Catelyn's surgery

Quick version in case you don't want to read this whole post: Catelyn is doing very well and says "I love my new tongue."

Long version:

Papa, Catelyn and I left at 5 AM Wednesday morning to drive to Sacramento for the surgery at Sutter Memorial Hospital. She was scheduled to be the first surgery of the day at 7:30 so things went smoothly. The hospital was a little hard to find, down some pretty narrow streets in a nice neighborhood.

We checked in, signed paperwork, Catelyn was weighed and measured. She was a little concerned that she was at the hospital. She'd had some trauma at the doctor's office recently so she's been pretty scared of being seen by doctors. I told her that Dr Evans (she asked if he was Uncle Evan) was going to help her tongue not be stuck anymore and we were at the hospital so the nurses could help him.

We were walked over to the patient room where Catelyn had a bed w/ a child's gown and pajama bottoms waiting. She also had a brand new Diego tree house play set w/ Boots, Dora, Diego and horse figures to play with. There was a wonderful lady named Monique there who was a child specific counselor to help the children feel calm and safe. She explained about the tools the nurses were using to check Catelyn's heartbeat, look in her ear, etc. She was so nice and it helped Catelyn feel calm. They also brought Catelyn over a little DVD player to hold on to and watch while nurses came in and out to talk to me.

The nurses, anaesthesiologists and I decided to give Catelyn a medicine before the surgery that basically makes her forgetful so that she won't be scared and won't remember having been away from me during the surgery. After she had taken it the anaesthesiologist came over and asked Catelyn what her name was. She started to spell it but got confused after "C". I told her she didn't have to spell it, but what was her name? She said "Catelyn" and the doctor was impressed that she could remember that after taking that medicine. Just before it was time for her surgery Monique let Catelyn choose a toy to take home from a huge box that she brought over. Catelyn chose a flower shaped bug catcher w/ tweezers and a magnifying glass. Here is a picture of her w/ it, taken from my phone.

Dr Evans came over and said everything was ready to go so they wheeled Catelyn over to the operating room. We were told that it should be a very short procedure, probably around 20 minutes and then we would go over to the recovery room where it would be around 45 minutes for her to wake up. Dad and I hopped over to the cafeteria for a quick bite and then went to the waiting room.

Dr Evans came in at 8:10 to say that she was done and everything had gone well. I asked a few questions about if she would be in much pain, diet restrictions, tongue exercises, etc. Basically she should eat mostly soft food the first day, nothing crunchy like Doritos, take Tylenol when needed and let her rest and take it easy the rest of the day. He told us to sit tight until the anesthesiologist got her settled in the recovery room and they called us back there.

About 8:20 the anesthesiologist (who was pediatric specific btw) came to walk us over to the recovery room. He told us that the procedure had been a bit more substantial than he had anticipated so they had put Catelyn "further down" (asleep). She was fully asleep and had an IV as well as a tube to keep her mouth open and her tongue down. I wasn't prepared for the way she looked.

She was perfectly fine, I just had never seen any of my kids w/ an oxygen mask after a surgery. Lydia's surgery they let her wake up quickly and brought her to me afterwards. Catelyn stayed deep asleep like this until 9:00 when the nurse tried to gently stimulate her awake. She raised the bed, took her mask off, removed the tube in her mouth, stroked her forehead. Catelyn wasn't stirring. 10 minutes later the nurse decided to take her IV out, which forced Catelyn to rouse. She was really groggy and it took another good 10 minutes to get her dressed and sitting up.

When it was time to go, the recovery nurse brought Catelyn (Papa was carrying her) into a room w/ shelves full of stuffed toys and had her chose one to take home for herself, and also one for her baby sister. She chose a large pink flamingo and the nurse gave her a little pink bunny for Lydia. We had to get a bag to carry all of the toys and presents that Catelyn got while at the hospital.

