Moving time!!!

Howdy,

It is 6:00PM Saturday and we are moving out of ICU to a regular room on the 10th floor. We are in room 1014 and thankful for the quick recovery thus far. Haley is eating and drinking like nothing ever happened. Demanding her specific shows on T.V. seems to be something Haley has not lost her touch on. We are so excited to see the progress and hope that this will prove to be "overpacking" based on our expectations. If we were getting on a plane with what we brought, there would be a $1,000 surcharge for luggage. I bet God is chuckling at our lack of faith and excess of clothes. I choose to say it was the Boy Scout motto...be prepared! Please share a blog response as it is a great time for us in the evening to read them all. Thank you so much for all of the support and prayers and I will post when we get another update on her status.

About to rest

Well, what an amazing day! If anyone has ever had a completely necessary day that you completely dreaded...this was ours. Haley was so happy as she was led back to the O.R. and we were left standing with the one last doubt if we were doing the right thing. At that point, there was no turning back. All of the research, discussion, and prayer for the last month is played back in our minds in seconds. The mood in the waiting room ebbed and flowed from tears to silence to laughter. We are so thankful for everyone who shared in this experience with us. The phone calls were too numerous to count and much needed reassurance. Those who came down to the hospital showed up at perfect times. The wait at first seemed as though it would never end, but suddenly we found ourselves being called back to see Haley in recovery. Michelle was walking swiftly and I found myself lagging behind. I began to question myself...would I be overwhelmed by what I saw? Would I be strong enough to show Haley everything would be alright? We entered recovery and turned the corner only to prove Michelle right...all I saw was Haley's beautiful face. What a great woman I have in my life! Haley said, "I want juice." As we were pouring juice for her, she grunted a couple of times. I thought perhaps she was in pain and asked what was the matter. She said, "I stuck daddy, I stuck." I didn't realize that she was trying to lift her head and the halo had her completely immobilized. She has been a bit groggy most of the evening and we won't know the extent of her feelings for the halo until at least tomorrow. It is after midnight and I am totally spent. I wil be posting tomorrow with any further updates.

Thank you to everyone,

Love The Cassidy's

Surgery is done

The surgeons are done and everything has gone as they expected. We are still waiting to go back and see her. Dr. Marco said they are putting the last few stitches in to close. They needed to use a bone building protein due to the small amount of bone they had to work with at the base of her skull. We are very anxious for her to wake up. Please continue to pray that she tolerates the removal of the breathing tube. Michelle and I have already reserved a room at the Ronald McDonald House on the 7th floor. I will fully update when we settle in upstairs.

Haley was just wheeled back

Hello everyone,

Haley was finally taken back to the O.R. at about 10:45am and surgery will begin in about an hour. She was in good spirits and smiling all the way...typical Haley! Not much to report, but much to be praying for and I will post as soon as I receive an update.

Haley's dream

Hello,

Thursday morning Haley woke up and I asked her if she slept good...she said yes. I asked her if she had good dreams and her eyes lit up. She said, "I dreamed about God." This is what she told me. "I saw God and He was in the light. He gave me a hug. He kissed me on the cheek and I kissed Him on the cheek. He said I am the Lord."

Haley has never shared a more vivid dream since the time she told me she was playing basketball and running. It truly is awesome to be in her presence. I just had to share this with everyone.

Pete

Surgery date

Hello,

We have been told that 100% Haley's surgery will be on October 2. Wouldn't you know that the doctors would schedule it to where she would probably still be in the 9th...her birthday. Please be praying for her as we approach the day. Michelle is laying down right now with a massive headache. As she put it, "it all just became real when we got the date." We value your prayers and will let you know any details as they come available.

The Cassidy's

Surgery plans...no date yet

Well, we spoke with the neurosurgeon and the orthopedic surgeon and everyone is on the same page with the plan for surgery. The date is still up in the air, but will be within a week or two based on clearing one whole day in the O.R. for both docs. They will be performing the posterior occipital fusion of the rear base of the skull to the spine. Unfortunately they are unable to avoid the halo. It may seem trivial for us to be worried about asthetics after the surgery, but it is much more than that. Haley will wake up from anesthesia and not understand what or why the hardware is mounted to her head and shoulders. In adults they drill 4 screws into the skull for stability. In children, which have thinner skulls, they use 6-8 screws. They are placed about even with the top of the ear (eyebrow height) and are made of graphite. We will be responsible for daily care of the screw sites with peroxide and antibiotic ointment. Forgive me but I am fearful of Haley's level of understanding when she wakes up. We can ask her now if she is ready to have surgery and she will wave her hand at us and say, "come on guys, let's get in the car for the doctor...yay...woo-hoo!" The graft for the fusion will consist of either bone harvested from her pelvis, rib, surrounding skull or artificial. The doc said the "gold standard" is pelvic bone with an almost 100% success rate. Please pray for all of the facets of this procedure. The orthopedic surgeon said they have seen zero cases like her, but have performed multiple surgeries in the past that they had seen zero of before and all have had a good outcome. The moment we are given a date for the surgery it will be posted on the blog. Thank you to everyone for your continued prayers for our family.
We love you,

The Cassidy's