Janica's Anatomy

So today was it, the big day. For the first time in many months, I set my alarm for 6 am and actually got up that early! Jason and I got clothes for the kids for the week, packed an overnight bag for me, got the kids up, had a family prayer, and off we went. Our first stop was to our next-door-neighbors, the Leas, to drop off Tegan. They kindly let him stay at their house, until it was time for him to go to school. Next stop was my parent's house, to drop off Kierra with my sister Keturah for the day. Kierra was a little shy, but she is a good sport and we were able to leave no problem.

Then all too soon, we were at the hospital, checking-in to same day surgery. Janica was a very good sport, cheerful through the whole thing. She patiently endured being measured, weighed, poked, prodded and anything else the did, in order to proclaim her in good enough health for her surgery. We put her in hospital pajamas, and then it was time to wait. Fortunately, the waiting room was full of toys, so Janica really enjoyed herself.




They gave her more medication that helped her relax and she sure was relaxed! You know after watching her, I could have used some medication to help me relax too, but I guess it was for the best that they only gave it to the children having surgery. Sigh. Once she got the drug, she had to stay in the wagon so she wouldn't fall down. She got pretty loopy, so the wagon was a great idea.




Janica's surgery was supposed to start at 10:15, but they came and got her closer to 10:45. Again, the waiting didn't bother Janica, but it didn't help my nerves any! After they took her back to the OR, Jason and I went to the Surgery waiting room. Not a cheerful place. Imagine, a room full of anxious parents, waiting for their children's surgeons to come in and give them either good or bad news. No, it wasn't pleasant. Well,that was until my dear friend Jennifer showed up. She claimed that she happened to be in the area (yeah right), and it just so happened that she was there to talk to Jason and me and help keep us distracted while we waited. Truly a godsend!

The surgery was supposed to last about two hours, but it was more than 2 1/2 hours before Dr. Brockmeyer, the neurosurgeon came to talk to us. The surgery was a success! He said that the untethering was much harder than he thought it would be, but that he was also able to do more than he thought he would. He told us that he was able to untether all of the nerves for her bladder and that he was also able to untether most of the other nerves. He was very pleased with how it turned out. Now the one comment he made was that Janica has an "interesting anatomy." Turns out that her nerves don't go to her left leg in the regular way. He was concerned about her left leg, until we told him that she hasn't had any problems and that it functions just fine. We'll still keep an eye on it.

Once the surgery was over, it was off to recovery. Because of all the medication Janica had received, she was in no hurry to wake up. No hurry at all. We shook her, tickled her, talked loudly to her, and all to no avail. Well at one point she did wake up long enough to open her eye and say "It's supposed to be four days!" In explaining to her what was going to happen this week, Jason and I told her that she would be in the hospital for four days. I guess she thought she would be able to sleep that whole time! It was pretty cute, and I knew that once she woke up, she would still be my Janica.

I guess that pretty well takes us to now. We are in her room in the neurosurgery wing. Janica has woken up and has done well enough on clear liquids that they let her eat solids. She was very pleased with this development, since she hadn't eaten since 6:30 last night.




We've watched Dumbo, Cinderella, and now we're watching Return to Neverland. Jason went home to get Tegan and Kierra from my parents and put them to bed. He'll be back in the morning, after he takes Tegan to school. I will be very happy when he is back!

Thank you for all of your prayers, love and support. I have felt the power of your prayers and my testimony has been strengthened. Much love to you all!