Surgery

Well we arrived at the hospital around 10 a.m. and we were exhausted.  Charlotte decided to cut a molar the night before her surgery and was up from 1:30 a.m..  It was THE WORST nights sleep we have had since having her...we could tell it was hurting her but, because of her having surgery we
couldn't even give her tylenol or advil. :(  Poor baby!

Waiting to be called back to pre-op.

They took us back and we got her in her hospital pajamas and we waited.  They were at first reluctant to give us the "silly juice" saying they try not to use it if they don't have to.  Once the anethesiologist came in to talk to us, he realized he wasn't going to get her away from us easily so, he actually suggested we use the "silly juice"...I was so relieved!  We gave it to her and waited....

She got those cute little yellow pajamas on.

About 15 minutes later they came to the door and asked if we thought she was ready.  I gave them her little doll (the little doll you sent her Amber! :))  and she wanted it, so, she reluctantly reached for it and the nurse quickly took her in her arms.  She started saying "Mama, mama, I want mama!"  over and over again.  I kept hearing that phrase repeated until she & the nurse were out of sight. :(  So, the "silly juice" didn't work as well as I had hoped.  The nurses did say because of the silly juice though, that she would have no memory of leaving me.

They had told us the surgery would last an hour.  After about an hour though, we got a call from the operating room that they had just finished removing the cutis aplaysia and were now getting started on her lip.  About an hour later, they called to say they were still working on her lip and not to worry, that Dr. Kelly is a perfectionist and likes to take his time.  After about 2 1/2 hours, I was starting to freak out a bit.  FINALLY, after 3 hours, they called to say they were done and that the doctor would be out to talk to us soon.

He said the surgery went well.  They had removed some tissue when they had done her lip repair in China so he ended up doing more than he had originally intended to repair her lip.  She also had what he called "track marks" on her upper lip.  He removed them and made the middle part of her lip not as wide which he thinks will look better.

About 30-45 minutes later we were called back to see her in recovery.  We had asked beforehand to go back as soon as we could, because we didn't want her to have any anxiety about not seeing us when she woke up.  Thankfully, we got back there before she even woke up.  She was in the little crib and just laying there sound asleep. I picked her up and started rocking her.  I rocked her about an hour before she really woke up and she was not really agitated at all...just out of sorts.  I was so thankful for that!

 

 

We were able to come home that day because, she had done so good and because she didn't get naseous after the surgery.  If she had, we would have had to stay the night in the hospital but, she was the best patient ever!  The nurses said Dr. Kelly NEVER lets anyone go home the same day. :)

Since coming home she has been VERY demanding and GROUCHY but, who wouldn't be given all she has been through this week?  We go back Monday to get any stitches out that have not dissolved.
She is still very restless and demanding but, we are weaning her off of the pain meds and replacing it with advil and she seems more like herself, so that is good.  She will have to wear the no no's for 3 weeks and soft foods for 3 weeks as well.  Surprisingly, neither have been as big of a deal with her as I had imagined.  They had the no no's on her before we even got back in recovery.  She asked to take them off twice the first day and we just said no and distracted her.  So far, she is loving her jello, soup & pudding diet too. :) 

Thank you so much for praying for her!  Please continue to pray for her in the coming weeks...that she continues to be such a good patient and that we can keep her from falling or hurting her lip while it is healing.

Love,