Operation

The past two days have been a whirlwind but I think that the tornado is calming down. My parents came out Sunday evening to be able to watch Joshua first thing in the morning on Monday. Jason, Mira and I were up and out by 5am in order to be at the hospital at 6am on Monday. We navigated our way to the pediatric pre-op room and waited for our turn to be seen by first the nurse, then the surgeon and lastly the anesthesiologist. It was comforting being in a place where the people do these kinds of procedures every day and there is a steady routine to how things work. On the other hand it was also very comforting that the dr's and nurses did not treat us like having surgery was an every day occurrence. I felt especially comfortable after the anesthesiologist came in, sat down on the floor where Mira and I were playing, examined her there and explained what was going to happen. He truly got down on our level.

The surgery itself went quickly. Jason took Mira in and I am very glad. I could not have seen my baby girl like that. We waited about an hour and then got the call that the surgery had started. They were with her for about 40 minutes and then she was wheeled by the waiting room screaming, alert and awake. We were able to meet her in recovery about 5 min later and sit with her while they monitored her and discharged her. We were only there another hour. She was intermittently groggy, fussy and thirsty until we left. When we walked out of the hospital she immediately perked up and calmed down. She slept on the drive home and when we got home she ate a little bit before we laid her down for a nap. And by eat a little bit I mean a bowl of applesauce and a bowl of yogurt. She was hungry!

She slept for about 2.5 - 3 hours and then woke up when I went in to check on her. My mom noticed that her fingers had slipped pretty far down into the cast. I called the dr and within about 10 min she had the cast completely off. So, we headed back to the hospital (a 45 min drive on a good day) and went to the ER to have a full cast applied. That lasted until 11:30 am today when that one fell off, too and we had to head back AGAIN. This time they padded her hand well and then basically taped her hand and up her arm. They put it in a makeshift sling and we are hoping this one will last until next Tuesday when the dressings can come off.

Her thumb looks good though. The incision is clean and the stitches are intact. She is in great spirits and hasn't had an pain medications since 4pm yesterday. I had a sigh of relief when the surgery was over yesterday and we were heading home. I guess that was premature. I will sigh again after next Tuesday and I can stop worrying that I am going to have to race down to the hospital on a daily basis. She has a bit of a name for herself among the staff at the dr's office as a Hudini. Although I can honestly say she didn't make the casts come off they literally just fell off. I hope this one sticks!