Post Op, Day 1

I would say this is going to be quick, but you all know me better than that.  A little fatigue never stopped me from being overly verbose in my blog posts.

First, let me share with you something I think is hilarious and that is Kylie right after she got her "happy juice" before she went back to surgery.  It seriously makes me laugh every time I watch it (although delirium will do that to ya).

So, we finally got to our room in the PICU last night.  Yes, our doctor is conservative and I think I mentioned that in an earlier post.  I don't know of any other doctor that puts their children in ICU after this type of surgery.  But since there was such major surgery so near to the back of her throat, he wanted to monitor her breathing.

In the waiting room Monday.

Anyway, we moved from morphine to Tylenol with codeine for pain before leaving the recovery room last night.  It was 9pm or after by the time our room was ready in the PICU and Kylie was DONE with the day. She didn't want to drink anything at all and it was a challenge to get her meds down her.  I would say she slept about 3 out of every 4 hours.  The first hour or hour and 1/2 she would sleep in her bed.  Then I had to hold her.  So while she slept as well as could be expected in the ICU, I didn't sleep but maybe 3 total hours and that is piecing them all together!

Steve showed up about 8 after dropping Jenna at school and I managed to squeeze maybe 2 broken up hours of sleep.  Then I got my second wind, got dressed and felt better.  The plastic surgeon came by and looked at her mouth (which yes, we traumatizing to her) and said it looked GREAT!  She remained on a clear liquid diet today since she hadn't really drank anything at all.  He did say her vitals were fine and no problems with her breathing, so we were released to go to a regular floor.

Her cute hospital PJs.  The white pants make her look like the karate kid!

Steve and I took turns holding Kylie and that gave him time to grab us some lunch and switch off eating.  Kylie tends to get irritable after being in the room for any length of time, so I had the bright idea of getting the iPad and turning on her favorite movie.  She had just had her dose of pain medicine so I figured after 15-20 minutes she'd be out.

NOT. SO. MUCH.  That gal loves Annie.  She sat like this (or a variety of other ways) and watched the entire movie.  As soon as it was over, they came to move us.  She enjoyed being out of the room because we really couldn't go anywhere in the PICU.  We got on our new floor and of course, all the new nurses taking vitals and looking at her upset her.  She cried and cried and then all of a sudden fell over snoring.  Guess that medicine finally got to her! She slept right up until the next dose almost. 

You can't tell it here, but she's happy to have her jie jie here and Jenna was CRAZY to be able to hold her (as you can tell by the smile on her face).

Kylie has had what I'd consider to be a pretty good day all things considered.  She did drink about a cup of apple juice today and that is wonderful and all the nurses were thrilled.  She still has IV fluids going until they are confident she can stay hydrated on her own, but that means we are changing wet diapers every hour.  So her kidneys are working just fine!

Kylie did love on her bear (thanks Mr. Will!) a lot and made some signs as well as did Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She has made her squint eyes face for a select few.  So we are seeing glimpses of our girl.  I hope tonight is a good night for both her and Steve.  I'm going to bed now...yes, at 8:30.  And I'm not feeling guilty about that AT ALL.

Thanks for your well wishes and prayers.  They are being heard and answered.  While you are at it, pray for the other children at Vandy Children's.  So many of them are there for way worse issues than cleft palate repair.  My heart breaks to think of them.  So while you pray for Kylie, pray for those children and their families as well. We are fortunate.

More tomorrow...