Josiah's Surgery Day

Josiah was supposed to have his heel cord surgery on July 31st with our local pediatric orthopedic. On July 30th the Dr himself called me to say he was very angry and saddened to say the insurance was not covering Josiah's surgery! Apparently the hospital our Dr was planning on using was not covered under our insurance and they were referring us to a hospital 3 1/2 hours away. I immediately got on the phone with the insurance to try and change their minds. They then told me I could file an appeal, but that it would take a whole month to get a reply! I broke down in tears. Here we were just a step away from finalizing Josiah's treatment and the insurance chooses to make it impossible.
I spoke with the Dr again letting him know I had no luck. He suggested to just travel the 3 1/2 hours to the children's hospital where they referred me instead of waiting a month to hear back from the insurance. He gave me the name of a Dr he trusted and said he would be happy to see Josiah again after surgery. I called the Children's hospital who said they didn't have an appointment for 2 weeks! I let them know what the insurance did and what was going on, she said there was nothing she could do because the Dr was going on vacation. I was upset and I think she could hear the desperation in my voice, so she put me on hold while she spoke with the new Dr. When she came back on the line she said the Dr would see us the following Wednesday at 8 am. I immediately took the appointment and made the plans to travel with Josiah and my sister Gilda on that Wednesday at 4 am. Luis had to work the previous night and could not get the time off.
The trip did was actually not that bad. I felt lucky, actually, after doing some research and finding out other moms had to travel to other states to find Ponseti method specialist. Ponseti method is the casting method of treating clubfoot that was discovered by Dr. Ponseti in 2001, so not a whole lot of Dr's are familiar or up to date with this method of treatment. Some Dr's still go straight to doing a number of surgeries from the time of birth until the problem is fixed, which could be up until they are young kids or even teenagers. I am very happy that the Dr's in my area- heck in the state know how to practice this method of treatment. After meeting with the new Dr that day I felt at ease and confident that this Dr knew what he was doing. He examined Josiah's feet carefully and meticulously. I was so amazed. He did not seem rushed or indifferent about Josiah, he seemed calm, confident, and sympathetic about the whole insurance situation. He was willing to answer any and all questions we might have. We scheduled the surgery for a week from Friday. I left feeling relieved that the new Dr definetly a great Dr, even his casting job was better than the previous sets Josiah had gotten.
I felt so much anticipation the whole week leading up to the surgery. The surgery was, from what the Dr told me, just a small cut on the foot to release the tight heel cord. So the surgery was not what made me nervous. What made me nervous was that Josiah had to go under anesthesia. His body was so small and I was afraid there would be negative consequences to the anesthesia. I pictured the worst and kept thinking of worst case scenarios. I couldn't help but worry about my baby, what mom wouldn't. However I knew that God would watch over my baby and keep him safe, and that gave me peace of mind. The night before surgery day I was able to take off his casts and give my baby a bath. We took pictures to compare the progress he has made.

This is Josiah before any treatment for clubfoot. You can see his feet fold inward. He is 15 days in this pic.

This is Josiah the night before surgery, 3 months old. You can see how straight his feet have gotten!

I love his smile!

On our way to Surgery!

Once we got there they signed us in and it went pretty fast from there. It was now 12:30pm and Josiah had not eaten since 7:30 because of surgery, so he was pretty upset when I held him and wouldn't feed him. My sister had to hold him and sweet talk him! Haha

They had us get him ready for surgery in this cute little gown. He was still pretty angry about not eating.

The room was cold so they gave us a warm blanket to bundle him in while we waited for the Dr to come.

Mommy was giving him lots of last minute kisses!

It was so hard to hand him off to the nurse. There was a lot of tears from both of us.

My sister and I waited.....

Until they wheeled him in! He looked so out of it until he saw us.

I couldn't wait to just pick him up and kiss my baby.

He was still hungry and upset. They were getting his vitals before I could feed him.

I thanked God my baby was awake.

Although pretty loopy.

I fed him maybe 5 min before he fell asleep.

They put the last set of casts on him that he would have to wear 4 weeks straight.

They held him for observation for a few hours. When they saw he was doing good they let him go home.

He slept most of the way home.

We were so tired when we got home. We ran into the 5 o'clock traffic so it was a long way home. He was talkative and seemed happy, but suddenly he would get really fussy. I gave him Tylenol for the pain, fed him and he fell asleep. He slept with me that night so that I could make sure he was ok and I could feed him instantly when he got hungry. He woke up about 4 times and was fussy most of the night, but he woke up around 6:30am wide eyed and bushy tailed! Although I was tired, I was glad he was in a good mood. He wanted to be held most of the day, so Luis and I traded on and off to give him lots of love and cuddles. 

I am relieved to have gotten this far and can not wait for these 4 weeks to be over. The next step is his special shoes called the boots and bar. Josiah will wear the boots and bar 23 hours a day 7 days a week for about 2-3 months, sooner if the Dr thinks it's ok. After that he will only have to wear them at night to sleep in. I'm proud Josiah has made it this far. He is a very tough boy and we know he will take on the world!