pretty life photography

I’m writing this post for you, but mostly for those scared parents who are facing this same surgery with their children. on july 12th 2010 they wheeled my little girl down the long hall for her full spinal fusion surgery. it was without a doubt the scariest moment of my life. emotional does not even begin to describe me at that very moment but let me just say this my camera was wet from my tears while I took this image. to put full trust in others to do what’s best for your child is a hard thing for a mom to do.

waiting for her surgery to be over was torture for us…I have never felt time pass so slowly. seven hours later it was over. maddy’s pain for the first couple of days was horrific to say the least( she was on a cocktail of IV narcotics mainly morphine) along with her own little button at her index finger that she could push to release a bit more morphine every 6 mins. she pressed that button a lot those first 3 days. and as a mom seeing your kid in pain just plain stinks. by day 4 she no longer needed the morphine IV and was put on oral pain medications including valium oxycontin & oxycodone.
maddy’s surgeon, I don’t have enough words to say all that I feel for him, an angel on earth comes close, thank you for loving what you do and doing it so amazingly well! the loving nurses who just took right over taking loving care of her and calming me when I needed it. her pain management and physical therapy team too. & to all of them I will just say that I am grateful for grace, miracles, your years of study, your talented hands and mostly my girls amazing courage:)

& I am grateful for him. my hon, maddy’s daddy. the kind of man who loves fully, never wavers, and will not hesitate for a second when his daughter asks him to sit by her bed and read aloud to her the latest boy crazy magazine! a justin bieber fan he is NOT! I love you hon for loving us every single day:)


I was amazed at how much was accomplished with maddy in the 6 days of hospitalization. on the second day physical therapy started and they worked on getting her to sit up stand and take a few short steps. not easy…lots of pain and as expected vomiting. the next day they worked even harder with her….on the 4th day she was able to have all of her IVs removed and we walked all around the unit several times a day, it really helped her heal and actually relieved pain. she would not be released without doing certain things on her own. in 6 days she completed everything and we were released. amazing to me considering all that she had gone through. it really went fast…they moved her back to normalcy and to herself so quickly I don’t think we really had time to think. the cafeteria food was pretty good. though I don’t think I could eat another grilled chicken panini sandwich again for a long time or a salad for that matter.

what got me through? faith, darling friends, family and THIS:) lots of white strong chocolate mochas. would we do it again? IN A HEARTBEAT! do not fear this surgery, fear not having it, what would her future have been like if we had left her spine to go where it wanted? yes! do this surgery. because the thought of how disfiguring and painful it would be for her as an adult was by far a worse fear for me.

do it for a chance at THIS!! this is what her surgeon pulled out from behind his back at the post op meeting with us, her after xray:) talk about overwhelming:) YES, we would do it all over again.


today marks one week that we have been home from the hospital, monday will mark 2 weeks post op. maddy continues to amaze me with her strength to heal. I also have to add that she is mostly taking tylenol now for the pain:) can you believe that? yes! do it!

“There is something beautiful about all scars of whatever nature. A scar means the hurt is over, the wound is closed , healed and done with.”-Harry Crews