Day 3 Update

Good Morning All.  I want to again thank you all for your continued prayers.  We've really needed them the last few days and have so appreciated the calls, texts, emails, love and support you've continued to give us.  It certainly makes this situation easier knowing how much support we have.

Unfortunately, the surgery has been the easy part.  Chad and I both have been completely caught off-guard by how difficult the last two days have been.  Our brains were so focused on the actual surgery, that I guess we didn't realize the recovery could be 1000% worse than the surgery.

I'm not going to sugarcoat it (though I never do...) the last two days have been pretty brutal.  Seeing Elena struggle with the pain, discomfort, fear, confusion, disorientation has been heartbreaking.  We are simply at a loss of what to do.  It's pitiful to see her so out of it on all the pain meds, but the alternative is having her in hysterics and in pain.  She cried for five hours straight on Tuesday after coming out of the anesthesia.  Finally, they gave her a large dose of meds that knocked her out and have pretty much been keeping her on heavy pain meds since then.  Our theory has been to just keep her as comfortable as possible.  Her being unable to communicate if she's nauseous, if her belly hurts, if she's hungry, if she's in pain, if she's scared has proved incredibly difficult.  We're basically assuming it's pain and knocking her out. If you know Elena, she's not a crier and has a ridiculously high pain tolerance so this all has been a real struggle.

The silver lining?  This surgery has a really high success rate compared to what her other Ortho doc wanted to do (not to mention it's less invasive) so there's a good chance this is the last hip surgery she will need.  That's good, because I NEVER want to go through this again.

For all you worriers out there, I promise we're ok.  It's tough right now, but no need to panic.  Chad and I are a good team and trust me, we've been through far more stressful situations than this.  You know, it's the hardest thing in the world to see your child in pain and we're in the thick of it.  We're surrounded by your prayers and are showering Laney with love and kisses.

Thanks for sticking with us!
xo Emm