Post-op

Hi this is Crystal's husband Scott,

Well it's the morning after surgery and Emily is doing fine. When I left the hospital last night she was sleeping the same as she was most of the hours after her operation. She was only awake maybe an hour total throughout the afternoon and evening. They took her to the OR at about 8, but didn't make the first incision until just before 9am after which the surgery lasted about 4-1/2 hours.

The good news is that the surgery went on without any complications. All of her nerves were left in tact and tested as such and bleeding was kept to a minimal.

The bad news is that she needs one more operation. The surgeon started on her left side and felt that with the amount of time it took to complete that side, it would be detrimental to Emily's health to do the other. Her next surgery will be scheduled for two to three weeks from now.

When we finally saw her at about 2:30 she was feeling a lot better than she was after her 8 hour thyroidectomy. She was turning over in her bed and smiling and talking. All things she wouldn't do for three days after her first operation. Again her face was swollen, but she maintained her normal color where as last time she came out of the OR with an almost grayish complexion.

I just called Crystal and Emily is up and watching TV. She's not hungry but the doctors saw her this morning and are anticipating taking out her sutures tonite and her drains tomorrow. If all goes according to that plan she'll be sent home tomorrow nite.

We're staying at Loyola's Ronald McDonald Children's Hospital. Like any hospital it has it's advantages and disadvantages. On the good side it's a beautiful hospital with lots of things for kids to do. The rooms and the halls are all decorated with various kid friendly Chicago icons. Apparently there was some mistake at hospital admitting and we were placed in the Chicago Cubs room. On the downside the Children's Hospital has a ridiculously short visiting hour policy that allows visitors from 4pm to 7pm ONLY. (Though in all honestly we fully intend to test the boundaries of that policy today.) The other disadvantage is that it's a bit of a drive from our home.

Well all things considered the day was a "success," although I can't say I'm looking forward to enduring the stress of sitting in that cramped waiting room for another 6 hours waiting for them to finish cutting my daughters throat one more time in May.

We're thankful for Mark and Steph and all of the Millers who sat with us in the waiting room and saw Emily in her room after the operation. HUGE thanks to me dear mum who took Madison over night (for two nights!) so we could sit with Emily. And to Georgie who will be watching her today while I go to the hospital. And, of course, a big thanks to all of you dear blog readers out there in our iCommunity. You're made up of people from all over the globe from the UK to just around the corner from us. Even a few who for some odd reason have chosen to make their home in Alaska. And you're all together as one Church praying for our daughter, which is really pretty awesome.

Well, I'm off to see my daughter. If one of us isn't here to give an update tonite then we will tomorrow nite for sure.

Love,

Scott



PS... Just kidding about the Alaska thing. I'm sure it's lovely.