Madison Appointment

Friday morning, we drove to Madison for a follow up appointment for Lucy.  We all joked that the only place our van knows how to drive outside of Missouri is to Wisconsin.  We all wished it was heading south for some warm weather and some relaxing on a beach.  Someday we will all get a vacation, a much-needed vacation with lots of relaxing.  We got to Madison a little early and decided to get checked into our hotel.  The Ronald McDonald house put us in a hotel just around the corner from the doctor's office.  It worked perfectly for us.  We decided it would be more enjoyable for the boys to hang out at the hotel instead of the waiting room.  We got them all settled and found something for them to watch on TV and we headed to our appointment. 

Dr. Siebert was running behind schedule, we weren't surprised.  We were later in the afternoon, and it was a Friday.  The nurse said they were trying to keep him on schedule all day because they knew he had Lucy at the end of his day.  He was funny when he walked in, he asked what we were doing up there.  He asked if we came just to see him.  We kind of laughed and told him yes, we came to see him.  He must have forgotten that he asked us to come back.  It doesn't matter because I think it is helpful to see him in person.  Video calls and photos are great, but it is nice to visit with him and have him look at Lucy's face.  He said she looks really good.  She is so close to being done and he thinks just a few tweaks will be really helpful.  He did say that he doesn't have a lot of tissue to use if they did another surgery.  She needs to have some small things done to her forehead, nose and lips.  He said if we worked on all the area's he might need to do another skin graft.  He could take a little bit of skin from her groin/hip area to use.  If we did another one surgery, Lucy would want to do as much as possible.  It sounds like after another small surgery working on those area's she would be done.  Lucy seemed excited by the appointment and hopeful that it would all work out.  JJ and I are a little surprised she is willing to do another surgery.  We really felt that her last surgery would be it for a while.  She seemed pretty emotionally drained, and we really felt that we needed to take a break.  The last surgery was also more painful, and the recovery was harder than anticipated.  Lucy has told us that she has been having impressions that she should do another surgery.  She brushed them off but when she heard Dr. Siebert mention another surgery she said the impressions made sense to her.  JJ and I have our worries and concerns about another surgery.  More adult concerns like how to get another surgery paid for and covered.  There are so many logistics that go into having a surgery happen and then the aftermath of staying on top of all the bills.  It is a lot of work.  We explained that we will need to use a new insurance to Dr. Siebert and he said he is willing to help in any way to help get things covered.  He also was so nice and said if they can just approve one code he would just do it.  We are so thankful for all his help.  We had a really good visit with him.  I know Lucy was feeling hopeful and excited about things.  

We went back to the hotel and got the boys and then headed to dinner.  We always have dinner at Culvers there, it is kind of tradition.  There is a nice Culvers just around the corner.  It was snowing pretty hard while we ate dinner.  It was so weird!  After dinner the boys were excited to swim at the hotel pool.  It was good for the boys to use up some energy.  They spent the day sitting in the car and then sitting in the hotel while we were at the appointment.  We were excited to get an update from Jordan and Jenny about Jack.  They are having so much fun with Jack and he is being a good dog.