And we're home...

Sorry for not posting last night, we were just too tired after getting up early and spending the day at the hospital. First of all, Mary is a trooper. I love her strength and resilience. I also hate that she has to be so strong and resilient at such a young age. We started off the morning getting up very, very E.A.R.L.Y. Mary and Mama were in the car driving off to the hospital at 5:45 in order to park and be in the admitting line up for 6:30. Luckily there was no line at admitting so we were processed quickly and quickly taken up to the surgical floor.

Excited to be carrying her red hospital card and  the envelope with her admitting papers.

We were lucky in getting one of the very nice, caring anesthesiologists who allows the parents to accompany their child back to the operating room - yahoo! After going through the pre-op questions (How many times can I be asked when was the last time she had anything to drink/eat!) and routine procedures (weighing, blood pressure, temperature) we were off to another waiting room. Unfortunately we forgot the IPad in the other back pack at home that Daddy was bring later, so Mary had to make due with Mama's IPhone. We were the first surgery scheduled for the day, but then were bumped back and ended up waiting about another hour and a half. Luckily Mary is easily entertained, and by this time Daddy had already dropped Sylvie off at daycare and had arrived.

Aren't I cute in scrubs? Maybe I'll be a doctor one day too, I can rock this look!

Finally the OR nurse came to get us and I carried Mary back to surgery. As mentioned, the anesthesiologist was very kind and let me hold Mary on my lap while she was getting her IV, before the anesthetic took effect. Poor Mary was getting more and more overwhelmed with all the lights and strange faces and pretty much just shut down. She wouldn't make any eye contact or answer any questions and just burrowed her face into my chest.So Mama just sang to her and rocked her under she fell asleep.

Surgery went very well, according to the two doctors. Her surgeries took just over 1.5 hours, and she was in the recovery room for about 45 minutes before they brought her up to the day recovery room on the Peds floor. This has been the longest it has taken them to bring her back to us and I was getting antsy pacing the room. We could hear Mary coming down the hall, she was NOT happy. So I climbed into her little stretcher (no bed I guess) and just held and rocked her while she cried and cried. Daddy was near by handing us tissues and locating face clothes and warming them up for Mama to wipe Mary's face.

Our poor little dude looked a little like she had taken a couple rounds with boxer as her bottom lip was very swollen. The doctor had explained to us after surgery how small and tight her little mouth is due to the scar tissue under her upper lip from previous surgeries (this is something that will be corrected with her next lip revision surgery - maybe sometime next year?). We asked Mary if she had any pain and she kept pointing to her lips, so I think they were stretched pretty wide. The nurse thankfully brought Mary some ibuprofen right away to help with any pain which was nice, and Mary was very cooperative with taking it.

Our little prize fighter...

After about an hour, Mary calmed down and began drinking apple juice and was content to watch some cartoons - as long as Mama was right beside her. Once she had the applce juice and was keeping it down she began to go to town on the ice cream, and over the next few hours had several of the little bowls to her delight.

 Hey, stop taking pictures... Keep the good stuff coming!

We spent the rest of of our time there (about 4 hours) circling the pediatric ward in the wagon and little red car. Since we were in the day recovery room, there were unhappy kids coming in from surgery about every hour or so. This would make Mary worry and get agitated, so we walked, and walked, and walked while I little princess rode and played with all the toys on the wall. When we were finally released from the hospital we drove home to find supper delivered (beef stew, buns, fruit) and lunch for tomorrow (chicken noodle soup) all lovingly made for us by Grandma Marjorie and Grandpa Roy. It was a quick supper and little play time before Mary passed out at 6:00, due to her tiring day and no afternoon nap.

Today Mary is doing well, needing lots and lots of cuddle time of course. We made sure to keep her pain in control by setting the alarm throughout the night to giver her the pain medication and this also helped for a good night's sleep. Her adenoids do not seem to be bothering her so much today, but her lips are another story. They are cracked in the corners of her mouth from surgery yesterday, and she has at least 5 different cancer type sores/blisters on the inside of her bottom lip. So we are making sure to put some vaseline on the outside of her mouth throughout the day and staying away from any acidic food that might sting.     

Owie...

Well, we are off for a nap now as we try to catch up on some lost sleep. Thank you for all the well wishes, kind thoughts and prayers yesterday - they all help tremendously.