So, to recap, the surgery went wonderfully--it was done very quickly (less
than two hours until the surgeon came out to see us). Due to her GI
distention and how her insides had been pushed around, they wound up
taking out her appendix as well, which I was thrilled about--between the
amount of money that saves us on future hospital bills as well as the
pain and suffering Mara B won't have to deal with, I saw it as a win-win
situation! They emptied out her belly first and the surgeon said they
found some food in it, then he paused and said, "And the nurse said she
thinks she found a...contact lens in it?" We just wonder how many have taken a ride down that long, slow highway!
She took awhile in the recovery room because her temperature was
high and it took awhile for some of her meds to kick in and bring it
down. Her room was also apparently being cleaned for fifteen hours (ha ha..it was beautifully clean and sterile upon arrival, so I mostly jest about that...we were just itching to get in there). She has a NG tube in, (a tube in her nose that goes into her
stomach and drains it, since her bowels aren't really working right now
but are still secreting things), which, as you could imagine, bothers
her greatly. She had these little arm restraint things on (nothing
barbaric, more like swimmies that make it so she can't bend her
arm--they have Peanuts characters on them, a nicety that was completely
lost on her!), and she didn't like having her arms restrained, so she
was pretty fussy. They gave her an anti-anxiety IV that calmed her down
considerably. She was doing great, all tucked away in her hospital
room. I left her with Brian and ducked across to the next building to
my obstetrician's appointment--baby boy is sounding good and I got a flu
shot--I was really multi-tasking at Texas Children's Hospital
yesterday!
I took last night's shift. It was a long night. Long story short,
her meds keep her from being in pain but they don't seem to knock her
out, sleep-wise. That, and her arms being in restraints, the tube in
her nose, all of the other IVs, sensors, and wires in her, and she just
couldn't get comfortable. She screamed for awhile (the nurses couldn't
believe she wasn't falling asleep...normally, I would have been prouder
of her strength, but at that point, I was cursing her apparently high
tolerance for meds or whatever!) She wound up ripping out the NG tube,
which was a production...they had to put another one in her other
nostril (I can live the rest of my life without having to see that scene
again), then they had to wait for an Xray machine to come from surgery
to take Xrays to make sure it was in correctly, then they had to wait
for the Xrays to be read to connect it to the machine that actually
drained it...yadda yadda yadda...all the while, my superwoman was up, screaming and
furious. Some of the looks she gave were priceless.
In the wee small
hours of the morning (which was about three glorious hours after she had
finally fallen asleep), one nurse came in to check her vitals and woke
her up (I think she flipped her onto her back, wretched woman!)...so she
was up from about 4 am on...and wound up messing with the NG tube
again, this time disconnecting it from the tubing that runs to the
machine that collects its contents. I will spare you the gory details
of that one, but I was holding her when it happened and didn't realize
what it was for a few minutes. I'm just glad I wasn't terribly attached
to that outfit, as it wound up in the trash. Then, around 5 or so, I
looked over to see her PULLING HERSELF UP on the side of the crib,
looking for me!!! Now, when I only had my appendix removed, (I say
"only" because my guts hadn't been fooled around with and it was all
done laproscopically, so I didn't have the big scar she does), I could
barely turn slightly to one side of the bed....and here this one was,
pulling herself up, screaming at me like, "Hey! Where are you! What are
you doing?!" The nurse couldn't believe it--he told us the little boy
in the room next to us, who had also spent the night screaming, had also
had his appendix out and he couldn't believe how much Mara was moving
about. Anyway, that was about when I called Brian and told him to get
up to the hospital ASAP to take over. All I can say, is thank goodness for all of the songs, chants, and shanties that my years at Camp Bernadette provided me with--they were used throughout the night to try to lull my girl to sleep or to settle her down.
We're now waiting patiently (or not so patiently) for the NG
tube to be removed--she may be feeling more pain from her scar at that
point, but at least the tube won't be bothering her, which will make it easier to hold
her, and the pain meds will help with the other pain. Also, when the
tube is removed they are going to slowly start to feed her, which will
also help. They're waiting for her to either pass gas or the tube to be
clear. Fingers crossed. Otherwise, the surgeon and his assistants
came in to see her and said everything looks great, so this will all
just take some time. Either way, surprising no one, this little girl is
a trooper. I am happy to report that she was much calmer and happier today. She is a fireball, so I felt the song lyrics were the only appropriate title for this post (amended slightly to account for her petite stature)...this child continues to amaze people...I am hoping it will next come in the form of sleeping for an amazing amount of time!
Aidan's been doing well with his Gigi--an afternoon at the zoo yesterday was followed by a trip to the ice cream shop and a number of hours on the ipad. He rocks--he's seeing Santa today at school and will be asking for another car transporter for his small cars...always thinking, that one!
Thank you all for all of the calls, emails, texts, food, good thoughts, prayers, and offers to help. We appreciate them all! Will keep you posted!
(No pics this post...girlfriend is looking rather feral and I will wait until she has been fully restored to her usual diva status--after seeing her fury last night, I don't want that directed at me when she's a teen and looking back over this blog, appalled at the pictures I posted of her!)
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