Homecoming and lots of new challenges

I have never been so worried about getting home from a trip, but things worked out okay and we made it just fine.  Gillette gave us enough pain medication to get through the next few days so I didn't have to go out to try to fill the prescriptions at Walgreens.  My cousin Erica drove us to the airport.  There were wheelchairs with attendants right inside the door, so I didn't have to search far, but I was so glad to have Erica there so I didn't have to leave Suchitra on the curb by herself while I found the wheelchair.  We discovered that by propping our suitcase on the footrests of the airport wheelchair, we could keep Suchitra's legs extended.

Getting through security was difficult because they didn't want to let her through with the suitcase propping up her feet, but somebody had the idea to put a plastic bin under her feet instead and that worked for TSA.  After I got through security myself, I looked over and there was a TSA officer signing Suchitra's cast!

Once we got to the gate, she was cranky and experiencing some pain, so I gave her more medicine.  That was a hard 45 minutes to get through.  And being moved in and out of her wheelchair was still very uncomfortable.  On the first flight from Minneapolis to Denver, they made us put the suitcase up in the overhead compartment for takeoff and landing, so I had to balance her very heavy legs on my knees and feet until they took it down again.  On our Denver to Portland flight, they let us keep the suitcase down the whole time and I was really grateful.

I tried taking her to the bathroom on the first flight and it did not work well at all - it was just too tight a space - very painful for her and difficult for me to hold her in position.  We tried again in the airport, but even the wheelchair-accessible stall was too small to fit her with her legs out straight plus me, the wheelchair and our luggage.  Thank goodness my parents were there to pick us up and we don't live far from the airport.

At home there were new problems to solve, like how to prop up her feet in our bathroom, how to fit her legs under the table to eat, and how to rearrange the furniture to make it all fit better.  Also, I had to take my car in to replace the seat belt that Tiller chewed through a few years ago, because she can't sit behind the driver's seat anymore, since the front seat has to be pushed all the way forward for her legs to fit behind it.  I had put off fixing it before because of the cost ($441! for a seat belt!) but this was a good reason to finally get it done.  My parents have been coming over to bring us groceries and other stuff we need and to make us dinner.  I appreciate them so much.  My dad got Suchitra a set of Carmen Miranda movies from Costco, which will be the perfect entertainment!

I had a rental wheelchair delivered here which has legrests for her feet and a reclining back.  It's more comfortable for her, but it's so heavy that I cannot lift it into the car by myself.  This is going to severely limit my ability to take her anywhere for the next few weeks, along with the problem of not fitting into public bathrooms.  Even though we'll be staying at home, we can put her into the wheelchair and take her on walks around the neighborhood.

Yesterday we went to our favorite hair salon, since we hadn't had time to get trims before leaving, and for Suchitra having shorter hair will be easier to take care of since she cannot take a bath or shower for the next six weeks (we'll be doing bed-baths).  She asked for an Audrey Hepburn cut and it looks really cute even with a little bed-head:

I guess Tiller must have been feeling left out of the whole medical experience because he came down with a nasty rash under three of his legs.  Jonathan, who takes care of him when we're gone, told me about it when he dropped him off, but I was so busy that I forgot to look at it until last night and it looked pretty bad.  I had some antimicrobial cleanser left over from the time he got a rash in his ear, so I washed him down and then put an old nightshirt on him so he can't scratch as easily.  Poor guy.  Good thing I'm getting to be such an expert nurse.

Suchitra hasn't needed any pain medication since yesterday morning, which is really great.  Her hip incisions look good.  My main concern at this point is getting her digestive system back in shape and keeping things moving along.  She also needs to be turned frequently to avoid pain and pressure buildup, as well as to keep her hip muscles flexible.  A Gillette nurse called to check up on us today and she said it sounds like Suchitra is doing great.  Emotionally she is in pretty good spirits although prone to fits of frustration at having to be literally stuck in this situation.  For such an active little kid, this will be a hard time to get through.  However, yesterday, Friday, marked one week already since the surgery.  So we only have two more weeks in which she has to have the bar between her feet and really can't move much at all.  After that, we will take the bar off and she can start walking a little bit and doing physical therapy even with the casts still on (Gillette gave us some flat shoes that strap onto the bottom of the casts).  On Monday I have to go back to work, so Suchitra will be at home with Rachel, her lovely nanny for the rest of the month.  Visitors will be more than welcome - just let me know if you want to come by!

I'll try to update periodically as her recovery moves along.  Thanks again everyone for reading.