August 21, 2012

Surgery day came; we were all nervous. Aniston was scheduled to have a few lymph nodes removed from the right side of her neck. Chris and I said bye to our dazed little girl as they wheeled her to the OR in a wagon, we grabbed a bite to eat, and then waited for the doctor to come let us know how things went. He came out, told us things were great, said nothing looked suspicious, and said Aniston had done well and that a nurse would come get us soon. I got to go see her first. She was pretty confused, tired, and insisted on sitting up a few times. They took her to another part of the recovery room where Chris and Grammy were able to come be with us. We let her sleep, and then once she was more awake we talked her into a slush. Her only complaint was the IV, and she wanted it out pronto! Once she was awake and the IV was out, we were ready to go. The ride home was comical. Aniston was grabbing at the air trying to get her straw and giggling at all the mommies she was seeing! When we got home, she was starving! She ate more for lunch(2 bowls of mac and cheese, 2 jello cups, and a pudding cup)than she's ever eaten before. I was so worried it wasn't going to stay down. Other than some tears later in the afternoon and evening, she was a champ!

Waiting with Daddy

Waiting with Mommy in her "ugly" hospital outfit-she wasn't impressed.

Sleeping, finally. She refused to take a nap and stay on the couch, so by evening she wasn't a happy camper. The pain meds were awful tasting, so that just added to her misery. The cute little dolly next to her was given to her while we waited. A cute hospital worker brought it to her, let her draw on the doll, and then Aniston got to use medical supplies on the dolly. She named the doll Analyse, and that doll has been one of her favorite sleeping buddies since! We wanted her close that night to make sure she was ok, so we made her a "pillow bed" next to ours for her to sleep in(she milked it and slept there over a week).

She did really good for about a week, and then the Monday after surgery she started to act different. She had her head tilted to the side and her shoulder scrunched up. That evening I took her temperature and she had a low-grade fever. I called the on-call resident and he suggested we bring her in the next day to be evaluated. So, exactly a week after surgery we headed back to the hospital. One of the residents looked at her incision, suspected that an infection was starting, and sent us home with an antibiotic. Before we left though, we had to get ice cream and see the rainbow horse!

We were low key that afternoon...

and I kept my eye on the incision.

Grammy came Wednesday to be with Aniston while Chris and I were working. When I called to check up, Grammy wasn't ok with how things looked. I decided to come home for lunch and check on things, and snap a few pictures to show the doctor and nurses at work and get their opinion. I had also called the nurse to let her know things weren't better and that they had become much worse. She told me to wait it out for at least another day.

The responses at work along with my instinct took us back to the hospital. The first opinion was to wait it out, but thank goodness the first resident asked another to come look. The end result: a drained incision(with one of the biggest needles I've ever seen), a very scared and sad little girl, a freaked out mother, and ice cream(2 scoops this time) by the rainbow pony. It was a tough day, but thanks to some sweet treats and a get well gift, she survived!

The upside down kitty sticker was placed that way on purpose. I had to do a lot of distracting and so did the nurses. They gave her a cute koala, which she named Sandy, and a sticker. I put the sticker upside down so we could talk to the kitty while they put that enormous needle in Aniston's neck. She didn't say a word to the kitty and neither did I.

She made out like a bandit, but it came at a cost. I hope to never have to go through that again. Things have looked better and better each day. With all the bandaging we've done though, Aniston's neck is a mix of sticky residue and red spots. In my attempt to save her neck, we wrapped gauze loosely around it to hold the bandage in place. When I was getting Aniston in the shower that night, she asked me if I was going to take her collar off. She also asked me after her shower if I was going to "put that choke thing back on". We had a long discussion about that.