Baltimore Beginnings

There is no easy way to prepare yourself or your daughter for a two month hospital stay, but we did the best we could the first week in April.  After a wonderful trip in California, Anjali was in good spirits.  We read Curious George Goes to the Hospital or  Franklin Goes to the Hospital almost every night and talked about going to the hospital.  We played hospital where Anjali performed surgery on her dolls and planned out what toys, books and clothes she would take with her.

We drove to Baltimore on April 10th and settled into our room at the Ronald McDonald house.  It was then that it truly sunk in that it was really going to happen and it was tough.  As her mother, I knew that this was the best thing for her and so grateful to be able to take Anjali to see the top surgeons in the world for her condition, but honestly, I just wanted this difficult period to hurry up and be over.  We had a couple of days to enjoy Baltimore before her surgeries.  The highlight for Anjali was going to Port Discovery, a children's museum where she enjoyed playing in the many exhibits.

The Children's Center at Johns Hopkins is world class and  we knew Anjali was in care of the most skilled hands around with surgeons Dr. Gearheart, Dr. DiCarlo and Dr. Sponseller.  Everyone at JHH was  very good at what they did and that was a huge relief.  I never imagined that there would be so many different people involved to give Anjali the best care possible--nurses, IV techs, child life specialists, hospitalists, pain management specialists, physical therapists, and nutritionists are just a few of the wonderful people that helped Anjali during her stay.  The tricky part was knowing who to ask what to and dealing with such a large stream of people coming through our room.

I thought Anjali's first surgery an osteotomy performed by Dr. Sponseller would be the most difficult, but it turned out to be pretty straightforward.  Anjali handled it all so well and was in pretty good spirits.  She was able to sit up and even got to get out of her room a couple of days in a wheelchair.  We went to the goldfish pond and to the children's library.  What was most overwhelming was getting used to life in the hospital and trying to figure out ways to best help Anjali.  The bladder closure surgery performed by Dr. DiCarlo and Dr. Gearheart which took place 2.5 weeks after the osteotomy was the far more complex procedure and much harder on Anjali. 

Luckily, I was able to basically stay with Anjali in her room.  Adam came up every Friday and stayed for the weekend.  We were also blessed to have Adam's mother come up for the first month to help us out.  She made a beautiful felt basket and flowers for Anjali.  Each day, Anjali looked forward to picking a new flower and adding it to her basket.  Little things like that were the most important in getting us through this difficult time.  Finding distractions and things that lifted her and our spirits was a daily challenge.  Anjali was a champ through it all. She handled it all much better than I would have! She is truly an inspiration and such a strong little girl.