Surgery Update

Anna had her surgery on the 14th. She did very well. She actually had two hernias right next to each other, but the doctor was able to repair both by making them into one larger hernia to repair. (Which provides the only worrisome news-it sounds like she is definitely at risk to develop more of these kind of hernias in the future, especially since she already had two.)

Despite panic attacks on my part as I put Anna to bed on Monday night, the hardest part of the entire ordeal was waiting at the hospital for an hour and a half before her surgery...I was so nervous about how we would entertain our starving, bored baby for so long. Fortunately, if Anna was hungry, she didn't really show it. Once we got to the hospital, that is.

Our morning really started around 4 AM when Anna was up screaming, wanting to nurse. For an hour and a half. Normally I might have given in by the time 5:30 rolled around and she was still up, but I had no choice this time. Unfortunately, she woke up Adele in the process, so we had two girls to try and get back to sleep. Fortnately, Adele did manage to go back to sleep on her own, so Daddy and I took turns with Anna. (At one point, Anna was even playing in Adele's room while Adele slept...Daddy sure is a risk taker if you ask me!)

At 6:00, I relieved Daddy and decided to make some coffee. Poor Anna begged and begged for a sip! I decided I'd better eat breakfast so that I could function at the hospital, and Grandma was kind enough to take Anna out in the back yard to play (in her bare feet, on the wet grass, bless her heart!) while I scarfed down my cereal! She and Grandpa stayed with Adele (and had a McDonalds date!) While Daddy and I headed to the hospital.

Our friend, Brian came to pray with us before the surgery, and lucky Miss Anna had a bucket of toys waiting in our pre-op room. The toys were fun for a few minutes, but just as Anna was getting fussy, Daddy found the ultimate toy: Push cars. There were motorized cars, regular push cars and even a "pimped out" jeep. Anna spent a good long while "Zooming" with Daddy, and then when the nurses came to take her away, they took her in the car she'd been playing in. Mommy and Daddy were definitely more stressed out at that point...poor Anna had NO idea what she was in for...she just thought she was going for another ride!

I was pretty much a nervous wreck during the entire process, but once we were able to see Anna in the post-op room, I felt all of my tense muscles relax...and was left with sore joints everywhere! I think Daddy was pretty much the same way.

Anna, though. Anna was fine. She was a little crazy coming out of her anesthesia, and would suddenly push away from me and try to climb across the room, but mostly she just slept. And drank apple juice. Out of a sippy cup. A lot of apple juice. Out of a sippy cup. Score one for the hernia! We brought that sippy cup home with us. She also harbored no ill will against the push cars, because as soon as she saw those out in the hallway, she wanted to go for another ride!

I was nervous that Anna would need to re-learn how to walk (She had a caudal, which I think is almost the same as an epidural, but I'm not going to actually go there...I just googled "caudal block" and saw several sites with cautions warnings about placement, etc....eek!) but she did just fine, and actually was up and walking around during the 12 to 16 hours that the caudal was supposed to still be in effect.

She had a tube in her wind pipe, and was very hoarse for the day or so after the surgery, then she became very congested. I am thinking now that her cold/likely sinus infection is unrelated to her stint in the hospital, but am not certain.

She has a little star of surgical tape covering her stitches (the incision is about an inch across or so) and she picks at it whenever it is not covered. I'm not sure if it hurts, itches or is just fun to play with. Anna is such a happy go lucky girl that it's pretty tough to tell if she is in pain.

I have pictures from our adventure at the hospital, but they are stuck in my phone at the moment. We did get to bring home a few souvenirs, including some books to share with Adele though!