Maeghan
Maeghan's second operation was a bit more complicated, or so we were told. They were going to try to fix the split in her spinal column up near her neck. This is the one they had been waiting for. It was the one that would determine if she was 'normal' or if she would be paralysed or worse. I say this over and over, but I don't remember when this happened or how old she was. I am pretty sure it was before she was 3, but I don't know how much younger, or maybe older. I don't know.
The operation itself was supposed to take about 8 hours, I believe. A long time with not a lot of news from the room. I don't know how many doctors were to be involved but I think there were a lot of observers. I am vaguely remembering this, so I am probably getting some of it wrong.
We had to go through the putting her under again. I don't remember if she was walking yet. She didn't walk until she was about 2, so it could have been before that but I don't think so. She was walking and talking. She was always talking. I have probably gone through some of this in the earliest blogs so I should go back and read them to make sure I am not contradicting things. But I won't, go back that is. So if I tell the story differently, the earlier ones are more accurate, so ignore them and try to follow along with the new story.
I really have no idea what they actually did. It was to fix her neck. What that involved is beyond me. Strange that I have not done more research on it. That is what I would normally do, but phones were not what we have now and I was probably using an old flip phone. I know I had the Nokia Navigator back then, for a long time. I loved that phone. But it did not have internet and I am pretty sure no one had heard of an iPhone, so looking things up was not an option.
Juanita seemed to think that Maeghan's spine was split into three but I don't know where she heard that. Maybe they said something at some point or maybe we were just looking at pictures and we didn't know what they were showing us. The surgeon that was doing it said there was just a split and he was going to attempt to repair it. I don't know, but no one ever said three so I will discount that as Juanita misunderstanding what was happening.
I don't remember watching William, so that is why I think it was before she was three. William was born when she was after that, so I think it was when she was two or something. Guess it doesn't really matter.
Maeghan came out of the operation with no issues. Then again, how would we know. We had been given so many warnings about what could and probably would happen, that just having her still with us was the happiest we had been. The doctor came out and was all excited and said everything had gone really well and they had fixed everything. He seemed really pleased so we were really pleased. He said things would show up later in life but for now, everything was good. She wasn't in danger of losing her ability to walk or anything for a while, so it was all good. They had stabilized it and she didn't have any outstanding issues. She still had the fused spine in the lower part of her back, so she would still be small, but for now, she was fine and has been ever since then. Still don't know what the ramifications are for the future, but it was all good back then.
Which brings us to the walking and talking stage and Maeghan being the cutest thing that ever was. I have told those stories before and I might go into a few of them again, but we were happy at that point and could focus our attention on having William and making sure Maeghan was ok.
This entry is kind of short and I was going to go into the whole shoe debacle, but I think I will just end it being short. I might have to actually go back and read some of the other stuff so I know what can be repeated and what needs to be told. Not sure when, I am once again doing this at work, but should be soon. Maybe even today. I need to continue the William story, so that will take some time. William didn't have any problems, he was just such an adventure and I need to emphasize that a bit more than I think I have in the past.
But that can wait. Have work to do.
Later
