Well, we're home! (Actually we've been home for a couple of hours ... sorry for the delay, I know some of you who aren't on facebook have been waiting. And why aren't you on facebook? You'd get updates much more frequently/quickly if you were! ;-) )
Kalyssa was AMAZING! She truly was! And it's not just her parents who think so. She had all the staff smiling and saying what a brave and sweet girl she is. We could tell she was a little bit "off" because she was quieter than usual. Normally she's a non-stop talker but today there were a few breaths taken between sentences. Not much different but enough that we could tell she was a little nervous.
While we were in the pre-op room we played a whole bunch of Crazy 8's, Slap Jack and we had started a game of Go Fish. She made sure to tell the surgeon that she didn't get to finish her game so I guess we'll have to do that soon. :-) She was very brave when they took her to the operating room. I cried. But only a little. And she didn't see me do it. That was really hard! She definitely did better than I/we did! We are SO proud of her!
As soon as she woke up in recovery she looked at the nurse and very sweetly said, "Hi." This took the nurse by surprise, I guess. She's used to cranky or scared kids, rightfully so. When we were brought to her she was already awake and cuddling on the nurse's lap. It was a very sweet little sight. I snatched her up pretty quick though. I couldn't bear to have her out of my arms for one more second! She still had the IV in but she was very brave when they took it out. Not even a wince out of her.
They had given her some sort of medicinal cocktail through her IV with pain medicine and something to take away any nausea. It also makes her sleepy. She slept the entire 2 hour drive home (including a stop at Culver's. Have you ever tried them? Sinful!) She woke up long enough to give hugs to Mema and Kaden and eat a piece of toast and then off to La-La Land again ... where she remains. I'm wondering how long this will last actually. She's been asleep most of the day since 10 am. It's nice but is tonight going to be sleepless? I wonder!
As far as the surgery goes ... she remembers quite a bit of her experience while she was awake. They had told us she probably wouldn't remember anything. She remembers the OR and the flavor of the gas they put her out with (bubblegum), everything. No crying though. She didn't feel so great after but a cracker and some apple juice helped that. She's mostly just tired. Her eye's are not nearly as swollen as I expected them to be. Just a tad bit puffy on the lids. The inside corners when her eyes are open are bright red. We expected at least that. Although I thought more of her eyes would be red. We haven't tried putting the ointment in her eyes yet, but only because they've been closed all day. I expect she'll handle that like everything else ... like a champ!
Now we wait and see. We can expect to still see some drifting of her eye/s because her brain doesn't know how to make her eyes work together so it needs to relearn how to do it. She might have to patch again, but maybe not. We'll probably have to get her a different prescription for her glasses. We'll know more after our follow-up appointment. I'll be calling them soon to schedule that for in a week or two.
Thank you so much for your prayers! They were felt! And they are definitely appreciated! We're still praying that it worked perfectly but I'm afraid to get my hopes up. I'm sure this road to recovery has some more bends in it. Hopefully not too many more though. :o)
Hugs to all!
