Surgery Day

I wasn't able to blog yesterday (surgery day) so I'm going to write two posts today.  This one is for yesterday - July 3rd.

As I mentioned before, we were getting concerned that she was getting sick.  My gut was telling me she wasn't - that she was just adjusting to the drier air here (way less humidity than what she's used to at home).  But, I really couldn't be totally sure that it wasn't a touch of wishful thinking.  By Tuesday night, I was preparing myself for disappointment.  Not that I really want her to have this surgery.  But, I want the potential results - asap.  And there's no getting around this surgery anyway.  It is not elective.  It must be done.  So, let's just get it over with and possibly reap the rewards in a few months.   So, not getting it at this point would be a disappointment that would be difficult for me to get over.

She had an okay night.  Not a lot of suctioning.  But her oxygen saturation levels were all over the place.  And she was breathing rather hard for her.  My thought was that her body was having to work harder to maintain her sats, so she had to take more breaths per minute than typical.  She was not sick.  Hopefully.

Surgery was scheduled for 8:30, so we had to have her there at 7am.  Tom and I didn't talk much on the way there.  We were sad.  We got there and got her all checked in.  When they took us back to start the whole process of preparing her, there was a lot of discussion about how she was doing.  I told them what my thoughts were.  They listened to her lungs (clear!) and she had no fever.  Her sats were about 83 (which is kinda low for her).  But to be honest, I was pleasantly surprised they were that high.  Although low sats alone would not bother me pre-operatively.

I was not too confident in my opinion on what was going on with Harlie because I was afraid my desires were swaying my opinion.  So once anesthesia came to talk to us (and we went over everything again), they asked us how we felt about it.  I told them that I thought I was too vested emotionally, and financially in having this surgery today to be able to make the final call.  I wanted them to do it.  Luckily, they agreed with my thinking and said they felt comfortable with her having surgery.  YAY!  They said that if she were supposed to go home immediately after, no.  But, since she is going to the ICU, they can support her and give her IV antibiotics, etc.  Plus, she had the same anesthesiologist as last time, so he knew her.  Awesome!  So, it was a go!

Here Harlie is focusing on Spongebob on the iPad to get her through this.

I love that they don't make me change her clothes.  They said they could do it once she was under.  So it wasn't worth upsetting her.  Then they let me walk with her all the way into the OR and I stayed beside her until she went to sleep.  Poor kid.  I hope one day her and I will be able to have long talks about what she remembers and how she feels.

And here is the empty stroller we pushed around most of the day...

Surgery took about four hours.  Dr. Padwa came out and said that it went great.  No problems whatsoever. Just what a parent wants to hear!

Here she is about an hour post-op...

Hopefully the ice packs will help minimize the swelling.

And here she is already up and asking to watch TV.  If you look at the picture closely, you can see the metal  sticking out right under her ear.  That is what we will turn every day.  The metal is actually springy - so it's flexible.  Which has got to be more comfortable than a rod!

She slept a lot on and off, of course.  And she wouldn't pee.  She tried, but she just couldn't.  By about 9pm, they had to cath her since it had been since 6:30am since she had gone.  And that was after being loaded up with fluids in and out of the OR.

Tom and I went to dinner at a place we found last time and loved, Church.  Just a few minutes after sitting down, the manager came up to us and said, "Are you Tom and Christy, by chance?"  Then he said that dinner was on the Young family in Richmond.  Seriously?  Tom had "checked in" there on FB and BAM!  Sally was on it!  We are just overwhelmed.  All the time.   It was a wonderful dinner.  And we really enjoyed being able to sit down, relax, take a deep breath, and drink a couple glasses of wine.  So, thank you Sally and Glen!!!

After dinner we walked back to the hospital and hung out with Harlie for a little while.  At about 8:30, I asked her if she wanted to go night-night.  And she nodded her head and closed her eyes.  So we said good-night and gave her kisses and walked back to the hotel.  By that time, I was way too tired to write.  I have not gotten adequate sleep for the last four to five nights and I don't think I realized how truly tired I was.    This emotional up and down, changing gears kind of thing, can really wear you out!

Okay, so that was yesterday.  Now I will write about how she's doing today.  So, check back soon.

Oh wait! One more thing...

While we were in the waiting room, we were overwhelmed at the amount of support we were getting on Facebook!  So many pictures of people wearing their We Heart Harlie t-shirts!!  So many messages of love and support to read.  What a wonderful way to pass the time!  There's simply no way to ever tell you how much that means to us and how much it truly does help get us through the hard times.  So, thank you.

Much love,
Christy xoxo