it's a good day

It's Wednesday afternoon, and Kirsten's bouncing around the house as if yesterday didn't even happen. Talk about the resilience of children! She snapped out of the post-surgery anesthetic state late this morning, and seems back to normal. The vomiting has stopped and her appetite is slowly returning. Her discomfort seems minimal, if anything, and she's busy running around with a princess dress on & playing doctor as I write. I think as she examines the unsuspecting patients in her room, I have a few minutes to post some pictures and details of yesterday's event!

As I mentioned previously, Kirsten didn't get to sleep until really late Monday evening (I'm talking almost midnight!). I woke her up at around 5:45am yesterday, and her mood was fine. Not crabby, not nervous, just normal. Karen came over, and we took off for the hospital. I decided to do the valet parking there for the first time, and it turned out to be much easier for us. We checked in at admitting and had to wait a while there. The staff had toys that patients could pick from, and Kirsten found a green Care Bear to add to her collection of "buddies." She slowly started to mingle with some of the kids there, even asking one fourth-grader to read her a book (of which he so kindly did). When it was our turn, they led us upstairs to the surgical waiting room. All I can say is "WOW!" They completely renovated the waiting area up there & it looks amazing! They went with a train station-type theme, with some brick wall accents & beautiful murials painted on the walls. There was a new play room set up, complete with all sorts of books and toys imaginable. It was wonderful!

From there we were led to where they set her up for surgery. She was weighed & measured, and she was very cooperative as they took her blood pressure & such. (She used to be very nervous and resistant with those things. Now she just asks what they're doing, and goes along with it fine.) They had her change into the hospital attire before the rest of the nurses and doctors made their way in to speak with us.

I had to make sure I waited for the questions - I could tell I was sort of in this auto-pilot mode where I was about to answer before I was asked (I think I've been thru this too many times! LOL)! Dr. Madgy came in to go over the game plan & to visit with Kirsten for a moment. She handed him a picture that she so carefully colored for him last night, and he joked around with her a little. He has such a great bedside manner with his patients - Kirsten mentioned that she loves him! I guess she really feels at ease around him (she's been seeing him since she was around 5 months old!)... I'm happy to see that. I donned my funny little coat & hat & Karen waited patiently while I accompanied Kirsten to the operating room. It was nice that she was allowed to walk down (without being on a stretcher). Up to this point she was doing fine... until the O.R. door was opened and she saw about a dozen people waiting in there for her! She stopped fast in her tracks and had the look of a deer caught in the headlights! We went in and I explained how everyone had different jobs to do, trying my best to calm her down (all she needed was to know what was happening). Dr. Madgy introduced her to the staff ("This is Kirsten, not Kirsten!" - using the correct/incorrect pronounciation of her name) and proudly showed off the artwork she gave him. I think she liked that. More hesitation came with having to put her on the bed, but this is expected. She picked the watermelon flavor for them to put on the gas mask thing, but she wasn't interested in that getting anywhere near her face. A few nurses helped as we gave her positive assurances and I kissed her before I left the room, with her drifting off.
Karen & I went to the waiting room. We admired some more artwork we found in there - there was a tree decorated by a Detroit area high school, and the art was amazing!

Even the tree skirt was painted like part of the top of the Sistine Chapel.
We had our late breakfast and some much needed coffee, then had a great opportunity to just relax and catch up on each other's life. That was definitely great.
After what seemed to be a longer time than I had anticipated, the doctor came out to tell us how things went. He said her nostril is opened larger than it's ever been, and he was leaving her in the O.R. for a while with a lot of packing in there. He wanted it to be as dry as possible before applying the Mitomycin (a chemo drug, used here to help prevent scar tissue build-up). After that, she went to recovery, where we eventually were sent to join her. (Oh, he also cleaned out her ears from any wax build-up. He said her tubes were still there, but ended up coming out. Those have been in since 9/11/01!)

Karen & I were quite warm in there, but we knew it was because the kids coming from surgery would be on the cold side. Karen said how she loved the feeling of the heated blankets, and I caved in and asked for a cup of ice chips to help cool me off! (I love the texture of them!) Kirsten slept a lot, and eventually managed to eat 1/2 of a Popsicle, sleeping in between bites, of course!

One time when she woke, she complained of her ear hurting. The nurse gave her another dose of morphine & our stay was prolonged a little. Doogie Houser's younger brother came in to take out her IV (seriously, we debated about how young he must've been... 12 was a thought!), and when he was done, we noticed Kirsten had some blotchy spots on her face. They dissipated quick enough, though. She vomited, and we saw the spots again, this time in a larger area of her face. Karen saw my concern & got the attention of a nurse for me. She ended up sending in the anesthesiologist, and he told us not to worry, unless it stays. It's just something that hasn't happened before. It happened once again before leaving, but it quickly went away.

Oh, one more thing happened out of the norm for us. Kirsten has a little mark on her cheek. I thought maybe she scratched herself unknowingly, but the nurse had to bring it to the anesth.'s attention. He came & looked at it, and said it might've accidentally been from a certain clamp they use when draping a towel over the patient's face. Dr. Madgy came in, confirmed the suspicion of where it came from, but then stated they didn't use a towel like that - so they have no idea what happened! It's not bleeding or anything, so I'm sure it'll heal quickly enough on it's own. Just weird as to how it happened!

I decided to have them take her down in a wheelchair - much easier!

(Did you see Karen behind her there?!? LOL)
We were home by 2:30, and she fell soundly asleep on the couch.

I went to pick up the meds she needs (antibiotics, nasal spray, Motrin, and Tylenol), and we let her sleep as much as she needed. She ended up taking in a little bit of jello & some of a popsicle, but she also threw up some more. I don't think her vomiting has been as much this time around, and I'm thinking it's because we decided not to give her Tylenol w/codeine this time.

As I said, she seems to be pretty close back to normal now. She's eating more, not throwing up, and hasn't gone back to sleep yet. I'm making sure to give her pain meds regularly for today, just in case. I really think God has blessed her with a highter tollerance for pain, but I want to make sure she's comfortable. I think we'll take a little nap together soon... we can both use it!

Dr. Madgy wants us to follow up with him in a few weeks, so we're just praying that this is IT! I think I'll be nervously watching to see if this closes up or not. Hopefully the excitement of Christmas will kick in soon & take my mind off this. No sense in freaking out about something we can't control! If you haven't checked out her blog, Karen put a little post yesterday with some pictures about our little adventure, from her point of view!

Thanks to everyone for your continued support & prayer for our family - and specifically for Kirsten. We know we have the love & support of so many, and I believe that truly helps keep our hearts at ease a little when we go thru these life events. Many thanks to my pal Karen for being there with us yesterday - from before the sun rose until later in the afternoon, from un-caffeinated brains to a really late lunch, from a blocked nostril to an opened one... and everything else along the way during the day. Your love & support means the world to me - just being there for us was great. Thank you!