Seeing Faith after surgery was difficult. They finally let me come back to the PACU (forgot what it stands for, but basically it's the recovery area for same day surgery) to see her and she was upset and trying to talk but I couldn't understand anything. She was in pain and it was not a pretty sight (skip to the next paragraph if you don't have a strong stomach for this stuff) - Dr. Gordon didn't cut her skin anywhere except a small hole under her chin, but he was able to get to her upper jaw/cheek bones through her mouth and by pulling open/down her eyelids. I'm grateful she won't have external scars, but it is really gross. She was bleeding from every opening - her eyes were the worst, her nose, and mouth. They tried to clean her up before I saw her, but I don't think there was really a way to get her clean for any length of time - I've been seeing it for the last three days. Luckily the bleeding pretty much stopped yesterday (Saturday).
I'm going to post pictures in reverse order here to try to minimize some of the shock, you can decide when you have seen enough!!
POST-OP DAY 4: Sunday, 6/21 - Father's Day
Happy Father's Day to Fred from Anthony and Faith! Not the best way to celebrate, but as a dad, you just do what you gotta do for your kids. Faith was a little cranky this morning, so she wasn't very sweet to Daddy. Luckily she wrote him a nice Father's day card before we left Denver and she did hand it to him this morning.
Faith managed to sit up by herself today too. She likes to hold her head and then pull herself up - helping her is definitely off limits right now. She doesn't trust that anyone else can help her without bumping or going too fast or doing something that would make it hurt more than it already does. She also managed to slide out of the bed and into my lap so the nurse could change her sweaty sheets and give her a clean gown.
Towards the end of the day today old friends from Colorado, Keshena, Dennis, Aidan, Colin and Evan, who moved to Columbus OH awhile back drove down to visit us. Faith was happy to see them and they brought her lot's of gifts. I didn't get a picture of all of us, but a cute picture of the boys and Anthony together...
POST-OP DAY 2 or 3 (it's all a blur now): 6/20 or 21, The swelling has gone down substantially and she was starting to be able to open her left eye. You can see she looks somewhat comfortable and is watching TV. The beautiful quilt on the bed was a gift from the Ronald McDonald House when we arrived on Tuesday - some wonderful volunteer couldn't have put together a prettier collection of prints for this. So nice to have something pretty to look at!
POST-OP DAY 1: This is in the PICU the day after surgery and just after being taken off the ventilator and put on a cool mist humidifier. We fluctuated between room air and oxygen depending on her blood oxygen saturation level. It was interesting that while she was in the PICU all the doctors, residents, nurses, respiratory therapists do rounds outside of the kids rooms and invite the parents to join as well. Fred noticed that it looked like what my teams do at work when we do daily stand-ups. He is exactly right, the team goes around and talks about the kids latest stats and the goals for the day.
POST-OP - Day 0 - Wednesday 6/17, this is after we got settled into her PICU room they allow Anthony to come back and see her fro about 15 minutes. I love this picture, because he did exactly the same thing the first time he ever saw Faith after she was born and he was only 2.5 yrs old!! She is a bloody sight in this pic, but Anthony managed to ignore it all and just give her a little comfort.
All for tonight. We are really hoping Faith will get discharged tomorrow, but need to just wait and see how it goes tomorrow.
Goodnight,
Robin
9 comments:
Thank you for the updates, Robin. I can hardly even wrap my head around what you are each going through, especially Faith! It breaks my heart to imagine her pain and discomfort, but also I'm filled with hope that this surgery will be a great success.
Rest up, sweet Faith. You are one very brave and beautiful young lady! We all send our love and best wishes to you for a speedy recovery! Love Aunt Terry, Uncle Perry, Tracy, and Mikki.
I was just about to write the same thing that Terry wrote, when I opened up the comments and saw hers. So, yes, thanks for the pictures and the explanations of them.
I think we are all praying and hopeful that this surgery will have great results....Faith really, really deserves it! It is amazing how she has remained so cheerful, sunny and exuberant about life while dealing with all this.
I think she just might get a little spoiled by everyone while you are all here, don't you? We love you, Faith, and hope you feel better each day. We are so anxious for all of you to get here and be together again.
Love to Faith, and Anthony, and Mommy and Daddy, from Mimi and Papa.
Hey Robin...Thank you for the updates. She looks so miserable! I pray that she is not in so much pain today. She is such a little trooper! I think you have helped her to be that way. You are such an amazing Mom! Letting her do a lot for herself and letting her be independent. I'm sure that has advantages/disadvantages, huh? I'm glad your husband and Anthony are with you this time. Please keep the updates coming. Hope you are getting some rest! All My Love, April
Faith,
It was so good to read the update from mom about your surgery. I have been checking each day anxious to hear about your progress. You are such a trooper. Keep up the good work! You are so lucky to have your mom, dad and big brother there to cheer you on. Take care Love Mrs. Frank
Robin, you have made a beautiful journal about some difficult times in your lives. It is good to know that most people are able to forget memories of the pain experienced in the past, just as women forget childbirth pains. You know you experienced it, but can't recall how it felt exactly -- thank goodness. All that will be left are memories of the facts of the events and evidence of how much love and support surrounded you at the time. I love your blog, even if it does chronicle some painful moments. I feel as if I am with you, because you shared your story with me. I send this note to relay my love to you, Fred, Anthony, and Faith. Looking forward to seeing you soon. --Leslie
PS: Is PICU an acronym for Post-Op Intensive Care Unit?
Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
Thanks April, I wish we could have seen you on this trip. Faith is an inspiration to me with how she handles all this! We are looking forward to it being done in a couple weeks and hearing her beautiful voice again!!!
So good to hear from you Mrs. Frank (Nancy)!! We are on our final leg home today and can't wait to get there!! Faith has a couple more weeks wearing the RED device before we go back to remove it, so if you have some free time and would like to come visit just ping me! Robin
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