Surgery

So Kate's hernia surgery is over! It went really well, she was fussing the next morning because we wouldn't let her rider her new bike, I'm taking that as a sign that she's healing nicely!

Lets see... We got to the hospital at 11am and got her changed into a HUGE gown, HUGE pants and HUGE socks- just because she's 4 doesn't mean she's as big as most 4-year-olds! Then we were off to play in the waiting room.

The first nurse comes to get us to do vitals. Kate decides right off that she's not having it. First up was her weight- no deal. She throws a screaming fit, wraps her arms and legs around J's body and won't let go! The ended up weighing both of them, then I took her and they weighed J by himself. She's a whopping 29lbs! Then off to an exam room to get her blood pressure (went slightly better, she's used to playing with my BP cuff) and her pulse. I think she thought they were going to kill her at this point, she absolutely screamed nonstop the whole time! I even put the meter on my own finger to show her it wouldn't hurt and she didn't care. We ended up holding her down- J had her arms, I had one leg and the nurse had the other- they put a teensy bandaid-type meter on her tiny toe and put the big sock back on- she actually kicked the nurse a few times!

So after that fiesta, we went back to the waiting room where there was a standard black Poodle surrounded by 100 little kids in ginormous gowns! Kate liked looking at it, but she wasn't willing to actually touch it! Then a lady from Family Services came out with a big box of stuff to show Kate: surgical masks, the masks K'd wear to get the anesthetic, stuff like that. She let K try on the masks and put them on us, then she took her down the hallway to get hats for us. They were watching to see how she'd do without us and letting her get used to the attire the surgeon and staff would be wearing in the OR. This has got to be the best idea, she was absolutely fine after this!

After another short wait we met with an anesthesiologist, answered the same questions as the 1st nurse, K picked out her "flavor" (raspberry), then we waited/played again.

Finally we went back to meet with the surgeon and the main anesthesiologist. Another round of the same questions (no, she's still not allergic to anything but Augmentin, no new loose teeth since they asked 5 minutes ago...) and the surgeon asked her to lay down so he could mark her hernias. She hopped up on the table, we showed him the hernias and when he went to mark them she freaked out and jumped about 50 feet! We had to reassure her he was only holding a pen, she though for sure he was going to "shot" her!

When he left his nurse came in to take K. I thought for sure she'd freak out again, or at least cry, but no- she took the nurse's hand and before they turned the corner K was laughing about something!

We were in the waiting room long enough for me to read 2 magazines when Dr Pittinger came in. Her surgery took half an hour (he'd originally said it could take up to an hour and a half) and she was already in recovery! Everything went very well, they fixed the hernias, bandaged her up and she was being woken up. After a few minutes we got to go back and see her! She was laying on her side facing away from us and the nurse with her said she'd already been talking about having a birthday that weekend and telling her about her party at Chuck E Cheese! Of course the second she heard our voices she started crying, but the nurse said that that's normal. She wanted to be held, so J got her and rocked her to sleep. We moved to the 2nd recovery room shortly after this and J and I watched Spongebob while she slept. She woke and asked to lay in the bed, and when we moved her she said she was sick. I got an emesis basin under her chin just in time for her to burp loud enough to shake the walls, then she was fine! She slept for about half an hour more, then we got her discharge info, they took out her IV and we got her dressed. She was very excited to ride in a wagon from the recovery room to the car!

She slept most of the way home, and dozed on and off the rest of the evening. She had Motrin for pain, didn't seem to be in enough to get her prescription filled, which was great! The next morning is when she cried because we wouldn't let her ride her bike!