- (3) I was just happy to be alive
Park Jeong-Hyeon (Kwon Su-Ji’s mother)
Su-Ji was told that she was the first person to still look happy after the surgery
I told myself to help Su-Ji as much as I can. I wanted to let her have the surgery as early as possible so that she could have more chances for surgery and it wouldn’t interfere with her school later. So I took her to KUMC for the first time when she was 6 years old. That time, Professor Song told me to bring her back when she’s grown more because she was too young and her legs were too short.
So in year 2010, when she was turning 7, we scheduled a surgery for March and went through all the pre-surgical examinations. To be honest, I didn’t know how dangerous the surgery is until then. I didn’t know how difficult the process was going to be. We visited a child, who had the surgery in 2009. He didn’t seem to have pain and looked like his bone was healing quite smoothly. So I wasn’t worried much.
But I started being afraid after hearing about all the complications and patients who were suffering after the same surgery. Maybe it was because Su-Ji had heard enough about the surgery, I was relieved to see her quite indifferent when she was going into the surgery. After the surgery, she adjusted well at the hospital; she even visited an older girl who had the surgery a day before, on her bed. She got scared during disinfection but never cried or shouted. She made people around her surprised. She tolerated it so well that people who had the surgery earlier asked her if she felt any pain. And she enjoyed her time at the hospital. She especially loved going to NamChon Dream Class on the 8th floor, where she had drawing and music treatment therapies and gardening classes. It was a really enjoyable period of 2 weeks for her. She wanted to stay there the entire day. She had a big smile on her face when I told her it was time to go to class. I can’t explain how happy I am that we had the surgery after Dream Class was established. People kept asking her if she really liked the class that much. She liked it so much that she even made other girls in the same ward come to class to see what was so interesting. They wanted to know what Su-Ji’s source of joy was. Most people in my ward went upstairs when they had gardening classes.
The nurses, doctors, and patients in the ward liked her so much that they didn’t want her to get discharged. Even in the ward, she was always performing in front of other people with her songs and dances. The ladies in the ward really loved her. The nurses at KUMC were so nice that she listened to them better than to me.
On top of that, there were several books at NamChon Dream Class which I could rent and bring down to the ward to read it to her. So she didn’t have any moment to get bored. There were also many patients around her age who had the same surgery, so they had each other for support and reliance. Of course she shouted and had a hard time when I was disinfecting her leg for the first time. But when it was done by a doctor she liked or if a guest was around, she was quieter. So even until she was discharged, the doctors told her that she was the happiest Ilizarov patient they had ever seen.
After we got back home, we did disinfection twice a day, lengthening 0.5mm daily. I did 2 lengthenings of 0.25mm each, but I didn’t let her take painkillers at night even when she told me she was having pain. I told her to tolerate the pain, because I didn’t want her to build up tolerance and have weaker immunity. In the morning I gave her rice mixed with soy bean paste and anago sashimi, which is known to be good for bones. For dinner, I ordered pork feet, and let her eat the skin especially. I paid special attention to feed her food with lots of collagen. But probably because of too much pain, she looked so skinny by the end of first week she got discharged from the hospital.
Because we lived in Busan, which was very far from Seoul, the professor allowed us to come to the hospital once in 3 weeks, unlike others who had to visit every 2 weeks. When we visited the hospital 3 weeks after discharge, everyone at the hospital was so shocked to see her so thin.
It was hard for Su-Ji to eat anagosahimi and pork feet every day and it was hard for me to feed her as well. But until she was done growing I continued to feed her those. Also, I told her to walk in the parking lot everyday for 3 hours.
In April, we had the surgery, in May we just stayed home and exercised. Starting in June, I took her outside and walked around 4, when the sunlight wasn’t too strong. At first she wanted to cry after not even finishing 1 hour. But I made her walk 3 hours, by increasing the time little by little. I felt like the sunlight helped with bone healing, and she was able to sleep better because she was too tired by nighttime. Of course, a lot of walking caused bleeding and more pus to drip down her leg around the pin insertion site. The inflamed area got bigger despite clean disinfection. I kept wondering when she would finally grow 10cm after daily lengthings of 1mm.
She had atopic dermatitis on the legs so she got treatments from dermatology for a month. That time, sterilizing took 1.5 hours every morning and night. On the days we walked a lot, as much as she was able to sleep well, it was painful for us to see her in such big pain.
But the most painful time with during disinfection. The disinfection around the inflamed area had to be strong because of her atopic skin. By the time her leg was lengthened 5~6cm, she ran away cursing at me and hit me every time I was trying to disinfect the wound. She even said things like “I’m going to kill you, I am going to stab you with a knife.” It was because she thought I was disinfecting her scar without knowing how much painful it was.
Looking at Su-Ji who used to tolerate pain pretty well at the hospital, but now crying with fear every time of disinfection, it also made me cry. Of course after everything was done, she apologized to me and asked me to hug her. But the amount of fear I saw in her eyes when I was getting ready for disinfection was beyond description. The most painful and hardest time must have been during the lengthening from 6cm to 10cm. The longer her scar got, the bigger the inflamed area became. If she walked too much, she had blood and pus coming out of the pin area, which made people around her worry. But Su-Ji knew how much worse pain she was going to have if she didn’t exercise enough and had trouble going to sleep. So she showed effort to walk harder and ate snacks or rode a bike when she felt exhausted. She still rides a tricycle now, but she is looking forward to riding a bike with 4 wheels (2 supporting wheels in the back) after the surgery.
