Day 8: Pool Therapy

This morning, Ava woke a bit on the grumpy side, and was sick to her stomach soon after getting up, going to the bathroom, & taking her medicine.  We are still struggling with figuring out what is making her vomit - I'm coming to the conclusion that it may be the oxy.  Which sucks because it's the pain medication that we've been giving her...and that I spent a crap ton of money on just a few days ago.  :/

We had PT at 9am and water therapy in the pool at 11am.  She did a good job at PT and I thought her walking looked pretty good.  She's getting more and more comfortable with the walker - but that means she's taking risks I don't always like.  And walking a tad too fast sometimes.  LOL!

They gave us an hour in between PT and the pool to get ready, which was good and bad.  Ava is still so anxious about touching the pins or taking off the sponges.  She cried that she wanted to leave the sponges on so that she "didn't have to look at it" again today.  I posted on FB for suggestions this afternoon and will be trying out all of them until we find one that sticks for the future.  We had to get all of the sponges off and rinse the pinsites before getting in the pool.  The sites are still looking pretty gruesome to me.  The worst part is the seeping.  Blech.

You can see the long incision on the left and the greenish bruising that is still there.  She's still swollen a little pretty much everywhere on that leg.  The abrasions around the pins near her knee (right picture) look like they have stitches in them to me.  I'm planning to ask at the appointment tomorrow.

Transferring up onto the chair lift was even a bit of a nightmare because of the footrest and the hard surface and her anxiety.  I felt like there was really nobody there who could guide us through this first session and that was really hard.  I kept waiting for someone to help us...or step in and tell us what works best...or something and there just wasn't anyone.  The good news was that she loved the water and it didn't seem to hurt her (which was her fear - that the pool water would hurt the pins).

She loves the water and the pool usually, so I am glad this was a positive for her.  She got tired toward the end and didn't want to finish her exercises but generally did well.  It was cool to watch her walk in the water and bend and stretch in different ways without the weight holding her down.

After getting out of the pool, we had to figure out how to maneuver her tired body to the shower and wash off, wash her hair, get out of the suit, dry off, get dressed, dry off the pin sites and then reapply the sponges and gauze.  All with a little girl who is highly sensitive, anxious, and did I mention EXHAUSTED from 2 hours of PT? She was in full meltdown mode...in the middle of everyone.  I try not to worry about what others think, but it's hard to not just want to say, "SUCK IT UP - look at all these other kids!  They aren't crying and freaking out!!!"   But I did my best to stay calm and measured and work with her and remember how new all of this is to her and how scary it is and how she's only 8yo and she's never had anything more than a paper cut to deal with in her entire little life..... By the end she was so tired she couldn't hardly hold herself up, but I am not really speedy yet and getting the sponges on - and the back hip ones she has to be standing for or I can't figure out how to wedge them in without her screaming.  :/

We got back to the HP House and it was time to say goodbye to Amber.  I can't express how much it has helped to have her here. We all joke that she's the smartest of all the Bradley kids, but I'm pretty sure that it's really not a joke. And her extensive knowledge of hospitals, medications, dosages, side effects, etc. (all the stuff she knows as a pharmacist) was absolutely amazing to have.  Plus, it was nice for me to have some comic relief every once in a while and someone just to chat with and 'take a break' with during those long hospital days and nights.  After mom left to take Amber to the airport, Ava got ready for a nap, so it was time to put the extender bar in.  For the first time, we actually had MORE space than we needed between the posts.  Ava wanted me to take a picture!  Where her fingers are holding the bolt, it's supposed to fit in the next hole you see on the bar next to it!!

Ava slept for about an hour and a half and I finally had a chance to do a few work related things that have been waiting since my hasty exit from Virginia Beach.  I have briefly thought about KGP and my clients a few times, but honestly have not even had 30 minutes to open my computer and do anything except write this blog.

This evening, we had more visitors (I was so tired that I forgot to take any pictures!) - but Ryan's sister Rhonda happened to be on a work trip about an hour from here and drove over to see Ava.  And Papa and Nana McGhee arrived this evening from Ohio to cheer her up with balloons and smiles.  Ava and I were downstairs painting (craft time at the HP House was so nice today!) when they arrived.  Unfortunately, Ava got sick again and we came up to our room to clean her up and get new clothes.  They played a couple games and we visited until about 8:30pm when it was time to get Ava settled and in bed for the night.  She ate some soup and seemed to keep it down.  But she was VERY resistant to taking the oxy at bedtime.  We called Aunt Amber for advice and she said to eat a little and drink a little and take a little less of a dose of oxy for the overnight and then we'll see about possibly trying out Tylenol tomorrow.  I'm scared to take her off the oxy all together and find that she's in serious pain tomorrow.  But I also don't want her to be sick to her stomach and not able to eat/drink (or not wanting to for fear of throwing it up!).

She has two little sores on the backs of her heels from sleeping on her back and not being able to shift much or move when she sleeps.  I guess we dropped the ball on making sure her heels were up off the beds.  The nurse gave us these air cushion boots that I'm calling her 'moon boots'.  So, she went to bed with them on tonight.  HA!

Tomorrow we have regular PT and then our follow up with Dr. Standard tomorrow afternoon.  Will keep updating!!