Keep Kira Smiling: The Battle Continues

It's been 10 days since surgery and Kira is still doing great.

Days 1 and 2, after surgery consisted of resting and healing. Kira still had the epidural in and remained in bed.

Day 3, was kind of a rough one for Kira, no pain but was just having an emotional, crappy day...which I think she was entitled too! We were told in the morning Kira would be moving back to the Oncology unit (unit 1) for the remainder of our stay. We had been hoping for this given Kira is familiar with the nurses and staff there. We were told @ 2:00pm we would not be moving today....this crushed any spirit Kira had left!!!

However on the 4th day Kira was back to her old self! All tubes were un hooked and Kira was up and stood with her crutches for a couple of minutes. Kira also got to finally move back to Unit 1 @ 10:30pm!!!

Day 5, and Kira is showing no signs of pain, is still in good spirits and takes her first (very scary) steps with her crutches.

Day 6, still no pain during the day. She has been taking Tylenol, Advil and Morphine since the epidural came out, however she had not taken any morphine since late on day 5. She was up on her crutches again (still very scared and uncomfortable) and walked part way back to her room from the play room (40 feet) with support from 12 loud cheering nurses! The surgeon said before Kira could leave she had to show them she could do stairs with her crutches. Based on todays progress it was expected this would take 2 or 3 more days. Later in the night she started having nerve pains on her leg, she was given morphine and this took care of the pain.

Day 7, Kira woke up and said "I am doing the stairs today". Got out of bed (with very little help) and took her crutches and made her way across the room and back again. At 1:00pm she went up and down 4 stair steps (with very little help)! Passed that test. Then took off on her crutches to the play room for crafts (roughly 300 feet)! Lesson for the day...."Never under estimate the power of determination!" Kira knew that in order to go home she needed to climb those stairs!! I can tell you she was very scared, however when the time came she did not let her fear hold her back...she gave it everything she had!!! It will now not be a matter of getting her to get moving...we will likely have to slow her down!

Kira is only using morphine as needed now and has been started on a medication to relax the nerves in her leg (think about it, the leg is shorter and the foot pointing backwards, the nerves are confused)! Need to stay one more night to ensure she does not have any reactions to the medication.

Kira's quote for the day while standing on her good leg (no crutches) "Every kid is born with a problem, this is mine".

Day 8, out of bed on her own and moving around. Started cruising around in a wheel chair on her own. Many trips up and down the halls and laps around the nurses station while waiting to get the all clear from the surgeon to go home. When he asked how she was doing Kira said "If you don't let me go home today, I am busting out of here!" He sent her home!

Kira slept the whole way home. We arrived home @ 5:00pm. By 9:00pm Kira had come down with a bad Stomach Flu!!! Welcome home!!

Day 9, was a very long day, not much sleep for anyone all night and Kira was still not able to keep anything down. By 9:00pm the effects of the Flu were starting to pass and Kira was feeling much better. Everyone slept much better that night!

Day 10, is now winding down! Kira is feeling good, drinking lots starting to eat more. Moving around as she wants and playing. Stretching and exercising her leg (has very good range of movement) as instructed before leaving the hospital. During the 24 hours she was fighting the flu she was not able to take any medication and is remarkably showing no signs of pain!!

Kira's quote for the day "you know mom, having one leg isn't that bad".

Kira continues to surprise and impress everyone working on her case! The surgeons are surprised she is showing so little sign of pain, the occupational therapists who got her up on her crutches (they were speechless on Day 7) and are showing her what exercises she needs to do to be ready for her prosthetic leg in 3 months. And the phycologist who has not had to spend much time with Kira as she accepts and adapts to each situation so quickly!

We are home for a very short rest, Kira is scheduled to be back in Calgary on Tuesday May 19th for tests to see how her leg is healing and to make sure the chemo hasn't caused any heart damage or hearing loss. All being well she will be starting Chemo treatments on Wednesday May 20th. While it would be nice to have a longer break...the sooner Chemo starts the sooner Kira can be done!

While Kira is going through these next few rounds of Chemo, the process of making her first prosthetic leg will begin. Kira will also be working with the Occupational therapists who train her leg to use her prosthetic leg. The hope is that when the Chemo treatments are done, her leg will have healed and she can start using her prosthetic leg. We are all looking forward to this as Kira can get more independence back and start being a kid again!

I'll leave you with one last Kira quote...Garth said "sometimes I wonder what's going on in that head of yours?" Her reply, "You should try in sometime, it's a pretty fun place to be!"
:)