Rosalyn's surgery

Rosalyn had surgery on January 8th to repair an epigastric hernia.  We noticed it when she was a year old, and decided to get it closed up while she is young so she didn't have to have surgery when she was older. 

We weren't looking forward to the surgery...it's harder on the parents at this age I think! She was clueless and I felt bad knowing she had to have the procedure done.  

But all went well.  We had a great team of doctors and nurses that were so caring and competent. I was so impressed with the hospital and the procedure. 

The day before, I left Brielle with my family in Olympia. Brielle was SO EXCITED to be at "Grandma's house" all by herself! She was talking about it non-stop and brought puzzles to do with Grandma.  I think both girls liked getting one-on-one attention throughout the weekend! 

I had several phone calls the day before getting things organized with Rosalyn's health history and pre-surgery instructions. We got her to bed early and she wasn't allowed to have any more to drink or eat. 

Jeff took off work so he could come with me.  That was great! We arrived at 7:30am and checked in to the Swedish hospital in downtown Seattle.  

They took us to a playroom for pediatric surgical patients.  We mostly had the room to ourselves, and Rosalyn was quick to find things to play with! 

 We went back and forth from this room meeting with different members of her medical team.  Lots of pre-surgery evaluations and questions about her health history.  She met so many new people in such a short time frame, it was overwhelming for a 2 year old getting poked and prodded! But she was so well behaved and sweet. 

We changed her into her hospital gown...she looked so cute! She carried her Dolly around with her most of the day - it was her sweet comfort throughout the ordeal. 

We were concerned because we couldn't see the hernia! It is just a hole and you only see it when fat or tissue pokes out of it.  So sometimes you don't see it.  We were told they wouldn't be able to do surgery if they couldn't see it, so by the time we met with the surgeon we were pretty anxious about if we had gone through everything in vain.  Our surgeon, Dr. Angela Hanna was able to feel around and we were able to give a basic description of where we thought it was on her tummy.  She marked where to make the incision and said it would probably be fine.  

We met with the anesthesiologist and got all the information from her about the procedure.  It wasn't until this time that she started to have a hard time and wanted to eat.  She saw my purse and was trying to get fruit snacks from it...surely there were fruit snacks just a reach away! We had to distract her, poor little, hungry thing! 

And then it was time to take her back to the operating room! 

 They only let one parent go with her to the operating room, so Jeff went with her while she was sedated.  She was given gas initially and then they put an IV in her foot and a breathing tube...as well as other monitoring devices.  Tough to see your child in an operating room! 

They took her back at 10am and Jeff and I waited and got paged at 11am.  It was faster than expected and we waited again till we could see her.  

 She had woken up from the anesthesia but then promptly fell asleep on her own.  Her little body was worn out from it all.  So she was sleeping when we got to her.  

We were at her bedside for a while till she woke up and was so cute and groggy.  After her vitals looked good, they wheeled us upstairs for more waiting as she got better and ready to be discharged.  She got more and more alert and drank apple juice and ate a Popsicle. She was hungry! She was sweet, all snuggled up in the warm hospital blankets and didn't look like she wanted to go anywhere. 

Finally, she was ready to be sent home! So we changed her and got all the wires taken off.  We left the hospital at 1:30pm.  It was a long, draining day for her and her parents! But we were so happy with how everything went and the good care that she had.  We came home where she napped peacefully and took it easy the rest of the night.

She has since recovered really well and seems to be back to her normal self.  She was jumping off the couch today, so I think that's a good sign.  We have to keep her little body calm for 2 weeks after surgery...that's pretty much impossible for this busy 2 year old! It is amazing how quickly children bounce back and handle sickness.  We feel so grateful with how everything worked out.

Brielle had a great time at Grandma & Grandpa's house. She spent a lot of time playing with Claire too.  She came home so happy and enjoyed her little vacation away so much.  We feel nothing but gratitude as we finish off this emotional weekend!