We are on the other side! Pain controlled, trying to sit up in a chair and getting back to all the things Edda loves to do like eating regular food. Thank you for all the ? and support, Edda appreciates it all.
We went to Children’s at 5:30 am on Friday morning and got whisked into pre-op. Edda got some compression devices for her calves to prevent blood clots and a warm, inflatable hospital gown. It’s attached to a blower which inflates little pockets in the gown with warm air. I’ve not seen that before. If it were quieter, I wouldn’t mind one for myself at night. Unlike her parents, Edda was calm and smiling and laughing once she woke up properly. We talked briefly with the surgeon, met the OR nurse & the anesthesiology team. We (Jeremy & I) were drowsy, but the medical team was wide awake and enthusiastic and exuded a confidence and excitement that was reassuring. She was wheeled away from us at 7:30 am and we understood that it would take about an hour to settle her in and the incision would probably happen at about 8:30 am. We were told that the surgery would last 6-8 hours.
Jeremy worked. I just waited. The waiting is the worst part. Then around 11:30 we got an update from the OR that everything went smoothly and they were finishing up and she’d be ready to come out soon. It was early! We met the surgeon in the waiting room who said everything went well – “without a hitch”. I shook his hand & thanked him and said, so I’ll see you at the follow up appointment? He kind of laughed and said – no, I have one more case today and then I’ll see you this afternoon. I thought surgeons just cut and run! I don’t know what’s going on…sigh. He did see us in the afternoon to check in on us and then said he’d come by this weekend sometime. The incision looks clean and dry. She has a little tube in her nose all the way to her stomach for some formula because it’ll take her some time to start eating again.
Edda got a unit of blood last night because her hematocrit was a little low. But it was a very quiet night for both her and me. I slept in a fold out chair next to her. We are in a shared room, so I had eyeshades and earplugs and every once in awhile I’d wake up and check in with her nurse. I have a whole slew of nursing observations, this time from the patient side, I’ll write about it later. Edda got intrathecal morphine which everyone was excited about – sometimes you can’t do that in a spinal fusion – because that should ease her through the toughest pain post-op (they tell me).
Today she was cleared for regular foods, though I tried to feed her all her favorite breakfast foods: eggs, pancakes, fruit, yogurt and she didn’t want any of it. And we had OT / PT help us get her up into a chair. She sat up for a couple of hours already today. And we’ll be moved to a private, non-ICU room as soon as the transfer orders are in the computer!
Love her and all of you!