The anesthesiologist decided she could go to sleep with a mask and get the IV after she went to sleep. Despite the fact that Wu Yi was very calm, we opted to give her a sedative before going to the OR, so that she wouldn't remember leaving me. She has been very clingy to me this week and I promised her that I would stay with her through the whole thing. (Even though I am an anesthetist, the hospital policy says no parents in the OR).
Surgery took just over 2 hours and the surgeon was very pleased with the outcome. In his office he had told us to expect 2 days in the hospital, but after the surgery, he said to expect 3 days. As I walked to see her in the recovery room, I could hear her crying and screaming "Mama, Mama"! I haven't heard her call me Mama in over 5 weeks! When she finally saw me, she practically jumped off the bed into my arms and clung to me with all her might. Poor baby with a very swollen face and bloody nose and mouth. She had a stitch through her tongue which was connected to a big wad of gauze which hung outside of her mouth. She howled with pain and fear, but the hospital staff was very attentive with lots of extra pain medicine and she soon settled down. She clung to me the rest of the afternoon and we slept together in her hospital bed all that night. Its sadly twisted that traumatic events can create such bonding.
The next day, Wu Yi started signaling to me that we had been in the hospital 2 days and that it was time to go home. I want so badly for her to trust what I say, and it was frustrating that I had to tell her we couldn't go home until she started to eat. She was completely unwilling to try any food despite the fact that she said she was starving. She threw herself into a major tantrum ~ kicking, screaming, arching her back. This was the first time I had seen a tantrum, but was not at all surprised by it. It lasted for about an hour and a half. We had our nurse, the nursing supervisor, the child life specialist, a social worker, and a translator all running to our room to try to calm her down. Unfortunately, all of these strangers just made her more upset and I sent them away. Did I mention that we weren't in a private room? We had a sweet little 4 year old in the bed next to us who had a cleft palate revision on the same day as Wu Yi. Her mom and I got to be best buddies during our 4 days together. A second tantrum followed a few hours later and it was decided that Wu Yi needed to be sedated so that she wouldn't damage her mouth with the screaming. The Ativan knocked her out for the rest of the day.
Day 3 brought 4 more tantrums, although they were less fierce and lasted only a half hour each. She still refused to eat or drink. Thank God she slept well all night.
Day 4 was "I'm sick of being here too and you are gonna start eating no matter what" day. :) Our little roommate got to go home and I didn't pack enough underwear and I was becoming tearful myself, so I found the resolve to be more firm with Wu Yi. Our nurse was willing to help me (brave nurse ~ I think we scared off a few!) and we ganged up on her to take sips of 7up and bites of ice cream. The effort exhausted me but we made a little progress at last.
So, here we are at Day 5. With lots of encouragement, Wu Yi is taking a full ounce (Yes, I said ounce!) of her favorite spicy Chinese broth every hour. She is switching over from IV Morphine, to liquid oral pain meds this morning as well. Yucky! If we can get her to take 2 ounces every hour and continue to get her to take her pain meds, she can go home later today or tomorrow morning.
Pre op. Sedation makes the bed controls fun!
Post op.
Post op. 
Day 4.
Jolene,
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry that I'm behind on blogging, but have kept up with your Facebook posts. Hope that things are improving and that WuYi has been taking some nourishment and keeping it down.
Ruby