I'm Back!!!!

The morning of my daughter's surgery, my husband and I woke up at 5:15am.  As soon as I opened my eyes, I felt like I was going to puke.  I walked as slowly as I could to the bathroom so I could put on some make-up and at least look like I was awake.  Our bodies are so amazing.  I didn't think I was nervous, but my body told me otherwise.  Just giving head nods as answers to my husband's questions, he knew what was up.  For breakfast, I had my usual oatmeal with cinnamon, but that day was different.  I reached straight for the ginger and added some to my oats.  The taste combination was the least of my worries, I just knew I needed to do something to calm my body down.  Ginger-Lemon Tea was also spotted in the pantry and I was quick to put water in my tea kettle.  5:45am came way too quick.  After grabbing my daughter and her teddy, we were out the door and driving to the hospital.
After we got checked in at 6:30am, the nursing staff was quick to call my daughter's name, and I went back with her to Pre-Op.  They took her vitals, weighed her, and gave me the cutest hospital gown to dress her in.  It was blue with adorable little dogs holding balloons.  My daughter pointed to them and said, "daaahhh," while patting her leg, which is the ASL sign for "dog."  The nurses went over every detail at least 2 times, maybe 3.  I knew at that point, my daughter was going to be okay.  The surgeon came in to say, "hello," and to check on our sweet baby girl.  I was so comforted just by seeing his face!  When it was time to take her back at 7:30am, I decided to not go back with her due to my daughter's separation anxiety, and I felt it would only make it harder on her.
In the waiting room, my husband and I watched Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs on our portable DVD player.  We periodically checked the electronic patient information board to see if our daughter was in the OR or not.  We made a few phone calls and send a few text messages out.  Before we knew it, we heard on the overhead speaker, "we need a crib in OR 3," and at that point, we knew she was done.  The surgeon came walking out to meet us in the waiting room.  Watching his steps seemed as if they were in slow motion, and all I could think of was Grey's Anatomy and how they tell their patient's family members bad news.  Fortunately, that was not the case for us.  He had nothing but good news to report.  We heard our daughter crying in Recovery and the surgeon led us back to see her.  One of the nurses was cuddling her to bring her comfort!  Ahhh, what a caring group of individuals!
Coming out of the anesthesia was so hard for our daughter!  Her face was swollen from the procedure and her eyes were glazed over.  She kept falling in and out of sleep and screaming while doing so.  My husband and I started signing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and it was the only thing that worked to keep her calm (besides nursing her while singing).  I felt bad for the other patients and hospital staff for having to endure listening to my awful signing voice.  Within 5 minutes of seeing our daughter, the surgeon was back to check on us!  Are you serious!!!  How thoughtful was that!  It is probably protocol, but I didn't expect that to happen and it was much appreciated!  By 9:00am, we were gathering our stuff to go home, and what did we find, yet another thoughtful gesture!  One of the OR staff members had dressed up our daughter's teddy as a little surgeon and we now refer to him as, "Dr. Teddy!"  My daughter is doing great.  Her tear duct appears to be functioning the way it should have been for the last 14 months.  She is back to her normal self and we are just so appreciative of the staff at Kaiser's Otay Mesa Outpatient Surgery Center.  What a pleasant experience we had!