/tendon transfer Jadon slept for several hours after surgery.  That anesthesia really drags him down!

Yes....his cast is orange.  His choice...well...his second choice.  His first choice was black but we told him it would be hard to sign a black cast so he chose orange!

After several hours of sleeping he finally decided to wake up!  He was happy and seemed to be in very little pain.  He was very, very hungry!  He had two apple juice cups first to make sure his tummy was okay then he proceeded to eat three singe serve packages of graham crackers, a cup of applesauce, a pkg. of cookies and some milk.  Before long it was dinner time.  He chowed down on some pizza!  By evening he was smiling and happy!

He loves showing off his cast!  That is why he is holding it up in a lot of the pictures.  He says that the cast makes him feel stronger.  Funny kid!

I was worried about how his night would go.  Was worried that pain might get worse and he would not be able to sleep well.  He had no issues and slept through the whole night...as well as you can when people come in every few hours to check vitals and change IV fluids.  In the morning he was ready for pancakes and to go home!

We found out that on the way home we would once again be dealing with a snow storm in the Midwest.  If we took two days to do the trip home we would most likely not be able to travel at all on the second day because of bad roads.  We decided to make the trip in one day and try to beat the snow storm to our house!  We got discharged at noon and hit the road right away.  We told Jadon that we were going to make short quick stops and would be eating in the car.  We had clear roads almost the entire way home!  We made the trip in a record time of 13 hrs.  We saw the first snow when we got off the interstate to drive the 20 miles home on rural roads.  We got so lucky!  We were worn out and tired but it was worth it!  Jadon's brother and sister waited up for us and were the first people to sign his cast!  He was very happy to see them.  His sister met him at the car and the first words out of his mouth were "I love you Shelby".  It is hard on all of us to be away on these trips!

Right now I am waiting for a phone call back from Linda, Dr. Kozin's nurse, to schedule our follow up appointment.  We have to go back in three weeks to get the cast off, and have a couple days of therapy at Shriner's with their therapists.