Friday, April 29, 2016

Kenzie's Surgery

Kenzie's surgery went well this morning.  She was a big hit with all the doctors and nurses.  After we went back to pre-op, she was yelling down the hall at anyone who walked by and playing peekaboo around the curtain!  She got a mixture of Tylenol and Versed (which is to help with anxiety and help relax her).  We could tell when it kicked in, because she got giggly And a little loopy.  Kevin said that "at least we know she'll be a happy drunk", hahaha.

Kenzie also got a Barbara Bush Children's Hospital teddy bear.  She a good Bear Mommy.  She loved all over him with big hugs and "Mmmmms".  Kenzie was happy enough to go back with the nurses, so we didn't have to go back with her for the anesthesia.

The surgery itself only lasted about 15 minutes, but because of her age she had to be put to sleep and intubated.  Most of the time was spent waiting for her to wake up.  The doctor said she came through it well.  She will have a post-op appointment next week.  Right now she's not allowed to take a bath and get her eyes wet or rub them vigorously.  She gets very upset when we pull her hands away from her eyes.  We have these little elbow immobilizers for when she sleeps.   



They told us that she should eat something soft and easy like pancakes for her first meal.  After days of watching IHOP commercials for cupcake pancakes, I was only too happy to have an excuse to go! Kenzie sucked down 5 of those small silver dollar pancakes and some scrambled eggs.  She was pretty drowsy for most of the day which was to be expected.  At least she wasn't nearly as cranky as they told us she would probably be upon waking up.

Tonight she is doing well.  Her eye is still a bit puffy, but again that is expected.  They said her eye could be red and bloodshot for 3 weeks.  It also could be up to 3 weeks before the alignment changes.

In other Kenzie news, she had her genetics appointment this week.  Her neurologist had referred us, because she was concerned that Kenzie's head hadn't grown at all between appointments.  The neurologist wanted genetics to try and determine if there is a reason her head size is so small.  At the genetics appointment, they took an extensive family history.  They appreciated how easy and uncomplicated our families were... Only one sibling for each Kevin and I.  

The doctor also watched Kenzie play and observed her movements.  The doctor was a little concerned that Kenzie keeps her legs stiff and her feet pointed, but the orthodic she will most likely be getting to support her feet (because she currently rolls her ankles in when standing) should help with that.  Of course the freaking doctor comments on that and mentions cerebral palsy just to freak me out.  She did mention that she sees familial features in Kenzie rather than features that show up in syndromes (she used Downs as an example).  They also measured my head and Kevin's.  Kevin has a huge head, as we all know.  He's saying it's just because he's so smart (insert eye roll here).  I, on the other hand, actually have a smaller head.  Apparently I am in the 10th percentile for adult women.  As the doctor said, it could be Kenzie is just small.  This is the hope I'm holding onto.

Lastly, they drew blood from Kenzie.  They will run her blood to test the various chromosomes that are associated with microcephaly (small head size).  They are looking for missing parts of chromosomes or "misspellings".  We should hear the results in about 4 weeks.  They will either be normal, abnormal, or unknown variant.  Unknown variant just means something is different, but they don't know how it will affect her.  If everything is normal, we get a phone call.  If not, we will get a call to come in and talk about it.  Either way, she has a follow up on her birthday.  

In short, Kenzie is a medical mess and our insurance company hates us.  Hopefully, we will get some answers soon.  In the meantime, Kenzie seems to be a very happy baby and not in any pain or distress and that's what keeps me going.

Hopefully I will have a happy Bermuda blog in a couple weeks.  We are still scanning the professional pics and collecting pics from Kevin's mom and sister.