Faithful

We decided is would be better to explain what today would be like to Av in advance and I am so thankful that we chose that route. We told her we would be seeing the doctor and he needed her tummy to be empty, so no breakfast, that she would wear a special gown so the Dr could get to her tummy, she would get some medicine that would make her sleepy so she wouldn't feel it when he checked her, and she would have to go to a special room with just the Dr. and nurses, but that we would be there waiting for her. Two of my biggest logistic concerns were keeping her without food/drink and how she would react when taken back to the OR without us. Av wants to eat breakfast immediately on wakening. But since we had told her no food until after we saw the doctor-she didn't even ask for anything to eat that morning. We got to the hospital at 10 am, and they didn't take her to the OR until around 1 pm. She mentioned that she was hungry a few times, but that was it! I am so proud of her. She had a great attitude all day, didn't complain, never seemed upset, no crying--it was incredible.

A wonderful friend of mine, J, sent Av a care package that helped keep us entertained all morning. We tried anything we could think of to keep a 3 year old occupied in the hospital! We wore our new princess slippers.

We put stickers on everythingMy "waterproof" watch isn't working after wearing it in the pool for all of 5 minutes, but Av graciously shared her watch with me.Av made me a lovely beaded necklace that matched my shirt quite well.

Let Av practice her photography skills

Once we were in the preop room Av gladly changed into her gown since it was like dress-up to her!

She snoozed peacefully after surgery. It was somewhat heart wrenching to see her with IV tubing and wires connected to her. When the nurse came to discharge us Av asked the nurse if she could take everything off herself. She unwrapped her blood pressure cuff and took all the tape of her own hand so the the nurse could remove the IV!

Av did enjoy riding in the wagon as her transportation to the car (even though it doesn't look like it in this pic-she was still a little zoned out from the anesthesia).I think what I learned from the day were 2 things that I have heard before. Kids are resilient and they can often handle more than believed they could. We are so thankful, but somewhat shocked at how smoothly the day went. I also think we definitely made the right decision to explain it to her before hand. Of course I didn't include all the details in our talk, like the fact that the Dr would be cutting her stomach open, but as much as I thought would be beneficial and understood, I shared with her.

I gave her some Tylenol yesterday afternoon and that was the only medicine she has had. Today it was as if she had already completely healed. She didn't even mention her tummy or complain of pain and it was like any other day around here! Thanks for the prayers, calls, and words of encouragement.