Post Op and Doing Great!

The morning of the surgery could not have gone any smoother. Lucey could not eat anything but could drink until 9:00 a.m. She drank some juice and watched episodes of D*ra on my computer. I wanted to keep her mind off of breakfast. She never asked for anything to eat. That was amazing. After 9:00 we casually took her cup away. Only once did she ask for a juice and I distracted her and then she was fine. (Linda, unfortunately she did not go into surgery until 1:15. All the prayers helped us get through such a long time without eating or drinking)

At the hospital she started getting irritable. I do notice when Lucey doesn't eat regularly, she gets super crabby and a bit anxious. Then coupled with a hospital environment she was not so happy.

She was getting pretty fussy.

The fish tank with all the pretty fish was a great distraction.

We were moved to a private room where we could cuddle with Lucey. Only Daddy could console her. He had the special touch this morning.

She drank some medicine to make her relax and we moved her into her scrubs. We had such a sweet staff of people working with us. Everyone so kind and loving to Lucey.

She was fine to go off to the OR without us.

She was waving to the staff on her way out. These our her two anesthesiologists and her nurse. She had three doctors in there too. Dr. Kane spent a lot of time with us before they took her back. He made us feel completely at ease with his plan for her. The surgery took close to 4 hours. We stayed in our private room with the hospital phone. They called us from the OR several times letting us know how she was doing. We found out she was difficult to intubate do to her internal anatomy...something we need to know for future surgeries. It's not uncommon for her type of syndrome.

We went to recovery right away where I held her while she was trying to wake up. We expected big bandages and a swollen face but to my amazement she looked so beautiful. I could tell the surgery went great. Dr. Kane was very pleased with how it went. We just needed to see some facial movement from her to see if her facial nerve was still functioning. Let me tell you...IT IS! Praise God...she is moving her face just great! All those beautiful expressions and of course her gorgeous smile.

We were moved to her room and Ron and I did a switch-a-roo after a few hours. Lucey's oxygen was at 91 so they gave her some and that brought it up to normal. My parents brought the boys to the hospital so they could see her. They were very concerned. Lucey was out of it for quite awhile so they could not really talk with her.

Then she woke up..... and boy was she cranky! The poor thing had to be hungry. We tried a few bites of jello and some apple juice. It did not sit well and came back up. Thank goodness Ron and I were both there...it took two of us to changed her, her sheets and then she had to go potty. She was a limp noodle so getting her on the potty with her IV and the pole and all that she was hooked up to....the nurses were nice but not real helpful. I got in bed with her to help her relax. After a few hours we tried a slushy....juice and ice combination. She ate it all. About 30 min. later....it all came back up! On her blanky, herself and all over me. Poor little thing. She was so upset, tired and in pain. And she had to go potty....we did the whole thing again....change her, me, the bed, and then off the the potty with all her paraphernalia.

Ron took a turn sleeping with her. It was not a restful sleep. We were up most of the night. They did not give Lucey her pain meds because they were concerned she would throw it up. She did not throw up any more after midnight.

In the morning she was very hungry so she ate a few bites of eggs and some yogurt. The staff came in, her Dr.'s stopped by and told us we could be discharged. Lucey wanted that IV out in a terrible way.

Her vitals look great.

We were doing everything to distract her. She was really crabby this morning.

At last....time to go. She loved the wagon ride.

Nana brought her the beautiful pop-up book. Lucey had fun with it at the hotel room.

Renee and Emma stopped by to check on us and brought Lucey some fun gifts.

Aunt Jennifer stopped by too--Thanks Jen!...there she is in the background. Lucey was able to take a 2 hour nap when we got back to the hotel but was still quite crabby when she woke up. The present really perked her up.

A friend to color with always helps. Emma was so sweet with her.

We picked up the boys yesterday afternoon from Nana and Papa's house. They had a great visit with their grandparents.

We stayed for a few hours and visited. We then headed to Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Rob's house to say hello and to see our cute little nephew. It had been almost 4 months and boys has he changed. Lucey and D. ran around together and played. We then headed home.

It took us a lot longer than usual since there was road construction. We did not get home until 11:30p.m. Lucey did fantastic. Kids bounce back so quickly. She slept well in the car.

Last night she had the best sleep yet. She did not get up until 7:00 this morning. We all needed that....I feel so much better today. I have really been dragging the last few days.

Lucey looks fantastic this morning....already healing and looking as beautiful as ever. I'll talk more about her actual surgery in my next post. It's really fascinating.

xoxoxo

Beth