pharyngeal flap is done!

and so are we! We traveled to Vanderbilt Children's hospital on Dec 9, 2010 for Torie's surgery. We were surprised to hear it was going to be a 2 day stay because the letter from the insurance company said 23 hr observation.(that means you stay 23 hours and 59 mins).But after that surprise things went as expected. It took right at 2 hours. My poor baby had stents put in her nose, going down her throat just past the repair. This was to help her breathing, in case of swelling. Torie worried me Thursday and Friday because she would not drink more than 1/4 of a teaspoon at a time, that no more than 2 teaspoons between those days. She also stopped talking. She actually tried mouthing the words to me before she just started pointing to everything. We had some lazy nurses who let her pain med slip past the 4 hour mark, at one time it was 8 hrs-I was not a happy momma. I specifically asked if she had been given the med when we transferred floors and that nurse lied to me and said yes. At shift change, Torie was running a low fever and getting very fussy. I asked the night nurse Bonnie to check on the pain med. It was never picked up from the pharmacy! Bless Nurse Bonnie, she jumped right on it and took wonderful care of Torie. Saturday morning one of the ENTs took out Torie's stents. I didn't watch. Paul said they were about 4 inches long!!! Torie instantly began talking! And within 20 minutes she had ate most of a pop sicle and moved on to a little Sprite. Now, I'll be honest, Dr Gaudy(our ENT) said it would be instant, but really that quick? I was not expecting that. I did tell the ENT we had to be out of there before the bad weather hit, otherwise they would have to keep me until the snow melted! He laughed and said he would start the paperwork, but to let them know if we had any concerns. Nope, we had none..but it took 4 hours before we got out of there. And another 3 hours to get home because of the rain/trip to the pharmacy for meds.
Fast forward to today and I am snowed in at home. I am sure my work is not too thrilled, but even Paul's 4 wheele drive truck was slipping on the ice. Beside, how many people are getting out in this weather to have their well woman exam? Not many!
Now, I must get off here and make my daughter take her meds. She hates them, but they are for her best.

Finally im gonna update!

I know I know, it's been awhile. Sorry!! Things are going well though. Torie finally fully recovered after about 2 weeks. She is loving preschool to the extreme this year. 4 has been a wonderful age for all of us. She is so much fun, her personality really shines now. We painted her room and even painted a chalk board! She loves using chalk and this will give her more indoor activities since cold weather is here. Her pharyngeal flap repair is this week! It is on Thursday at 1:15 pm. I was surprised they put her as an afternoon case. I already told them she will melt down in the lobby because she cannot eat after midnight. Torie is a person who must have food-she's like her parents! If I don't eat I get grumpy too! We will be staying overnight again, due to Torie's heart condition. We always have to make sure her oxygen stays level. On a normal day her level is usually high 90s. She is always doing well in karate class. She is now an orange belt. Unfortunately, once she has surgery she will be out for 3 weeks. Torie is very excited about being a big sister. She even tells the baby goodnight and kisses my belly. I love that she is so excited. Torie will make a great big sister!! I will be full term on Jan 1. lol, my joke has always been that I am going to wake my dr up to delivery a news years baby. Not sure that will happen or not, but it's fun to aggravate him about it!
So, there's my update for now. We are all ready for Christmas break,rest and being fully recovered before the baby comes.