Long week

This has been a very long week.

On Wednesday, my daughter Lil A went in for surgery. When she was 9 months old, she was diagnosed with Vesicuretural Reflus (VUR), which means that urine backs into the ureters and depending on the level of severity, may enter the kidneys. She has grade 4 out of 5, so there is significant reflux into her kidneys. Since then she has been on antibiotics to keep her urine as sterile as possible to minimize the chance of damage to her kidneys. Many children will reduce the grade of VUR as they grow, but at nearly 5, Lil hasn't shown enough improvement to continue the current treatment. So the decision was made to perform a Bilateral Uretural Reimplantation, which will finally stop the reflux. It has a 98% success rate, so we are confident that this will finally take care of the problem and prevent any further scarring to her kidneys.

So we went in on Wednesday morning and after some waiting got her prepped for surgery. She was very cheerful and upbeat as we were waiting to go in. I loved the drawing she did on the Magna Doodle...it was the two of us holding balloons :)

When it was her time, I went into the operating room with her, donned in a lovely yellow robe, hat and mask. She said I looked like a duck. :) We got her onto the table and they started giving her the anesthesia. After a few seconds she was out, and I gave her a kiss and left the room. The surgery took a few hours, and the doctor was happy with the result. After she stabilized in the recovery room, we went to her room. Poor thing, she was so groggy, but did give us a little smile.

The next couple of days were a blur. I stayed with her in the room, and needless to say didn't get much sleep. There was another child in our room when we arrived, but they were discharged a few hours after we got there, so I was looking forward to having the room to ourselves for the night. Unfortunately at about 1:30am another patient was moved down. It took quite a while for them to settle in and sleep, which meant it took a while for Lil to sleep also. And with lots of nurses in the room every couple hours, it was nearly impossible to sleep for long. Early in the morning her catheter was taken out which she was not happy about!

Thursday passed the same way. My husband, son and dad all came to visit when they could. The other child was released late morning and we enjoyed another few hours of relative peace. But we got another child later in the day, a very nice girl and her family who was admitted a few days prior to her surgery. We tried to get Lil A up but she was very sore and scared to move. So we just did the best we could. That night she rested more comfortably, and was able to sleep through the nursing checks most of the time.

On Friday, the doctors came to check her and said that barring any issues she could go home that afternoon. Hurray! She was still very hesitant to get up and walk, and really couldn't go further than the rooms bathroom. Her drain tube was removed and other than the connection in her hand, so was her IV. We took a wheelchair ride downstairs for a change of scene, though she was so miserable the entire team, it seemed more like I was shoving bamboo splinters under nails. lol We also played Bingo in the room, which the hospital offers to the kids on Fridays. She had funw ith that, but was still feeling uncomfortable. The nursing staff were wonderful the entire time and gave her pain medication as needed during the time we were there. After this dose, she fell asleep for over 3 hours! Tired little girl!

We we finally got her ready to go home, despite her claims that "I'm not ready yet!". Very funny concidering she had been going on and on since we arrived saying "I'm not happy, because I want to go home!". But after getting paperwork signed, prescription filled and bags packed, we got a wagon ride downstairs. We needed to switch to a wheelchair to get out to the parking lot and at that moment I regretted not parking in Valet! It took over a half hour to track down a wheelchair! In a hospital! Geez! But finally we tracked one down and got to the car and our escape! We got home at around 8:30pm, and I was never so happy to be home! :)

This weekend has been filled with getting Lil up and walking more and more, and was so happy so see her initate small walks to different rooms, watch her crouch down to pick something up, climb onto chairs and play with quiet toys on her lap. She still has painful urination, which is making her scared to use the toilet so we've had to deal with that occasional mess, but all in all she is doing well and seems to be healing on track. But I think she will still need a little time to recover, so I'm not planning on having her in school tomorrow and I think she'll be out of dance class tomorrow also. No need to push her. Today, she and I are enjoying a peaceful morning. My son is at school, hubby is at work, and I have been doing some cleaning to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner. With my mother in Germany right now, I'm in charge of dinner. Wish me luck! :)

Watching my baby go through this has been really hard. She has been so brave! She doesn't like to tell anyone when she is hurting. She and I have been nearly inseperable during all of this and the time with her has made me love her more than ever, which I didnt think could be possible! I can't wait for her to be back to herself, running, jumping, dancing and doing all of the little things that I love about her.

Alright, so that has been our week. How has yours been?