Day One post-op

Day one post-op is often the most difficult. Today for us was medically filled with more good news - but held a lot of frustration for both Maddy and myself.

Last night, Maddy spent the night in PICU while I got a much-needed good sleep at home. I had a call from the hospital around 10am saying that Maddy would be transferred to the surgical ward which was fantastic news. The transfer would take place around noon and so I would be able to see Maddy then (I was still not allowed in the PICU before that time). 

I had a fantastic morning with Lana and headed up to the hospital after dropping Lana off at the bus stop at 12. When I got there, Maddy had just transferred to the surgical ward and was sleeping. I half wanted to wake her to see how she was, but I knew she needed to sleep. I noticed immediately though that the stitch that held her tongue forward had been removed, there was less blood around the mouth and nose, and her stridor was significantly less than yesterday.

Maddy slept for ages and ages - finally waking when the nurse put ear drops in at 3pm. She instantly was NOT HAPPY! It turns out that she doesn't like ear drops. In addition, she doesn't like (still) not being allowed to eat, she doesn't like her IV (it's in her foot and it hurts when she bears weight on it), she misses her dummy and she doesn't like her elbow splints. The elbow splints are pretty useless, her arms are too short and fat and they fall off every 10 minutes, but I was told emphatically by a nurse that "if she touches her mouth, the whole surgery could be a failure!!!" (I don't even think she can reach far enough into her mouth to touch the stitches - and besides, she almost never puts her hands in her mouth anyway.)

I find myself continually getting annoyed at various things at the hospital - maybe because it is such a culture difference for me. The nurses are not (all) kind and caring, they are bossy and condescending. There are some nice ones, but as a whole, they are overworked and have little sympathy for parents. I was less than gracious with a few of the nurses today over various things. 

Maddy is able to drink now and when she is drinking sufficient, she can have her IV removed. Since tomorrow is Saturday, there will only be one doctors round in the morning rather than two (morning and evening on weekdays) so please pray that tomorrow morning, the doctor will approve a) for her to be able to eat soft solid foods, and b) for her IV to be removed. Maddy would be SO much happier... Once she is ok to eat, and she has proven that she can eat well (I'm sure that will be no challenge for Maddy - she LOVES her food and was asking for it immediately after surgery!), then we can start to think about bringing her home.

Bernard is at the hospital doing the night shift and "sleeping" on an uncomfortable plastic chair in the tiny gap next to Maddy's cot. Tomorrow night, it's my turn!

And to sign off - here's a pic of her FINALLY sleeping tonight - it took her ages to go to sleep with all the lights and noise, and lack of dummy... ;) It's also the first time she's fallen asleep in my arms for months and months and months...