The Donoghue Family: Maggie's Surgery

Maggie had her tendon transfer surgery on Tuesday. We got to the hospital at 6:30am and she started getting prepped afterward. I was really hoping they would let us go back with her until she was under anesthesia, but as expected, it's against policy. The staff was really nice though, and put an ID tag on her ninja turtle toy, and also gave her a new stuffed dog (which she named Zaltz after her surgeon). Thank goodness Grandma took Ben and Evie for a sleepover the night before - neither of us wanted to do this alone!

Getting ready to go back with her extra patients

Donatello was officially documented

Pre-surgery - getting all the jumping out of her system

The surgery took about an hour, and she was grumpy but actually much better off than I expected afterwards. She chose a red cast, and her doctor gave her new puppy a matching one. We were loading into the car by 11am and headed home to rest! I thought the pain would start kicking in that afternoon, but it took a full day before she started complaining. She has a screw in her bone to hold the tendon in place, but this will dissolve over time. She also has a "button" on the bottom of her foot where a suture connected to the tendon is anchored. It's slightly horrifying to think about, so I don't.

Maggie and Zaltz's casts

She can still help out with Ben sometimes!

On the way home from the hospital, Jamie mentioned something about cutting open her foot and Maggie freaked out, saying she didn't want them to cut her... she apparently did not realize what was actually happening down there a few hours ago. I think it's for the best that we gave her fuzzy details beforehand.

So far she's been a trooper, but it's already sick of not walking and is really bored at home all day. I thought she would want to sleep a lot, but she's up for most of the day with maybe a little nap in the afternoon. I'm hoping to send her back to school next week, so that should help. Our 60 lb girl (not counting the cast) gives us a good workout for bathroom breaks, upstairs to bed, and moving from the wheelchair to the couch. So... just five more weeks...

Wearing her fabulous stick-on nails from Grammer

Evie is having a hard time with all the attention Maggie is getting. We're doing our best to dote on her, but it just isn't the same and she knows it. I'm hoping to find time for a little one-on-one outing with her.