Miss McKenna Before and After Surgery

We apologize for not having posted in quite a while.  We wanted to let everyone that it has been two months now since McKenna surgery and she is doing well.  She has adjusted to her new eating and speaking habits.  She has started walking and talking both as fast as she can.  She still has problems with a few syllables like “ma ma” but other than that she loves to jibber-jabber on the phone to anyone who will listen.

I did want to mention that though the surgery itself went well for McKenna, she did have to stay in the hospital additional days because she refused to eat. That being said, Tracy, Jimi and even Bela’s due diligence helped McKenna in the end.  She took enough fluids and proved to the nurses that she would eat and was released a day later than scheduled.

The largest unfortunate occurrence was the inhospitable nature of some of the staff at the hospital.  McKenna was changed to the cardio-vascular unit meaning that no one was allowed to stay overnight with her.  Tracy had to sleep in the waiting room while her 14 month old slept in a room with two other children, a teenage and a newborn who had just underwent open-heart surgery. After three long days and two hard nights, the Conrads went back to Grandma and Grandpa Perez’s house for some much needed tender-loving care.

 

I wanted to share with you a scrapbooking page of McKenna before and after her surgery.  There are two adorable photos of her in her hospital gown playing in the waiting room just before surgery.  The third photo is McKenna recovering with her no-no’s on her arm to keep her from putting her hands in her mouth.  The pour baby had to eat through a syringe for over 12 days. Tracy said she looked like a little bird when she ate.

McKenna is such a trooper and we are so proud of her recovering so quickly. Thank you to everyone for your concern and prayers.  Your support means the world to this adorable little girl.

Much Love,

Aunt Brandy

Miss McKenna Before and After Surgery

We apologize for not having posted in quite a while.  We wanted to let everyone that it has been two months now since McKenna surgery and she is doing well.  She has adjusted to her new eating and speaking habits.  She has started walking and talking both as fast as she can.  She still has problems with a few syllables like “ma ma” but other than that I she loves to jibber-jabber on the phone to anyone who will listen.

I did want to mention that though the surgery itself went well for McKenna, she did have to stay in the hospital additional days because she refused to eat. That being said, Tracy, Jimi and even Bela’s due diligence helped McKenna in the end.  She took enough fluids and proved to the nurses that she would eat and was released a day later than scheduled.

The largest unfortunate occurrence was the inhospitable nature of some of the staff at the hospital.  McKenna was changed to the cardio-vascular unit meaning that no one was allowed to stay overnight with her.  Tracy had to sleep in the waiting room while her 14 month old slept in a room with two other children, a teenage and a newborn who had just underwent open-heart surgery. After three long days and two hard nights, the Conrads went back to Grandma and Grandpa Perez’s house for some much needed tender-loving care.

 

I wanted to share with you a scrapbooking page of McKenna before and after her surgery.  There are two adorable photos of her in her hospital gown playing in the waiting room just before surgery.  The third photo is McKenna recovering with her no-no’s on her arm to keep her from putting her hands in her mouth.  The poor baby had to eat through a syringe for over 12 days. Tracy said she looked like a little bird when she ate.

McKenna is such a trooper and we are so proud of her recovering so quickly. Thank you to everyone for your concern and prayers.  Your support means the world to this adorable little girl.

Much Love,

Aunt Brandy

Update on McKenna's Surgery

Well, McKenna is out of surgery in recovery. Mommy and daddy can't see her yet. She was in so much pain that they put her back on pain meds and she is resting. While she is fine and healthy, the prognosis is grim.

Doctor Soler told the parents that McKenna's case is very rare. In most situations, the palate on either side is too small. The doctor goes in and takes the skin off the bone and stitches it together in the center as a make-shift palate just without bone. But in McKenna's case, one side of her palate is 1/2 where it should be and the other half is 1 1/2 times the size it should be and completely twisted. They were able to sew it together but part of her bone is exposed and they hope that it will heal itself. There is a huge dip in the palate which should be flat and the artery that normally runs across the palate is all the way at the back of her mouth.

The doctor's prognosis is that McKenna will require a bone graph and braces to correct her crooked palate, requiring her jaw to be broken and rewired! She will also require a missing tooth to be replaced and then plastic surgery for her nose to replace the lacking cartilage.

For the next two weeks, McKenna will have to go back on formula and eat from a syringe, because any suction could pull the delicate stitches apart. Please keep her and her family in her prayers on her road to recovery.

I will keep you posted on any progress or setbacks. Again, your help is still greatly needed, especially now knowing that her situation is every worse than we originally thought.

Thank you in advance,
Dani
SOTB Owner and McKenna's Auntie

It's Official

Well, ladies and gents, it's official. McKenna's charity kit is complete and in the Scrap Outside the Box store. It's called "A Mother's Love" and it gives the word "mega" a whole different meaning. Remember that 100% of the proceeds of "A Mother's Love" go directly to the hospital and doctor's bills.

We hope that you will dig deep into your digiscrapping budget and make a little girl and her family very happy.



To purchase the kit, click here.

Thanks,
Dani