October 19, 2010 Surgery Day

Before I tell you the details, I first have to tell you that I ended up accidentally deleting half the pictures I took at the hospital. So so sad. Luckily Scott was taking Iphone pictures. The second is, some of these pics have blood so if you get squeamish......close your eyes.

It was one of those nights of sleep where you wake up every hour. I wake Scott up at 5am and say, are you ready for this? We pack up our little Davy and she is all smiles and I think, are you ready for this little one? We get to Choc and it's business as usual. Papers, questions and us making sure they are giving her the correct meds for adrenal insufficiency. It takes 3 nurses and one anesthesiologist to NOT put in Davy's IV. Then they decide that they will try again after they put her "under." Hmm, good idea guys, wish you thought of it earlier. Dr. J comes in and asks us if we have any final questions. I say, just take care of our baby girl.
We say our goodbyes and I lose it. Like the fall in my husbands arms and hyperventilate cry kinda lose it. They start wheeling her away and I remember her blessing(for any non-mormons, it's kinda like a special prayer) from the night before, there will be guardian angels all around her.......The doctors hand will be guided......she will completely recover.....and then i feel comforted. So now what? How do I pass the next three hours? I thought I would read or sleep or watch the view(not by choice). But it's kinda hard to do anything, but think of how your little girl is currently being reconstructed. Those were the loooongest hours of my life.
Almost exactly 3 hours later, Dr. J walks in and tells us that things went as good as they possibly could have. He was very happy with the results. He then tells us how Davy woke up at the very tail end of surgery.....uhhhh whaaaaat?!!! I'm glad you didn't start off with this Dude. He said she was completely numb, but that she did wake up and wasn't to happy. I am trying to think of anyone that would wake up happy during a surgery being done on their face.
We then walk/run into the recovery room and she is asleep and so peaceful.
Now, the first time that I looked at Davy I was expecting shock or this, she looks so different feeling. But I felt quite the opposite. I knew this face. This was my Davy. I felt so calm and comforted........and then she woke up.
Remember that Mama bear suit I was supposed to be wearing? Well, as soon as Davy woke up and was shaking with pain, I quickly took it off and handed it over to Scott. I had the hardest time. She was hurting so much and had blood coming out of her nose and mouth, I am ashamed to admit I froze. But not Scott, he stepped up big time. He had her swaddled and in his arms, while I told the nurses to giddy up and get some pain meds. If you are ever in an intense situation, I highly recommend finding a Scott. He is very comforting.

After surgery Davy was supposed to wear nose stints for the next 2 weeks, to help with the shape of her nose. They lasted like 4 hours. She was able to push those bad boys out with just her face muscles. The nurses put them(painfully) back in twice and then Dr. J said it wasn't worth it. She could end up doing more damage then good. Davy also needs to wear these arm bands(no-nos) so she won't disturb her stitches. The girl is Houdini though, she can get out of them in 2 minutes. I have to watch her like a hawk.




The first night in the hospital was exactly how you think it would be, not fun. Are main goal was to keep her as pain free as possible. We tried to take shifts. I slept from 12-2:00 and then 4-7. Then 7:30am, Dr. J came in to take a looksie. I tell him that he did a great job and it looked better then I could have ever imagined. He tells us how it turned out better then he imagined in the nightmares he was having. That's right, Davy's surgery gave him nightmares. I am just glad he waited until way after the surgery to tell us this. And yet oddly, I appreciated his honesty.

Twenty four hours after surgery we are leaving Choc to go home. It's nice to be home.
Davy has had been in some intense pain, to where even her toes are shaking. It's hard to see her suffer like this. But she has also been mellow and even smiled her cute new sideways grin.
I just feel so VERY grateful right now. So once again, thank you everyone for your kindness, comments, babysitting, fruit baskets, dinners, breast milk, packages, phone calls and prayers.