Hip Surgery

As previous postings have noted Alexis' journey with hip dysplasia, the saga continues. Just took us a while to update here. Her pelvic osteotomy on February 2, 2010 went as planned and the orthopedic surgeon seemed pleased with how it all went. I'll spare too many details but here are some of my most memorable moments:

--The pink liquid sedative they gave Alexis before the surgery to relax her for the anesthesia part...why memorable? Because Alexis only swallowed half of it, so they still had to put the anesthesia mask over her face when it came time, but even with only half of it, she was loopy. And I don't mean silly funny loopy, I mean HILARIOUS loopy. So I'm holding Alexis and I sit down on a chair with her on my lap...she looks down at the floor and looks very concerned and says "Mommy, what are you sitting on?" Then she stares at my nose and touches it and says "nose" and starts giggling. I ask her "how many noses do you see on my face Alexis?" She says "two". We all start laughing at this point...until it's time to hand her over to the anesthesiologist anyway. Why is it that I still cried after handing her to the doctor, even though this was her 4th surgery and about the 7th time she has undergone anesthesia? Why doesn't it seem easier?

--It seemed like a very long 4-5 hours for us as we waited...but we looked around the waiting room and heard the conversations of parents who had children in surgery for last hope cancer tumor removals, for heart surgeries, for things that are a whole lot scarier than hip dysplasia.

--The sound of Alexis' cry after waking up from anesthesia...that hoarse painful sound...

--Alexis' first reaction of "take this off" referring not to the body cast as we thought she would ask, but referring to the IV cuff on her arm!

--Laying next to Alexis in her bed all night, watching her sleep, listening to her breathing and the beeps of the monitors. I didn't get much sleep, but it was a beautiful moment when she woke up, looked at me and said "hi mommy" and then went back to sleep for a little more.

--Alexis' love affair with hospital popsicles :)