I typed this last night and fell asleep before I could get it posted. It has been difficult to get anything on the blog site because Esther Marie has been feeling so bad and has been so clingy. She is better now and so I will post this (Thursday night) and then will update with more information soon. We ended up staying two nights at the hospital instead of one, and Jasper and I both stayed with her instead of just me. If you have been praying and checking the blog for updates, thanks for your support, prayers and patience.
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Hello everyone! I am actually typing this blog post from the hospital...they have wireless internet, even in the room. This is the first chance I have been able to get online (just before midnight on Wednesday). Esther Marie is finally sleeping better so I wanted to give you an update about her surgery day.
We arrived at the hospital around 7:45 a.m., after we dropped the other children off at school. We went through all the normal check-in stuff, and they let us stay in a holding room while we were waiting. Esther Marie was a little anxious when someone would come in the room, but she was laughing and playing while we waited. As time passed, she got more fussy because she was hungry (no food/drinks past midnight). Around 11:00 AM, the nurse came to take Esther Marie to surgery. We got to walk down the hallway holding her, and then had to give her over to the nurse named April. That was SO hard for me to do! Esther Marie went to April and didn't even cry when we waved bye bye as she was carried away. (I found out later that she did cry before anesthesia was given but at least she didn't get upset when she left us.) I had prayed that God would give her a peace when I handed her over to be carried away, and God honored that request!)
When we gathered our stuff and went out to the day-surgery waiting area, my cousin Amy was walking up at just about the same time. She came to the hospital to wait with us during the surgery and to help with our other children, if necessary.
The surgery began around 11:30 AM....with the ENT doing his procedure first. The nurses were very good about calling us to let us know what was happening. When he was done, he called us and said....Esther Marie had a ton of wax in her ears...impacted.....and he cleaned all that out. He said this seems to be a problem with Asian children and we would probably need to have that done on a regular basis. There was definitely fluid in her ears...thick, gunky and tons of it! The right ear was particularly bad. Both Dr. G and Dr. R said she was definitely going to feel better now that it had been cleaned out! Dr. R did put tubes in her ears...she HAD to have them! Please pray that the hearing loss that was detected before surgery will not be permanent!
The cleft palate repair went very well....although Dr. G told us after surgery that the opening was much bigger than he expected so he had to work harder to get it closed up. She did have good muscles and enough tissue so he feels it is a good repair. She had to have "two flap" surgery versus "one flap" surgery. This was more complicated and therefore, Esther Marie is in more pain. She has a lot of drainage and is on morphine for pain.
Around 2:35 p.m., we were able to talk to Dr. G to find out about all of this...and around 3:30, we went to recovery to see our baby. She was sitting in the nurse's lap and when she saw me, she reached out and wanted me. THAT was special! Her face was swollen some but not like what we expected. The major swelling was her bottom lip and her tongue. She also had the normal oozing and bleeding from her mouth and ears (because of the tubes). She was pretty much out of it and on oxygen, so I just held her and she slept while we waited for our room. They had one for us, but it had to be cleaned.
Let me interject right here and say thank you to Amy for picking the kids up from school, getting them something to eat and then taking them to the library so they could do their homework! She was an awesome help to us! Thank you also to Susan and Victor for allowing us to call them at the last minute to say we needed our other three children to spend the night at their home. They graciously accommodated us and we appreciate it so much!
After waiting for quite awhile in recovery, we were finally taken to a room. We were beginning to get settled in when we found out we had to change floors and rooms. Why? Well, when answering a bunch of questions asked by a nurse, we told them that Esther Marie had recently been exposed to chicken pox. It was indirect exposure, but nonetheless, they had to take precautions in order to avoid exposing other children to the illness. It can cause real problems for children with immune system disorders or weaknesses. So we waited again for quite awhile for another room and finally got settled in around 8:00 p.m. Poor little Esther Marie kept getting so upset by all the commotion! She didn't know what was going on with all the moving around!
So it is after midnight and here we sit in her room....she's sleeping, which is a good thing. She is still on her IV drip and oxygen. And she is in a lot of pain! They have been giving her morphine to help manage the pain and that knocks her out. The goal is to get her weened off the oxygen and eating food and drinking liquids. ...so that we can go home. We will see what tomorrow brings!
