Wednesday: In Detail

If one positive thing came from our trip to St. Louis Children's Hospital, it was that we learned that we can arrive somewhere we need to be on time. In fact, we can actually be early. Shocking, right?

We arrived about 20 minutes early to the sixth floor - Same Day Surgery. Jeremy and I alone had enough anxiety for all of us. We waited for a while. (Isn't that what you do when you go to a doctor?) The girls spent some quality time playing in the waiting room as we drank our coffee. Once we got called back, Jeremy and I had to meet with the surgeon's and the anesthesiologist to discuss what was about to happen. He mentioned the effects the anesthesia can have one her once she is coming off from it. He explained that she can either be a nice, lovable 'drunk' or a mean, irritable 'drunk'. Jeremy and I both agreed she would be the mean one. (If you knew Zoa, you would agree!) Zoa put on her dinosaur outfit and was set to go. After everyone gave her hugs, kisses, and "See you laters", they gave her a dose of Versed to prevent any separation anxiety she might have as they wheel her from us. As we sat there, we saw the glaze come over her eyes as the drug took effect. She started to yawn and say she was sleepy. About ten minutes after they gave her the medicine, they wheeled her off. Just like that.

And the clock started ticking. And ticking. And tocking. About an hour and a half later, Dr. Dillon walked in. Everything went fine. He said that everything was routine and it was just as he suspected and prepared for. Perfect.

One hour after the first update, Jeremy walked out to entertain our parent's. You see, we were told to stay in a room in the back. If we were needed for anything, this is where they would look for us. Everyone else had to wait in the general waiting room. Two minutes after Jeremy left, Dr. Molter walked in. He said she did have a Stage Two Bronchial Cleft Cyst, which in our terms means this little 'tube' inside her neck went all the way up to her tonsil. The next step would have been to remove the tonsil, which he felt was not necessary with this particular case. (Basically, the bronchial cleft is when she was being formed inside me, the 'tube' inside her neck that should have stopped at where it meets the skin, but cut off too soon. The excess tube is what caused the drainage. If you double click the picture to the left, you will see a small dot on her neck. That is what it looked like.)

After I went and got Jeremy, we went back in recovery to see her. It was so sad. She was so upset and so tired but could not sleep. She was extremely agitated at all the machines hooked up to her. All I wanted to do was crawl in bed with her and promise her everything will be okay but she would not have any of it. She was a mean drunk! We tried to make her as comfortable as possible (with the help of some morphine) and that seemed to do the trick.

We were told we would be admitted so we made our way to the tenth floor. Zoa slept peacefully which was all we wanted. Just let her sleep. But still, all I wanted to do was get up in that bed and cuddle with her.

We looked at her incisions and found this:
The most painful part for Zoa was her belly. Anytime she moved around, which meant used her abs, she whispered so softly, 'Ow.' It was so precious how sweet she was being about it all. Once she woke up, she was so hungry. A hamburger, some chicken tenders and french fries, topped off with a sundae later, I hopped right in bed with her and cuddled.

The next morning, as I was getting ready to leave, Nelly, a Dalmatian dressed up like a pirate, came in. She was a little shy towards her, but she did make her smile!

So all in all, everything went great. If this was boring and you lasted this long into the post, I congratulate you. I did this more for me, but tried to make it somewhat entertaining with some pictures!

As far as scars go, her neck should heal great as the stitches are internal. The belly button is the same way, but we are not able to take the bandages off for a few more days. We'll see!

But look at her now, she is happy as ever!