The day finally arrived for Lexi to have her surgery. Lexi really wanted her dad to be there so we opted to have her surgery the week before he left. Honestly I was glad he was there too. I swear my heart just breaks every time this poor girl goes into surgery. I do pretty good holding it together until I have to give her a kiss just before the anesthesiologist takes her down the hall. Then the tears start and worry sets in. I have done it on my own but to have him by my side makes it easier on us both. This surgery will require the doctor to break Lexi's left femur in half, rotate it out and then thread a metal rod down the inside of her bone which would be held in place with a large screw on the top and bottom. Then Dr. Stevens would move into to her knee. He would place a plate on the inside of her knee and hold it in place with screws placed into her growth plates. We did this same surgery on Lexi's right leg 2 years ago, so we knew what we were up against. Once all that was in place they would thread a catheter into her hip that would supply numbing medication directly into her leg to help manage her pain. It took about three hours for Dr. Steven's to complete Lexi's surgery. I love Primary Children's Hospital they are so great at keeping us updated in the waiting room. The operating nurse called us every hour to update us on Lexi. After about three and half hours Dr. Stevens came and spoke with Jon and I. The surgery went as expected and she was in recovery. As the doctor was speaking to us, Jon and I both noticed that there was blood on his shoes and the leg of his pants. There are no words to describe what you feel at that moment as a parent knowing that blood belonged to your daughter. It was about 20 minutes later we finally got to go back to recovery and see Lexi. She took one look at Jon and started crying, she was drifting in out and was in a lot of pain. They were giving her high doses of pain medication to get it under control and it was affecting her breathing. We had to keep reminding her breath. Every time she woke up she would cry and tell us how much it hurt. She held on tight to Jon's hand. There are very few things that make my strong Army soldier to cry, Laura Ingalls, little kids singing primary songs, when he talks about the Savior and last when his children are crying in pain and he can not make it better. He turned his head to the side several times as his eyes welled up with tears. Eventually they moved us to a room but Lexi would remain on oxygen for the night. We were prepared to stay in the hospital for three days, like last time, but Lexi was determined to only spend one night at the hospital. To go home Lexi had to meet three criteria 1) off all heavy pain medication and oxygen 2) able to take 10 steps on her crutches and cleared by the physical therapist 3) able to go up and down stairs with her crutches. She meet her goal and we were on our way home. Lexi will spend the next month in a wheelchair and use crutches around the house. I took Lexi home with the catheter and cue ball of medicine and would remove it at home after three days. You can see the blue bag hanging on her side in several pictures. It felt good to get Lexi home and start her recovery. Sam was more than willing to help his sister get around and I know that each of her siblings were excited to have her back home.
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