Recap of Surgery Day

Bright and early on Friday, I went into Sierra's room and put her slippers on her feet.  She slept in her sweats so she would not have to change clothes.  She woke up and put her feet to the floor and said, "I can't wait." I think we did almost too good with preparing her for this. 

She was looking forward to riding in the elevator until we found that the only ones open were way in the back of the hospital so I talked her into taking the open stairs to the 2nd floor.  It seems that the only elevators that were operational after the flood were the tower elevators in the very back.  The reason for this is the controls for these were up on or near the roof.  The other elevators' controls were in the basement.  Had it not been for the elevators with controls upstairs, the hospital would not have been able to open so soon after the flood.  There was one elevator close to outpatient surgery that was recently re-opened so we were able to take it down when we left. 

When the nurse took us back to prep her for surgery, she was concerned about Sierra hearing a young child or baby that was crying hysterically but Sierra just ignored it or didn't seem bothered by it.   The only time she seemed nervous was when her blood pressure was taken.  But the nurse said that WALL-E (blood pressure machine) was going to give her a hug (blood pressure cuff).  Sierra looked at the machine with a funny expression. 

She chose a gown and she got a handmade doll to keep.  She also took her stuffed dog with her to surgery. 

Dr. W (surgeon) stopped in to say hi.  Then Dr. W2 (anesthesiologist) stopped in for a minute.  When he left, Sierra said, "He's taalll."  He was rather tall.  A few minutes later a nurse came to take her.  She was going to give Sierra a ride in one of the wagons but soon found out that all the wagons had disappeared since the flood.  They were used to transport things around.  So, Sierra got to ride in her bed to the operating room.  She was very brave and didn't cry at all. 

They let her breathe in a mask to go to sleep and then they put her IV in and put the EKG on her.  She wore most of the EKG stickers home but they are all off now. 

About 1 hour and 15 minutes later, we were called to a consultation room where Dr. W came in and told us that things went well, gave us a tube of ointment to put in her eyes and told us he wants to see her back in a week. 

Probably about 45 minutes later, we were called into recovery where two very nice nurses were taking care of Sierra.  She had drank some apple juice and they were holding her hands to make sure she did not rub her eyes.  She never tried to rub her eyes, but her nose was itchy from the medicines and she kept rubbing it.  Her forehead also itched from the foam they used to support her head.  Every so often she would open her eyes but then close them again quickly but she never even whimpered.  She rested quietly and responded with nods when she wanted more to drink. 

They took her back to a private room in outpatient surgery so she could wake up more.  I held her on my lap while she ate a few goldfish.  Then Jeff walked holding her a bit.  They wanted to be sure she was not going to be sick.  Soon after that, we got her dressed and they took her down to the van in a wheelchair.  She could have cared less at this point.  In the van, she did open her eyes a little more often. 

Once we got home, I gave her ibuprofen (she had tylenol in the recovery room) and within an hour, she fell asleep and slept about 5 hours straight.  And daddy and mommy snoozed off and on also. 

Friday night, she slept on the love seat and mommy slept next to her on the couch.  She slept very well.  We continued with pain medicine on Saturday.  She complained most of the light hurting her eyes.  Lights, television, windows, etc.  She says they still hurt when we ask, but she is playing normally and is ready to go to preschool tomorrow. 

Her eyes look very red in the corners but that might last a few weeks.  They are very watery.  We can tell there is significant improvement from the surgery when her glasses are off.  It's hard to tell much with the glasses on because they are so watery and it was hard for us to see the turning in with them on anyway.

 

These were taken today without flash with her as close to the window as I could get her to sit.  The peace sign was because "I want to do it like Callie does."