Surgery Day

We got the call yesterday that Avery's arrival time for surgery was at 10am with surgery scheduled at 11am. I was hoping it would be earlier, but oh well. They do the youngest kids first and their first one was at 7am so there must have been a few kids younger than her there today. She was to have no food after midnight, no milk after 4am and no liquids after 8am.

Of course she slept until about 7:50 so we didn't give her anything when she woke up. We knew it was going to be hard not giving her anything this morning but luckily she's one of those kids that doesn't beg to eat when she wakes up. Around 9am she started asking for a drink and we had to keep distracting her. That was a long 45min before we left the house because she kept asking and we had to tell her "not now-later." She probably was wondering why we were ignoring her request!

Here she is walking around in her Pjs before we left:


Jacket on, ready to leave!



We got there just before 10am and I had to sign a few papers, show them my ID, and pay the copay. We were told they'd be with us shortly.

Here she is in the waiting room:

By 10:15 or so we were taken upstairs to the pre-op room. As soon as we got up there, they took us to a closet full of toys and said Avery could choose one to have. I had no idea what to pick for her, but chose a doll they had that had animals all over her outfit. That was a nice gesture that they give the kids a toy!

(and as of now, she hates the doll-I think it reminds her of being there!)


They asked us a few health questions and Avery had to be weighed and have her temperature taken (which she cried through the entire thing!). We took her out of her clothes and put her in a hospital gown. The nurse told us Avery would be inconsolable when she woke up from anesthesia and that it was completely normal. They warned us that nothing would soothe her and she might get sick as well. The doctor came by and reviewed the procedure with us and had us sign consent forms. Then the anesthesiologist came by and reviewed his role and had us sign consent for that as well. He said she would be "asleep" roughly 5mins for the procedure. After some tearful hugs, the anesthesiologist took her and carried her down the hallway.

I was surprised that she didn't scream her head off. She whimpered a bit, but it went a lot easier than I expected. We were told it would be about a half hour to 45mins until we saw her again. Time check-10:30am

We went back downstairs to the waiting area. My Mom and I got a cup of coffee and as soon as we sat down, our name was called. They told us to go back upstairs. Time check-10:35am (not joking!)

I have to admit I was a tad worried-they couldn't be done already could they? We were told it would be 30-45mins until we saw her and it was only 5mins!

We were told to sit in a room and the doctor would be in any minute. Sure enough, he came in and said she was finished and did great! He reviewed a few things-she might have a bloody nose, blood tinged tears, be tired/cranky. He went over her eye drops and to have her try not to rub her eye. After about 5mins of talking with him, he left and said they would come to get us momentarily to see her.

Within 2mins or so, a nurse came in and said we could see her. We walked down a long hallway and I didn't hear anything-I was waiting to hear her little scream down the hall! Once we got right outside, I could hear her crying.

We walked in and a nurse had her wrapped in a blanket and she didn't look like herself at all-you could tell she was really out of it. She was crying on and off and shaky and almost gasping for breath from crying. Her face looked puffy to me-she just didn't look normal to me. Gabe took her first and held her and then she reached out to me. I sat in the rocking chair and held her-just hugging her and holding back the tears. I felt so helpless like there was nothing I could do for her. She was just in her diaper and all wrapped up in a blanket-we decided to keep her that way for the ride home to make it easier. They let us leave whenever we felt comfortable doing so. We felt like she just wanted out of there and to get home as soon as we could.

She dozed off briefly on the way home and once we got home, we gave her some water and some cheerios.

She was still pretty out of it and just relaxed, sitting in our laps. After awhile we got her in a comfy outfit. She went down for a nap around 1 and slept until 315.

Once she got up, she was really hungry-the child ate nonstop until she went to bed!

She walked around and played and was acting pretty normal until around 630-then she got really whiny for some reason. We decided to take her up to bed early (7pm) and sure enough, she was sound asleep by 720. I think the day was rough for her and tired her out. Hopefully in the morning she'll be back to her usual self!

I'm just relieved this whole thing is over-I hope it ends up being successful so we don't have to repeat this again!