2024 - In Her Era Loving the Swiftie Tour

For her 5th Birthday on January 14, 2024, she celebrated in Taylor Swift "Style." She wanted a Taylor Swift party at her house with all her friends so that's exactly what we did!

On March 23, 3024, the princess attended the annual Daddy Daughter Dance at her school. She looked 15!!

On April 26, 2024, we had Jovie's repeat evaluation with Dr. Flanagan. She looks good and we are looking forward to her leg lengthening surgery later in the year.

May 22, 2024 was the last day of school for this cutie!

Jovie's dance recital was on May 31, 2024. I was able to be the backstage mom and be with her throughout the whole recital. She had two dance routines: one for jazz and one for ballet. She had a little fall during the first dance, but with the help of the crowd cheering her on, she finished the dance and then completed the second dance! What a trooper!

She had full support from all her grandparents, too!

Summer break began, and she was busy in camps most weeks. She did a cheer camp, a Taylor Swift Era's Tour camp at her dance studio, a Barbie camp, a Princess camp, and her first Josh Powell outdoor camp, where she got to get on a school bus!

In June, we took another trip back to Baha Mar, Bahamas, with the whole Doughty family. We saw, went to the Baha Bay water park almost every day. Her favorite activity there was the wave pool. We visited with the flamingos, went to a shark feeding, where she got to feed the sea turtles, and we rented jet skis. It was her first time riding on a jet ski. The little girl was fearless, even jumping off the cliff rock!

We spent some time in the mountains with family for the 4th of July, where she went swimming in the lake and pool, boating, tubing, fishing, and playing around on the golf course!

Summer ended, and back to school we went on August 18, 2024. Even after three different antibiotics, she couldn’t get rid of an ear infection in August and September, so we went to see Dr. Sipp, the doctor who performed River's T&A surgery. I asked if he could just add tubes on October 17 since she’d already be having surgery. I was kidding, but he said he would’ve done it. However, ortho doctors are very particular about their operating rooms (as they should be) and probably wouldn't have allowed him in any way. We’re just going to watch her ears and recheck in three months.

On October 2, 2024, we had our preoperative appointment with Dr. Flanagan. We got new x-rays and measurements for the internal rod. We barely made it! She is scheduled for a left femur extramedullary lengthening nail; iliotibial band release; osteoplasty femur on October 17th. We are hoping to get at least 3 cm of length this surgery. Her current difference is about 7.3 cm.

She has a knock knee so Dr. Flanagan may eventually perform a hemiepiphysiodesis, also known as guided growth. It's a surgical procedure that gradually corrects angular limb deformities in children. It's a minimally invasive technique that temporarily stops or slows growth on one side of a growth plate while the other side continues to grow normally. We also found at at this visit that she doesn't have an ACL in her left knee. She seems ready for her leg to be longer and to be "the boss" while she's going through the lengthening. She currently has great hip, ankle and knee extension and flexion, but Dr. Flanagan said the most important part will be the physical therapy.

We went down to Macon to see some friends family before her big surgery day.

The big day, October 17, 2024, came and Jovie was such a brave girl. She had us laughing after getting her goo-goo juice. She named her unicorn Uni-poopy and thought it was the funniest thing. We heard her giggling all the way back to the operating room. When we told her good-bye, she just said good-bye back. Then the nurse went to take her and she said “So I’m not going to be alone?!” The brave girl thought she was going solo!

We received several text updates throughout the two-and-a-half-hour surgery. After the surgery was complete, Dr. Flangan came to speak with us. The procedures she had done were left femur osteoplasty with insertion of an externally placed internal lengthening nail, Iliotibial band release, and left medial distal femur hemiepiphysiodesis. The surgery was successful, but because she was so small, they were only able to place one screw on each end of the precise nail instead of the two it usually calls for. Hopefully, there will be no stability issues since she could only use the one screw. We waited on Jovie in her inpatient room while she was in recovery. We were told that she woke up pretty mad. She was in pain, disoriented, wanted us, and she was not happy. We quickly learned what they meant when she got to us and screamed for quite a while. It was hard for us to see her, our normal, happy, silly girl, going through so many negative emotions. She had catheter issues, which caused a lot of the tears. The resident on call was not answering because he was at the shiny new hospital so the nurse eneded up running into her hip doctor, Dr. Schrader, and he approved the removal of the catheter. Luckily, the tech was able to get it working again, and since that provided her relief, we kept it in so we didn't have to worry about getting her to the restroom during our stay. May things were bothering her. The big black knee immobilizer brace, the wrap around her leg, etc. We asked a nurse a question about the marks on her belly and a resident told the nurse that she wouldn't look because she was off the clock. Yeah, wow. We later found out from Dr. Flangan that they had to put the staple marks in her to hold the cover.

