Elwyn's surgery

This is extremely long...and mostly for my benefit, so please don't be afraid NOT to read it:)

So i did take my camera to the hospital...and where did it sit the entire day...in the bag i packed it in. I'm lame. Rich took a few pictures with his phone, so one day (LOL), i will load those pictures onto the computer:) In the meantime, i want to write this down while i am thinking about it...

January 19, 2012 we had the privilege of waking up at 4:30 am so that we could get to Primary Children's Hospital by 6:20 am...Elwyn's check in time....what the heck. Why did we get such a crappy time!!! Willow was going to be dropped off at my parents house in West Valley, but once we found out what time we had to be there, i asked my dad to just meet us at the hospital...that way i could get an extra 30 minutes of sleep (haha...i only slept that night from about 9:30 pm-midnight, then laid awake until 4:30). The weather had said there would be a snow storm over night and to expect quite a bit of precipitation...but the roads were dry when we got up, which made our travels much more convenient.

Rich and I got up, got ready and then woke the kids up 10 minutes before we left. We loaded them both into the car (in their pj's) and made the 1 hour drive to Salt Lake. At 6:15 am I was loading Willow into my dad's car and preparing to take Elwyn in for surgery. Talk about overwhelming:)

We checked Elwyn in and went upstairs to the 'surgery' level where they have plenty of toys and X-boxes to distract the kids. Elwyn was nervous, but i knew she was trying to be strong. The pediatric techs came out to get her and we headed back to one of the pre-op rooms. In that room they did an exam, checking her vitals and what not and had her change into her hospital pajamas. She had told me the day before that she was SURE they would give her a skirt to wear, so when they gave her regular old pj's...that were blue...she was not very happy:) After we got her changed, and the nurses explained several things to us...which at that point i would have to repeat back to them because i felt COMPLETELY overwhelmed and lost..they took us to the pre-op waiting room.

In the waiting room, they asked Elwyn what she wanted to do to keep busy and she said, "play video games." This made Rich and I laugh because we DON'T do video games in our house. She had no idea what she was doing, and neither did Rich. So we ended up just sitting and snuggling.

A Child Life Specialist came over and talked with Elwyn about some of the things that she would see in the operating room and let her choose the 'flavor' she wanted to smell in her mask. She chose banana:) Then her dr., Dr. Meyers came over to go over a few things and 'mark' where Elwyn's surgery was going to be. Following Dr. Meyers, we met with the Anesthesiologist. He went over what was going to happen and I mentioned how I have a very hard time coming out of anesthesia. At that time he gave us another option instead of 'general anesthesia'...which was more like an epidural. Rich and I opted for general anesthesia...that is what we were prepared for, and it seemed like the other option had more risks involved. He then took Elwyn from us (which at that point she had been loaded into a giant wagon...which i thought was very fun for the kids). She didn't even look back and i started to cry. I'm not a huge cry baby or anything...but hello...I'm pregnant, didn't sleep much, and they were taking my 'baby' from me to slice her open. I knew she would be fine, it was still very upsetting though!!!

Rich and i were taken back to the waiting room where we had hot chocolate and donuts (I'm pretty sure they knew i would be there and needed hot chocolate LOL!). They kept us updated on her surgery and the first 'update' was that they had found a second hernia so her surgery would be a little longer than planned. From the time we left the pre-op waiting room to the time we met with the dr. following the surgery was only about 45 minutes. We were told she did great and everything looked good. Now we just needed to wait for her to wake up.

At Primary Children's, once a child 'wakes up'...meaning they're not really awake, they let one parent go back to be with them. I was the one that went back and once i was back there, I wished it had been Rich that went back. Elwyn didn't look like her normal self. Her eyes were open, but she looked dead. I am a nervous parent in general...i can't even handle loose teeth or a fat lip, so it upset me to see her like that. Of course she was fine, and once they brought her a slushy, she was talking and kept trying to sit up.

We were soon taken to the post-op rooms where Rich was waiting. She was so happy to see her dad, and announced to him, "Dad...i didn't even feel anything." All the nurses LOVED her, and i loved that i mostly sat in a chair while Rich took care of her. She recovered VERY quickly and never threw up...which is what i was expecting her to do. She kept asking for all sorts of things, another slushy, a Popsicle, a drink, where are we going for lunch??? I wasn't ready to leave the hospital, but those nurses kept trying to shuffle me out of there. In my mind...we were going to be there all day because she was going to be puking, but when that didn't happen and she was discharged i was NOT happy:( Oh well, hopefully my hospital bill is less.

Anyway, I feel very lucky that she recovered so quickly. She has been up and at it alot more than she should be, but she isn't bleeding and I am glad she feels so well. She sleeps through the night and has been eating normal this whole time. In the condition that i am in (29 weeks prego, nauseated and fat) I needed her to be okay, so this has all worked out for the best. I am glad that she only had hernias...and it wasn't something worse. Since hernias are so genetic...and mostly common in boys, i plan on this baby having them as well. At least we will be pros at this whole surgery thing:)

Elwyn

This funny little girl....

Is having surgery in the morning. She has at least 1 hernia at this point...we'll know more tomorrow after they go in and laproscopically search for more.

I am terrible at blogging, but since this is my 'attempt' at journaling (haha) i better write this down.

On New Years Day night (2012), as Elwyn got out of the bathtub i noticed a big ole lump down in her groin area. As a child, i had 2 hernias and was well aware that they were very genetic...even more so because Rich had 1 as well. Anywho, i have always kept a close eye on the girls...knowing that at least 1 of them would end up with a hernia. Elwyn is the lucky one i guess...not according to her though. Anway, I called the next day and made an appointment with a pediatric surgeon at Primary Children's Hospital...completly bypassing her pediatrician. (I knew exactly what she had, why pay him to tell me what i know!!!). We were lucky enough to get in that same week, and surgery was scheduled for a short 2 weeks later.

I am happy to get it taken care of so quickly, but also very nervous. Elwyn is quite upset about the whole thing...which doesn't help my nerves at all. Besides that I am knocked up and highly emotional:) Willow loves to tell Elwyn about them 'cutting' her open, which has really 'helped' the situation...

I know the surgery will go well, i dread her recovery though. When i had surgery I vomitted for HOURS after waking up. The hospital will not let us leave until she is done puking...so i'm afraid we might be there all day. Good thing my dad was so willing to take the day off of work to watch Willow, although she rather go to school...LOL:)

I hope this post even makes sense...I feel like it is all over the place. Oh well:)