________________________________________________
Hello everyone! I am actually typing this blog post from the hospital...they have wireless internet, even in the room. This is the first chance I have been able to get online (just before midnight on Wednesday). Esther Marie is finally sleeping better so I wanted to give you an update about her surgery day.
We arrived at the hospital around 7:45 a.m., after we dropped the other children off at school. We went through all the normal check-in stuff, and they let us stay in a holding room while we were waiting. Esther Marie was a little anxious when someone would come in the room, but she was laughing and playing while we waited. As time passed, she got more fussy because she was hungry (no food/drinks past midnight). Around 11:00 AM, the nurse came to take Esther Marie to surgery. We got to walk down the hallway holding her, and then had to give her over to the nurse named April. That was SO hard for me to do! Esther Marie went to April and didn't even cry when we waved bye bye as she was carried away. (I found out later that she did cry before anesthesia was given but at least she didn't get upset when she left us.) I had prayed that God would give her a peace when I handed her over to be carried away, and God honored that request!)
When we gathered our stuff and went out to the day-surgery waiting area, my cousin Amy was walking up at just about the same time. She came to the hospital to wait with us during the surgery and to help with our other children, if necessary.
The surgery began around 11:30 AM....with the ENT doing his procedure first. The nurses were very good about calling us to let us know what was happening. When he was done, he called us and said....Esther Marie had a ton of wax in her ears...impacted.....and he cleaned all that out. He said this seems to be a problem with Asian children and we would probably need to have that done on a regular basis. There was definitely fluid in her ears...thick, gunky and tons of it! The right ear was particularly bad. Both Dr. G and Dr. R said she was definitely going to feel better now that it had been cleaned out! Dr. R did put tubes in her ears...she HAD to have them! Please pray that the hearing loss that was detected before surgery will not be permanent!
The cleft palate repair went very well....although Dr. G told us after surgery that the opening was much bigger than he expected so he had to work harder to get it closed up. She did have good muscles and enough tissue so he feels it is a good repair. She had to have "two flap" surgery versus "one flap" surgery. This was more complicated and therefore, Esther Marie is in more pain. She has a lot of drainage and is on morphine for pain.
Around 2:35 p.m., we were able to talk to Dr. G to find out about all of this...and around 3:30, we went to recovery to see our baby. She was sitting in the nurse's lap and when she saw me, she reached out and wanted me. THAT was special! Her face was swollen some but not like what we expected. The major swelling was her bottom lip and her tongue. She also had the normal oozing and bleeding from her mouth and ears (because of the tubes). She was pretty much out of it and on oxygen, so I just held her and she slept while we waited for our room. They had one for us, but it had to be cleaned.
Let me interject right here and say thank you to Amy for picking the kids up from school, getting them something to eat and then taking them to the library so they could do their homework! She was an awesome help to us! Thank you also to Susan and Victor for allowing us to call them at the last minute to say we needed our other three children to spend the night at their home. They graciously accommodated us and we appreciate it so much!
After waiting for quite awhile in recovery, we were finally taken to a room. We were beginning to get settled in when we found out we had to change floors and rooms. Why? Well, when answering a bunch of questions asked by a nurse, we told them that Esther Marie had recently been exposed to chicken pox. It was indirect exposure, but nonetheless, they had to take precautions in order to avoid exposing other children to the illness. It can cause real problems for children with immune system disorders or weaknesses. So we waited again for quite awhile for another room and finally got settled in around 8:00 p.m. Poor little Esther Marie kept getting so upset by all the commotion! She didn't know what was going on with all the moving around!
So it is after midnight and here we sit in her room....she's sleeping, which is a good thing. She is still on her IV drip and oxygen. And she is in a lot of pain! They have been giving her morphine to help manage the pain and that knocks her out. The goal is to get her weened off the oxygen and eating food and drinking liquids. ...so that we can go home. We will see what tomorrow brings!
1 comment:
Thanks for the update. We will continue to pary for lil Esther Marie\b
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