This was the most challenging recovery by far. Lots of "I'm so scared" and "I can't STAND this." Broke our hearts when she said "I want my old leg back." Dr. Flanagan warned us that the block would wear off after 24 hours so to make sure we kept the pain medicine in her. I guess the nurses didn't get the memo because around 7am the next day, she woke up screaming and we couldn't get her calmed down for three hours. She only finally chilled a little after the 2nd round of morphine.

The next day, I sent this email to Dr. Flanagan:

I just wanted to check in to make sure I understood the morphine plan. Did we want her having morphine every 2 hours until she’s not in pain or wait until she’s in pain? The nurse pushed back on giving morphine because they wanted to start with hydrocodone so they made Jovie wait a while since they said she was sleeping and they didn’t want to sedate her more. Of course, she woke up screaming in pain again. I thought we were trying to stay in front of it, and we don’t want her drugged up more than necessary either, but we can’t do another 3 hours of screaming in pain.

She responded:

I am so sorry to hear this

Jessica (PA) has done a great job of keeping me in the loop all day

I am always at the mercy of our awesome nurses as they are more "in the trenches" so to speak

However, as I said this am, morphine is definitely needed if the pain is at a super high level, the oral meds will not bring it down fast enough.  Once the pain level is down, then the medications by mouth work better as they last longer and gives more consistent pain relief.

Is she verbalizing any better where she hurts?  I do think the knee brace on would make her feel better.   

Let me know what else I can try to do to help.

I reached out to Jessica to let her know that Jovie is still struggling.  She should definitely not be screaming for hours

After the chaotic morning, we went down to the hospital library and met with the therapy dogs. Made us sad when she told the dog handler that her dog didn’t like her. Tinka loves her, but she’s a little like Elmyra. Jovie was still in a lot of pain, but in order to be discharged, we had to stay off morphine and physical therapy had to make sure she could get around with a walker. PT came by and we were able to get her up and had her take a few steps. This was no easy feat, but she passed. Then we had to wait around hours until PT could finally bring her bedside potty, walker and wheelchair. They delivered those around 4:30, and then we were free to head home. Jovie screamed as we put her in the car, but the moment we got her out of the car, she passed out on the couch for hours.

After the first night home, we were slightly regretting pushing to be discharged because we needed that morphine drip for her pain! Getting her to use the potty was really tough because she was terrified to move. She purposely urinated in her bed because she was scared to get to the potty. It went all over her bandages so we had to take the gauze off. We tried to remove the wrap around her leg, but she just kept saying "I'm so scared!" Every day got a little better with her pain management and encouraging her to use her walker. She was showered with love with friends dropping off sweet cards, toys, activities, dinner, desserts, and other treats.

We went for Jovie's post-operative appointment on October 22, 2024. While there for her wound check, we received the device that will lengthen her leg at home. We got to meet the medical device sales rep who showed us how to use it. The magnet in her leg talks to the magnet in the device, and she doesn't feel a thing. The entire process takes 40 seconds. With her first lengthening, she got .25mm. The doctor and rep set the amount of length each session, and we just have to push the button to begin the process. Read more about the Precise Nail here and here, but the way it is used on Jovie is off-label and cutting edge. The nail is supposed to be placed inside the bone, but for smaller patients, they are putting them on the outside of the bone so that lengthening can begin at a younger age. Before we went to bed, she started to cry and said, "I miss my friends."

We got new supplemental hospital indemnity and accident insurance plans at work that I enrolled in. Jovie was able to get a check for $1,250 just for her stay in the hospital. Later she received more checks in the amounts of $250 just for additional hospital stays and for the actual procedures performed. This money was used to create her an investment portfolio with Fidelity and she's already earning more!

Jovie had her first physical therapy appointment with Jill Cannoy on October 25, 2024. We were nervous because she barely moved her leg at home, but she did great at therapy! The therapist made it so fun that Jovie was giggling and didn’t even realize she had straightened her leg and bent it further than she had before. Therapy isn't too tough for her, but she is definitely sore and hurting afterward. She will go to physical therapy two to three times a week because if she isn't able to straighten her leg then Dr. Flanagan will stop the lengthening.

She was complaining a good bit about her knee. Nighttime seems to be the worst, but it's also painful during the day. She screams and says her knee feels like it's stinging. I sent a video of her in pain to her PT and Doctor because I wanted them to see how much she was hurting and it didn't seem normal.

Dr. Flanagan just responded that "She may be a little sore from moving it. Are you icing it after therapy? It certainly looks okay from the outside. Sorry she's not recovering as quickly this time."