On the drive home Catelyn was playing w/ her "new tongue" and learning to do new things with it. She said "The hospital helped me. My tongue's not stuck anymore." Since then she has started to learn how to "click" with it but is still learning that the tip can be lifted up to touch her top teeth. She's feeling good and doing well. If you made it this far, thanks for reading!

Lydia's 2nd and last surgery

On Friday the 30th of May, Lydia had her second and final surgery on her tear ducts. This time the Dr was removing the tubes that he had placed there the first operation. The procedure was super quick, they just gave her some gas, she went to "sleep" and the Dr sniped the tube and pulled them out through the nasal cavity. She didn't have to have an IV this time and she was back out to my arms within half an hour. (They kept her in the recovery room for a couple minutes)Before her surgery the nurse came by to take her vital signs and Lydia managed to coax the stethoscope from her. In typical Lydia fashion she kept asking "Whassat?" She sure is going to be one bright kid, with her second words being "What's that?" And I promise, it's not just something we think we are hearing, she really is asking "What's that?".
This picture reminds me of Curious George.
After surgery she is starving because you can't eat or drink after 12:00 the night before. We had a sippy cup and crackers on hand.
I'm so glad that we found this doctor that had a solution for Lydia's perpetually clogged eyes. The difference has been remarkable. Here is a pic of her back in Dec.

and one just before this last surgery.


















(oh and that nasty green bruise on her forehead is from her throwing herself down on the brick hearth earlier that week.)
PS, note the non existent hair growth.

Lydia's tear duct surgery

Ever since birth Lydia has had clogged tear ducts. Her first Dr appointment at 2 weeks I mentioned the green goopy stuff in her eyes. I always got the response "They usually grow out of it by the time they turn 1." Okay, but this is constant and in both eyes and it glues her eyes shut when she's sleeping....

Anyway, every Dr appointment I mention it and every time they say "she'll grow out of it." At her three month appointment her new Dr prescribed a prescription to put in her eyes in case it was an infection. (I guess she got a good look at all that green goop) She went through 3 different treatments of that prescription, but nothing of note ever happened. Finally at her 9 month appointment her Dr recommended seeing an eye specialist. He in turn recommended an even more specialized specialist in Chapel Hill who had pioneered a surgery of inserting tubes down the tear ducts to drain all that stuff down through the nasal cavity like it was supposed to be doing.

Well Lydia had her surgery this past Friday the 11th. We drove over to Durham Regional Hospital, a Duke University facility. I was a bit apprehensive, mostly worried about the aftermath of a baby having gone through a traumatic ordeal than the surgery itself. She couldn't eat or drink anything after midnight the night before. We were at the hosiptal at 9:00 am ready for a 10:15 appointment. She didn't end up going back for the surgery until 11:15 so she was one hungry baby. (Two other young girls had the same surgery before her, one 9 months and the other probably 18 months)

What a sweet girl she was though the whole time. All the nurses and people walking by thought that she was just the cutest thing ever. I didn't want her crawling on the hospital floor so I walked around the hall with her in my arms a lot while we were waiting. She made a lot of friends :)

Her surgery lasted an hour, during which I went down to the cafeteria for some lunch. They had given me a pager for when she was out of surgery. Right around 12:30 I all of a sudden got very apprehensive and walked back to the nurses station. The nurse said they hadn't heard anything yet but she would probably be out shortly. I asked to use the phone to call my husband and as I was telling him "she isn't out yet" the nurse got a page that Lydia was on her way over. Good timing I guess.

I was ready w/ a bottle of juice for her because I knew she would be starving. She was crying a bit (they told me to expect that) but looked great. I had been expecting bandages over her eyes or something but the only thing indicating that she had surgery was the IV in her foot and the monitors still stuck to her chest (oh and she had a bit of blood in her nose).


We stayed in her recovery little room for about half an hour, letting her calm down and rest and eat. She did throw up once which scared me a bit but after she got a good burp out from guzzling down that bottle she was much better. She wasn't going to sleep like the nurses expected so they discharged us and we drove home (she was able to sleep in the car). I got home just in time to pick Cooper up from the bus.