Surgery and Recovery

My little baby is five days post surgery and doing well.

When we finally decided to do surgery, I was terrified! How was I going to cope with all of this and what if something went wrong? I waited patiently for several weeks and finally got my answer.

Surgery day went very well. The people at Children's South are wonderful! I can not express how comforting it is as a parent to have such caring people around you during that difficult time. We had a nurse blowing bubbles to distract her while they took all her vital signs and another nurse brought a stuffed animal and coloring pages by our room. We played with the numerous toys and push cars they have in the hallways during our long wait. Of course I cried when I had to give her to the nurse at the surgery doors, but recovered well. After what seemed like a short 45 minutes (thanks to my mom, the Today show and People magazine), the doctor came back with a good report. Thirty minutes later, my baby was finally back in my arms. She was upset, but went right to sleep as I rocked her. She even slept through the nurse removing her iv.

She has been loving all the attention and being showered with gifts, cards, ballons and flowers from grandparents, family and friends. Her energy level has reminded high and she has had trouble following the restricted activity rules. The hardest part has been cleaning out her nose with saline solution each day. She screams in pain and it breaks my heart :( We have to do this until we return to the doctor on February 16. I pray everyday that it gets easier on her.