After several days of screaming, they did an x-ray at her follow-up appointment on October 30, 2024. Dr. Flanagan was in surgery so we saw one of her PAs, Nancy. The nail has moved, and it is poking out the side, and that is what is causing her excruciating pain. She has to have another surgery to correct the alignment. Since she has lengthened for a few days, Dr. Flanagan can now use a thinner nail and two screws instead of one to increase nail security. It was a matter of millimeters on why she couldn't originally use the thinner lengthening nail. It's not the news we wanted, but at least now we have answers and a game plan. Dr. Flanagan called us later that night and said she was hopeful that the one screw would work, but Jovie is obviously telling us it isn’t working. During surgery, she’s going to swap out the 8 with the longer 10 nail so that she can use two screws. She’s also going to try to put a nail inside her bone for better stabilization.

When I knew she’d be in a wheelchair for Halloween months ago, I asked Jovie what she wanted to be. She was adamant that she wanted to be a rainbow so momma got busy making her the best rainbow wheelchair with her underneath it with the clouds.

My little rainbow had a great Halloween. Her daddy pushed her in her wheelchair in the school’s annual Halloween parade. Then she asked to stay at school for the day, even through the class Halloween party, so I let her hang out, just checking on her every so often. For trick or treating, we went to a friend’s party. Unfortunately, they had bouncy houses, and Jovie broke down crying “I want to bounce, but I can’t.” So we took her trick or treating early, and that made her happy. Everyone loved her costume. She was probably stopped 20 times for a picture.

November 1, 2024, did not start well. Her surgery was scheduled to start at 8:00 am. At 7:20 I asked for goo goo juice (versed) to make her relaxed. They didn’t give it to her until 7:45 am, then wanted to take her back to the operating room immediately. She cried and screamed for momma the whole way back. It was heartbreaking. And we completely blamed the nurses for this unnecessary angst. The head anesthesiologist, Dr. Kim, told us that if that ever happens again to just refuse to allow them to take her back until the versed is in her system and she's loopy.

The doctor originally said they didn’t need to give her a block since the bone was already broken, but halfway through the procedure, they called and said someone from the pain management team would be by to get consent for the block. No answers on why it was necessary now.

We weren’t getting very good communication from the operating room nurse during her surgery, and we were starting to worry. Maybe the nurses stayed out too late trick-or-treating. :) But, we found one of the wonderful nurses we had last time (shoutout to April Westgate), and she gave us more info than we’d gotten all day. After we still didn’t hear anything from the OR nurse, she went and engaged the charge nurse, who personally went back to the operating room for answers. The entire procedure was about 3.5 hours. We had to stay in the hospital for one night.

The following day, after she was discharged, she wanted to go to her cheerleading end-of-season party. Her friends and coaches were so glad to see her, and she got her first trophy!

When she went back to school, the kids were so nice, grabbing her things around the classroom for her, since she was bound to a wheelchair. Her teachers were so kind, making sure the other kids were careful around her.

We even got one of her teachers a cup holder for the wheelchair so he had somewhere to put his drink when he was pushing her around the school.

We couldn't find any lap desk that fit with her wheelchair, so the woodworking teacher, Mr. Parker, so sweetly custom-made her a tabletop that fit with her wheelchair.

When she was using her walker, she was only able to put pressure on her right leg. She developed a blister on her right big toe.

She was finally able to get in the pool on November 16th. She had been so patient, waiting and watching everyone else swim. Aquatic therapy is good for improving her leg range of motion, so swimming was doctor-approved. Being in the water also helps remove the bandages that she refuses to let anyone pull off. That meant she also finally got to take a bath again.

She was even able to participate in the annual Grandparents' Day program. Since she was in a wheelchair, she was in the very front. She also attended the Kindergarten field trip to see the puppet play of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I went with her to drive her wheelchair down and push her around. She also got to visit with the real Santa and tell him what she wanted for Christmas.

The boys went to a UGA football game at the end of November, so the girls went to the fabulous Fox Theater to see Twas The Night Before... Cirque du Soleil show. She was in a wheelchair, so we had to purchase handicap seats, and we got to sit in the front row!

We took River to get Christmas pictures with Blooper, the mascot for the Atlanta Braves at the end of November. Jovie had just as much fun meeting blooper, touring the locker room and dugout, and especially riding the wheelchair lift!

After the last issue, we were worried about the nail moving. I emailed Dr. Flanagan on November 25th.

We noticed the other day that we could feel the nail on Jovie’s leg like last time. That’s the first time we’d been able to feel it this time. I’m not sure if it’s just different angles, but in looking at the x-rays, the nail is very close to her skin again and it looks like it wasn’t always that close. Did it move? She said this morning that her knee hurt when she laid on her tummy. How can we make sure this did doesn’t hurt her like last time as we finish lengthening?

