Last Update:

12/27/2008

      Hannah’s surgery day went very well. We checked in at Egleston at 6AM and got settled into the pre-op room. The nurse took her vital signs, and we talked to the anesthesia nurse. Two of our ministers from church came in to pray and talk to us, then Grandma, Grandaddy, and Aunt Dianne came in to play with Hannah and keep her happy and distracted. At 6:50, the anesthesia nurse gave Hannah medicine to make her feel loopy, so she wouldn’t mind the separation. I asked if I could have a shot and was denied! At 7:15, we took her down to the OR holding room to wait our turn and at 7:30, they took her back. I knew I would cry. It was so hard to let her go, but we had done this before, and I knew she would be fine. She was in Dr. Todd’s capable hands and especially God’s hands.
      At 8:40 we got our first update call from the OR nurse saying Hannah was doing fine and the surgery was underway. An hour later, she called again to say that Hannah was doing great. We sat in the waiting room talking and praying and trying to keep it together knowing what Hannah was enduring in the same building. At 10:50 the nurse called again to say that the implant was fully inserted, and Dr. Todd had about an hour to go to complete the surgery. I couldn’t believe it! I had been prepared for a 5 and a half hour surgery like Belle had a year earlier. Hannah’s anatomy was apparently different, and the surgery only took 4 hours!

      At noon, she was in the PACU (Post Anesthesia Care Unit), asking for Mommy and drinking juice. We saw Dr. Todd at 12:30, and he reported all was well with the surgery. We got to go to the PACU to see Hannah because they were still waiting on her hospital room. She had had too much juice too quickly, and she threw up all over me. That made her feel better, though, and she rested better after that. Thank goodness for a change of clothes!
     At 2:30 we moved to her room on the fourth floor and got settled in. Hannah slept off and on and watched videos in between. She was pretty mad about her IV and the bandage on her head. The thing that kept her happy was purple popsicles from the nurse’s station. By the time we left, we had eaten the entire supply of purple popsicles.
      The night was pretty rough. Hannah had a hard time getting comfortable. If she was sleeping, she was laying on me, but once again, I had been here before and knew she would feel much better in the morning. At 8:00 Dr. Todd came in to remove her bandage and said that everything looked great. Hannah called home on the phone to tell Belle that, “I’m at your hospital. I have a boo-boo!” Belle came with Daddy to pick us up and was so proud of her little sister. She helped pull the wagon full of balloons and toys and sweet Hannah when we left at 9:30. We were so glad to be heading home!