It has been a few weeks since Lemondrop’s Laser Surgery & Sclerotherapy and she is healing up nicely. Note: In the image on the left she is wearing her compression garment.
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Month: June 2017
Little Bits of Lemondrop – WDW 2017
Just wanted to share some photos of Lemondrop from our recent vacation. One of her big brothers came along with us this trip and, as I think that you’ll be … Continue reading Little Bits of Lemondrop – WDW 2017
Shriners International Awareness Day – 2017
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Lemondrop: Laser Surgery Followup – 06-05-17
Another trip back to Boston and the Shriners Hospital for a follow up with Dr. Rox Anderson to check Lemondrop’s leg and make sure that she was healing okay.
Long story short: She is doing great. She is healing very well and should be able to resume her normal activities, including swim class, shortly.
After we had finished we walked over to Mass General Hospital, which is right accross the street, and browsed through their gift shop. Sue found a cute head or hair band with an integrated crown that was a perfect accessory for our little princess.
Of course I just have to stick a camera in her face and capture the moment. She though has her opinion about that…
Dr. Anderson suggested that we schedule another round of Laser surgery and sclerotherapy as soon as we are ready and, since we don’t want to keep her laid up any more than we have to in the summer we made an appointment for this coming September.
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Lemondrop: Two Years and a Day Apart
I was reminded today, by Facebook offering to share a memory, that Lemondrop had had her MRI 2 years ago today – or two years and a day from when she had her laser surgery yesterday. My, how time has flown by and how much she has grown.
THEN
Yesterday
TODAY
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Lemondrop – First Laser Surgery – 6/1/17
Today Lemondrop had her first surgical procedure since being home with us.
As previously mentioned, we know that Lemondrop has had at least 3 surgical procedures while still living in China and that she has made it abundantly clear that those experiences did not leave her with pleasant memories.
She had put up quite a fuss when we first brought her to her pediatrician appointment soon after she came home, and she was also not too happy about the MRI a couple months later either, so we were preparing ourselves for a similar experience this time as well. Fortunately it went pretty well.
After yesterdays pre-surgical visit (which you can read about HERE) & our little jaunt around Boston harbor we returned back to our hotel to get cleaned up, unpack a little then go and get something to eat. Lemondrop likes her ‘treasures’ and will carry some of them around in her hand bag of the day, like her backpack, which is what she had with her now. While Sue and I went about tending to our bag Lemondrop tended to hers; placing all the treasures she brought with her on a table by the window.
We had a busy day ahead of us so after dinner she and Sue went to bed right away and I followed shortly thereafter.
Lemondrop is not a morning person and the next morning she got every last second of sleep that she could.
She of course couldn’t eat anything after midnight so there was no breakfast that morning. So instead we just made our way back to the Boston Shriners Hospital where they re-ran some of the checkups they had done the day before.
Lemondrop wanted the nurse to also check her momma’s throat so both she, and momma, complied.
After they were finished we sat in the clinic’s waiting area until we were brought upstairs. Then Lemondrop was changed into a gown for surgery.
She was on a child sized bed but she still looked so small.
After a few minutes the nurses came in to finish getting her ready. They had told her yesterday that they had different scents they could add to the mask she would wear for the anesthesia and now she got to choose which one she wanted.
She decided that she liked the chocolate scent and applied it to the mask herself, along with some princess stickers.
Hillary, from child Life, came back to see her and make sure that she was comfortable as well as go over again what was going to go on.
Hillary, for instance, asked Lemondrop to show her how she would be wearing the mask when she was in the OR.
Dr. Rox Anderson, whom Lemondrop absolutely LOVES, came in to see her, and us, as well. He went over what the plan was and made sure we were comfortable with everything.
Then it was time to bring her into the operating room. Lemondrop had asked that I be the one to bring her in so I was dressed up in a funky gown and cap.
As some of the staff were busy getting things ready others instructed me in bringing her into the operating room. We sat her down on the edge of bed, the chocolate scented mask was given to Lemondrop, held up to her nose and mouth, and she was instructed to take deep breaths. Whatever the gas was that came through though apparently had a distasteful smell and so she tried to push the mask away because she didn’t want it to continue. I helped her hold the mask up to her face and gently encouraged her to continue anyway. Together, along with some of the OR staff, we sang the ABC’s song with her, which she wanted to do instead of the customary counting down of numbers. She very dutifully complied when they again asked her to take deep breaths and after a few moments you could see the anesthesia taking it’s effect: her little body began to shake then stiffen, which they quickly assured me was normal, her hand, which had been softly resting on mine as we held the mask to her face together, now clutched tighter, her head went back as her body arched a bit, then her eyes widened and then they closed.
Now unconscious, her body relaxed and she slumped into mine and the anesthesiologists hands. We lay her down and after they had her in a comfortable position I gave her a kiss on her cheek, whispered in her ear that I loved her and would be back to see her soon, and then left the room with a lump in my throat and moist eyes.
Now outside the OR I was helped out of the gown and hat then Sue and I left the floor and waited up in the cafeteria for them to call when the surgery was done. An hour or so later we got the call and went into the recovery room in PACU where Lemondrop was awake and not really happy.
The affects on your mind of waking up from anesthesia can be bad enough but Lemondrop also doesn’t like things attached to her. When she got some fake stick on fingernails for Christmas she happily wore them for all of 5 minutes before she insisted we help her get them off again. When she woke from the MRI two years ago she really protested about the IV being taped to her hand and put up an equal fuss this time as well. She also didn’t like the clip on her toe measuring how much oxygen her body was getting and really really didn’t like the bandage on her leg.
We placed her on my lap and I did what I could to help her relax and understand that the bandage had to stay on for a few days. Eventually she calmed down a bit and now she wanted the cherry freeze pop that they had promised her the day before.
That did the trick. She finished up the freeze pop, with just a little protest about the sticky pop melting and getting on her fingers, and was now over the hump and ready to go home. We got her dressed again, sat her in her stroller, and made our way to the treasure chest of toys downstairs by the clinic where she picked out a new Barbie doll.
After a short walk we went back to our car and began the ride home. She fell asleep shortly thereafter and, because we got stuck in quite a bit of traffic, had a nice long nap. By the time we were home she was well rested and back to her happy smiling self.
Note: a blog post regarding her followup appointment can be found HERE
Life is good.
Have a MAGICAL day!
Dr. Rox Anderson – Physician Extraordinaire.
This video from 2011 is of the Doctor who performed the laser and Sclerotherapy on Lemondrop’s leg, a really remarkable man.
We first went to see him a year or so ago at his clinic. We had a follow up appointment earlier this year, when he recommended the procedures he did today and, since he was soon to be working at the Shriners Hospital in Boston as well, was more than happy to perform it there which meant that Shriners would be covering the cost instead of us.
Here too is a link to a recent article about him, titled ” The most important medical entrepreneur you’ve never heard of”:
He is truly a remarkable and compassionate man whom you feel instantly at ease around.
Lemondrop LOVES him.
Have a MAGICAL DAY!
The KoboLila Universe 