Friday, November 17, 2006

Surgery went well

Yippee! It's over and everything went well. Whitney is lethargic, but seems to be doing well otherwise. If you wanted the short update, there you go. If you want to hear all the nitty gritty details...

8:00 am--We arrived at Duke a little early. Better than being a little late. Whitney is doing great. She is very happy and has not complained at all about not getting breakfast this morning. Do you understand what a miracle that is? This is the girl who comes into my room between 6:15 and 6:30 every morning and 90% of the time, the first thing she says is, "I'm hungry, Mommy."
X marks the spot--fix this eye

9:15 Whitney just said, "I'm hungry" for the first time, but is still happy and distracted while watching movies on our portable DVD player. It's like she just realized she missed out on something (food!) this morning.
Yes, we love technology.
But not as much as you, you see.

10:30 Our nurse, Tina, just came in to tell us that the first procedure of the day "took much longer than anticipated." We were supposed to be going back into surgery right now, but may still have 90 minutes of waiting. NOOOOO!!! Almost on cue, Whit started crying for the first time. "I want some Goldfish. What can I have for a snack?" Talk about heartbreaking.

Feed me!

10:35 I broke out my secret weapon--PlayDoh--and it worked! The crying has subsided for now. I hope it lasts!

She even made herself a patch out of PlayDoh.
I guess she misses it.

11:05 Tina came in to give her "silly" medicine to help her relax and not remember what's happening. She got a much-appreciated drink of Sprite with it.

11:15 She's curled up on Daddy's lap. Looks sleepy.

11:17 Ok, the "silly" part just kicked in. Groggy giggles. "You look silly, Daddy." Talking gibberish. When Andrew asked her what her name was, she said, "Whitney is coming." It's funny and a little disturbing to see her so out of it.
Ready for surgery

11:25 Andrew just took her off to be put to sleep. Bye, little girl!

12:50 Where ar they? This feels like it's taking FOR-EV-VER!

12:55 I'm starving. Finally give up and find vending machines for some snacks.

1:02 Dr. Buckley walks in to report that everything went fine. She's sleeping in recovery but out of anesthesia.

1:30 Tina just came to tell us that Whit was still sleeping and Andrew could go back into recovery so he would be there when she wakes up.

1:40 Andrew is coming down the hall with a crying Whit in his arms. Poor little thing. She is just a little lump--no energy. Her tears have blood in them. That's normal after surgery, but still sad to see.

1:45 Whit drinks a lot of Sprite and is slowly sucking all of the juice out of a grape popsicle.
Finally--something to eat!

2:00 Her eyes must be so sore. She keeps alternating between eating peanut butter crackers, drinking Sprite, and sucking her popsicle--all with her eyes closed.

2:30 We get the AOK to leave. Whitney said, "Yeah! We get to go see Dr. Buckley." Oh, shoot. I forgot she was asleep the whole time that he was working on her. Try explaining THAT to a 2 year old. Luckily, she wasn't too upset about it.

Whitney gets these sunglasses that are way too big,
but help a little bit with the light sensitivity.


She slept most of the way home,
but refused to let go of her Sprite.

Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. I think we have a long, lazy weekend ahead of us. I am so thankful that things went smoothly.

6 comments:

Laurie said...

What a great way to document the day. I'm glad to hear that all went really well. I hope she does well this afternoon/evening!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the wonderfully detailed account of the day. I'm glad everything went well. You did miss out on two Super Exciting Jack Game pictures, but you're still in the lead.

Anonymous said...

Who blogs on Friday night?? I do! :-). I'm so glad that everything went well. She's such a little trooper. Every time a kid has to undergo anesthesia it's scary--so I'm glad that you have this surgery under your belt. Hopefully it will be her last!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the great diary of the day - so glad this is behind you, that you are able to live so close to Duke University and that Whitney is such a resiliant (sp) little girl.

Love you all,
Mom

Sandy said...

I'm SO glad that things went so well! Whitney seems like such a good sport about things - and it must be a huge relief for you guys to have it over with! Hurray!

Cameron's Blog said...

Andrea. I am so glad that things went well for Whit. What a trooper and I totally get the hungry thing. We keep them on such a food schedule and they expect food when they expect it. Speaking of your Thanksgiving feast looks fantastic. It is hard not to be at mom and dads but as you said it is great to start your own family traditions. Love you friend. Shelly