Monday, June 2, 2008

Monday, June 2nd, 2008





Last night I was allowed to have formula until 2:30 and then Pedialite until 5:30. Despite me sleeping like a log and my alarm only ringing off once - there wasn't much sleep in the cards for my Mommy (and as a result my Daddy). Mommy decided at 3 am that she might as well get in the shower since they planned on getting up at 5:30 anyway to get ready. Daddy wasn't so happy about that though since he had been sleeping okay!

Around 6:15 my parents finally had to wake me up to get me changed to go. My hair was out of control! Mommy put me in my pink flamingo jammies to go to the hospital. Then my parents, Papa and I got loaded in the car and we were on the way to the hospital by 6:30 for my 7 am check in. Check in went pretty quickly and by 7:30 my parents and I were in the preop area. There was a bunch of people asking my parents lots of questions. My Mommy dressed me in my hospital gown and then wrapped me in warm blankets since it was so chilly. So that I wasn't sad when they took me away for surgery, they gave me some medicine in my g tube that made me kind of loopy. (Mommy asked me if I would mind sharing some of the medicine with her). Then they let Papa come back and before I knew it, we were all walking down the hall. When we got to the surgery doors, Mommy handed me over to the anesthesia doctors and the waiting game began for them. You would all be very proud of Mommy, although her eyes were wet, no tissues were needed. She was trying very hard to be a big girl like me!

They took my parents and Papa to a special waiting area and gave them a pager. They said about 45 minutes before the surgery was over, someone would call the receptionist from the operating room so the parents could be paged. That would give the parents time to get back to the waiting area to meet the doctor. Once they had their pager, my parents and Papa went to the cafeteria to get something to eat and some much needed coffee. They wandered back up to the waiting area. Time passed by pretty slowly for them I am sure. Daddy left after a few hours for a bathroom break. Sure enough, as soon as he walked away Dr Schendell came walking down the hall to talk to my parents. Daddy returned pretty quickly and Dr Schendell explained that I had done very well and everything had gone as expected. He said I was in recovery and that when the nurses had everything set up they would come get my parents - probably in about 20 minutes. Mommy was so relieved she finally broke down and started crying. When Papa saw her start crying then he started up too! I think Daddy needed some tissues as well! The receptionist said to plan on 45 minutes and not 20 but about 15 minutes later the nurse arrived to lead them back to see me.

I am staying in the PICU so there can be kids of all ages. However, the little area I am in there are four beds and all are little kids around my age. My nurse said that I was starting to open my eyes just a little. My parents and Papa spent about an hour with me. Every now and again I would open my eyes to look at them and cry a little and then go back to sleep. When the lab had to come get blood, Mommy had to leave the room as usual. Luckily, they just had to draw it out of my IV and they didn't have to poke me again. The nurse gave me some Tylenol with codeine for the pain. She also started me on IV fluids before I get formula later on tonight or early tomorrow. My parents and Papa were ready for something to eat and a nap, too. They gave me kisses and promised to be back soon.

Sure enough, after sleeping for awhile my parents and Papa returned. My nurse tonight is Megan. She is very nice. My day nurse had said that she thought I wasn't getting enough pain meds so Megan promised to talk to the doctors tonight about ordering more for me. She said she would make sure to keep me comfortable tonight. She is also going to talk to the doctors about putting me on medicine that will help calm me. While my parents were gone, the nurses had started me on a little of my soy formula and will continue to increase it throughout the night.

The pediatrician came by and told my parents that if there had been a bed available they would not have moved me to the PICU today - instead I would be in the step down unit where I would have my own room. The plan is to move me there tomorrow. They will remove my bandages tomorrow and probably turn the screws for the first time as well.

Karen, the hospital social worker came by for a visit as well. She wanted to check to see how my parents were doing. She was going to call Ronald McDonald House tomorrow for my parents to see if there has been an opening.

When my parents were at my bedside they noticed that my trach mist didn't have a drain bag so they had the RT come by and set it up correctly.

Even though surgery is stressful on all of us and my parents don't like seeing me in pain they still feel very fortunate. There was a little girl in the bed next to me - probably about 3 0r 4 years old. She was on a ventilator and my parents overheard the doctor calling her parents to get a phone consent to do surgery tonight to put a trach in. Mommy had a flashback to when my trach was put in. She knows how worried those parents must be. She hopes they will come to the PICU so she can talk to them about what it is like to have a child with a trach. It's scary but they will adjust.

Throughout the beautiful summer day, the sound of the LifeFlight helicopter taking off and landing from the roof was another sobering moment.

Then, as they were leaving, a child coded in a room just as they were passing it. The nurses were rushing in to the room just as they were headed out the door for the night. A grim reminder that there are children at Lucile Packard that are very sick and my parents feel very lucky that I am doing so well. Thanks for all the prayers and good wishes - I am so lucky so many people love me.

Peyton Nicole Smith

2 comments:

  1. I was so happy to see a post tonight. I'm glad the surgery went well. Hang in there and keep us updated when you can. My thoughts and prayers will remain with you all week.

    Oh - love the big hair picture - priceless :)

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  2. LOVE the crazy hair beautiful girl, and I am SO happy to see that surgery went well.

    Can't wait for you to be able to see mommy and daddy when you're more alert, and I'm SO happy to see that Grandpa Smith made it out for your big surgery!

    Jackson, Lonnie, and I wish you well, and can't wait until we can see you next.

    Aunt Kristin (sleep deprived)

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