Park Jeong-Hyeon (Kwon Su-Ji’s mother)
Su-Ji was told that she was the first person to still look happy after the surgery
I told myself to help Su-Ji as much as I can. I wanted to let her have the surgery as early as possible so that she could have more chances for surgery and it wouldn’t interfere with her school later. So I took her to KUMC for the first time when she was 6 years old. That time, Professor Song told me to bring her back when she’s grown more because she was too young and her legs were too short.
So in year 2010, when she was turning 7, we scheduled a surgery for March and went through all the pre-surgical examinations. To be honest, I didn’t know how dangerous the surgery is until then. I didn’t know how difficult the process was going to be. We visited a child, who had the surgery in 2009. He didn’t seem to have pain and looked like his bone was healing quite smoothly. So I wasn’t worried much.
But I started being afraid after hearing about all the complications and patients who were suffering after the same surgery. Maybe it was because Su-Ji had heard enough about the surgery, I was relieved to see her quite indifferent when she was going into the surgery. After the surgery, she adjusted well at the hospital; she even visited an older girl who had the surgery a day before, on her bed. She got scared during disinfection but never cried or shouted. She made people around her surprised. She tolerated it so well that people who had the surgery earlier asked her if she felt any pain. And she enjoyed her time at the hospital. She especially loved going to NamChon Dream Class on the 8th floor, where she had drawing and music treatment therapies and gardening classes. It was a really enjoyable period of 2 weeks for her. She wanted to stay there the entire day. She had a big smile on her face when I told her it was time to go to class. I can’t explain how happy I am that we had the surgery after Dream Class was established. People kept asking her if she really liked the class that much. She liked it so much that she even made other girls in the same ward come to class to see what was so interesting. They wanted to know what Su-Ji’s source of joy was. Most people in my ward went upstairs when they had gardening classes.
The nurses, doctors, and patients in the ward liked her so much that they didn’t want her to get discharged. Even in the ward, she was always performing in front of other people with her songs and dances. The ladies in the ward really loved her. The nurses at KUMC were so nice that she listened to them better than to me.
On top of that, there were several books at NamChon Dream Class which I could rent and bring down to the ward to read it to her. So she didn’t have any moment to get bored. There were also many patients around her age who had the same surgery, so they had each other for support and reliance. Of course she shouted and had a hard time when I was disinfecting her leg for the first time. But when it was done by a doctor she liked or if a guest was around, she was quieter. So even until she was discharged, the doctors told her that she was the happiest Ilizarov patient they had ever seen.
After we got back home, we did disinfection twice a day, lengthening 0.5mm daily. I did 2 lengthenings of 0.25mm each, but I didn’t let her take painkillers at night even when she told me she was having pain. I told her to tolerate the pain, because I didn’t want her to build up tolerance and have weaker immunity. In the morning I gave her rice mixed with soy bean paste and anago sashimi, which is known to be good for bones. For dinner, I ordered pork feet, and let her eat the skin especially. I paid special attention to feed her food with lots of collagen. But probably because of too much pain, she looked so skinny by the end of first week she got discharged from the hospital.
Because we lived in Busan, which was very far from Seoul, the professor allowed us to come to the hospital once in 3 weeks, unlike others who had to visit every 2 weeks. When we visited the hospital 3 weeks after discharge, everyone at the hospital was so shocked to see her so thin.
It was hard for Su-Ji to eat anagosahimi and pork feet every day and it was hard for me to feed her as well. But until she was done growing I continued to feed her those. Also, I told her to walk in the parking lot everyday for 3 hours.
In April, we had the surgery, in May we just stayed home and exercised. Starting in June, I took her outside and walked around 4, when the sunlight wasn’t too strong. At first she wanted to cry after not even finishing 1 hour. But I made her walk 3 hours, by increasing the time little by little. I felt like the sunlight helped with bone healing, and she was able to sleep better because she was too tired by nighttime. Of course, a lot of walking caused bleeding and more pus to drip down her leg around the pin insertion site. The inflamed area got bigger despite clean disinfection. I kept wondering when she would finally grow 10cm after daily lengthings of 1mm.
She had atopic dermatitis on the legs so she got treatments from dermatology for a month. That time, sterilizing took 1.5 hours every morning and night. On the days we walked a lot, as much as she was able to sleep well, it was painful for us to see her in such big pain.
But the most painful time with during disinfection. The disinfection around the inflamed area had to be strong because of her atopic skin. By the time her leg was lengthened 5~6cm, she ran away cursing at me and hit me every time I was trying to disinfect the wound. She even said things like “I’m going to kill you, I am going to stab you with a knife.” It was because she thought I was disinfecting her scar without knowing how much painful it was.
Looking at Su-Ji who used to tolerate pain pretty well at the hospital, but now crying with fear every time of disinfection, it also made me cry. Of course after everything was done, she apologized to me and asked me to hug her. But the amount of fear I saw in her eyes when I was getting ready for disinfection was beyond description. The most painful and hardest time must have been during the lengthening from 6cm to 10cm. The longer her scar got, the bigger the inflamed area became. If she walked too much, she had blood and pus coming out of the pin area, which made people around her worry. But Su-Ji knew how much worse pain she was going to have if she didn’t exercise enough and had trouble going to sleep. So she showed effort to walk harder and ate snacks or rode a bike when she felt exhausted. She still rides a tricycle now, but she is looking forward to riding a bike with 4 wheels (2 supporting wheels in the back) after the surgery.