The first x-ray was 11/6 and the second is from last week.

Also, your PA last week said that you’d leave the rod/screws/equipment in for about a year. I cannot imagine that rod staying that close to her skin for a year. Is that true that you wouldn’t take all of that out until a year?

Dr. Flanagan responded.

Rod definitely does not stay in for a year! 

It does when the rod is in the bone but not outside the bone 

I think it’s just that the swelling is down

Rod hasn’t moved at all, so I think we’re okay 

Things were going well with her lengthening for about a month. When we went in for her follow-up on December 4, 2024, she had gotten 24mm in length! Then we started to notice oozing and pus coming out of the wound. She was also in pain during lengthening so we temporarily stopped lengthening on December 8, 2024.

I emailed Dr. Flanagan on December 6th:

Jovie has been complaining the past few days about her ankle pain again. It’s almost like it’s getting worse. I have noticed that she rests her left foot on top of her right because the left one won’t reach the leg rest on her wheelchair because it’s so big. I’m not sure if that has anything to do with it, but was wondering if you had something to help hold her foot in the flex position because that seems to make it feel better.

Then followed that email up with one on December 8th:

This has been Jovie since Friday. We’ve had to start back hydrocodone and diazepam. She’s in pain. Is this a nerve, tendon, ligament? I know her ankle was hurting since surgery, but it got better for a while. It’s much worse now. Do we need to increase PT? Do we need to drop a lengthening? What can help her?

Dr. Flanagan responsed on December 9th:

Hmm, I definitely think stopping the lengthening right now is the way to go.

Lets see what happens over the next few days.

Nerve pain likes motion, so see if she feels better in the pool/tub

I have not had to decompress the nerve during active lengthening before, so hopefully we wont need to resort to that.

Hope she feels better soon.

Saw Jill for PT on December 10, 2024 who immediately knew something was wrong with her leg. She took pics and sent them to Dr. Flanagan, who said to stop all lengthening and that she'd see us the very next day. She also called in an antibiotic, cephalexin, to start taking every six hours. It looked like the nail was coming out of her leg, causing the wound to open and pushing on her nerve, causing the pain in her foot. We saw Dr. Flanagan on December 11th, and it turned out that the nail and screw were exactly in the spot they were supposed to be in, but she had an infection. A few hours after we told her that we were headed back into surgery the next day, she told me "I wish I only had to have one surgery. I wish my leg was the same length as the other leg." I just told her that God made her perfect and exactly as she should be. And as much as I wanted to take her to the Taylor Swift concert when she returned in December, it was for the best that we weren't able to go.

Her Kindergarten Christmas program was scheduled for December 12th, but she had to miss it. So I went to her dress rehearsal practice and videotaped some songs so that she wouldn't feel like she totally missed it. She was the cutest little angel. She loved being an angel so much that she asked for an angel costume for Christmas.

We went in for surgery on December 12, 2024. She had the best OR nurse, Ross, who was so so sweet to her. He understood our frustrations with how they took her back crying last time so he took his personal phone and turned on Bluey for her on the walk to the operating room. She was so happy when we left her. She also had Dr. Smith as her anesthesiologist, whom she's had before, and he is always so sweet to her. We also figured out after the last surgery that she had an adhesive allergy. She had a dental exam scheduled over Christmas Break, but because she had an infection, they requested she wait three months before having her teeth cleaned.

She went back to school the following day, on December 13th. They had Cookies and Carols with Santa, and Santa personally signed her new cast!

We went over to one of our friends' houses for a holiday party, and Santa came. Jovie was confined to the couch, but he sat with her for a chat and gave her a stuffed bunny gift. He let Jovie and her bestie have a red nose, too.

Grandiddy, Grandma J, and the rest of the Wynn family came up before Christmas to celebrate. Santa dropped off gifts on Christmas morning, then we went to Mema and Grandpa's to play with the cousins. Grandma came after Christmas and brought a bow-and-arrow set she loved. After Christmas, while the cousins were still in town, we played and went to eat hibachi, which Jovie didn't like (the fire) at all.

At the end of the year, I noticed tiny pimple-like bumps covering her back, chest, tummy, and arms. These bumps appeared after she completed the two weeks of cephalexin antibiotics. Benadryl and hydrocortisone weren't much help in alleviating the itching. We suspected that the antibiotics may have caused a type of folliculitis, but our dermatologist wouldn't call us in any antifungal medication without seeing her for a new concern, and they had no availability. Our dermatologist knew us, though, as we seemed to always have appointments with her, so she called us in a topical antibiotic. We celebrated New Year's Eve at our house and ended the year with Jovie crying because her leg, in her cast, was itching terribly, which indicated the bumps were in there, too.