We woke up at 4:00 a.m.; we were out the door at 5:10 a.m. We dropped the girls off at seminary then continued onto Wilmington. We were 15 minutes early or so we thought. The surgery center was not where we had thought it was. So we drove up and down Market Street looking for 9104. The highest number we could find was 8100. Back and forth, in and out of every little shopping center. Morning traffic was rushing all around us. Finally, we stopped to pray. We continued back the way we had come. When I got to the end of the street the thought came to me to go back towards the church. But I thought, no it is not that way. I turned instead onto the 17 going south. And it went all the way to the other end of town without an exit. We turned around. This time I went back towards the church. There it was. We were an hour late and so emotionally distraught we just wanted to go home. The ladies inside were very kind. I told them we would go to the end of the line of surgeries, but they held our place as the first of the day. The other people in the waiting room didn't look to friendly towards us.
At least we didn't have to wait. We were taken right back. Hannah changed into a gown ten sizes too big. The nurses were fabulous, the anesthesiologist was friendly, the surgery center was new and very clean.
Hannah was amazingly brave. She watched the IV being put into her hand. She didn't even flinch.
She was adorned with a funky hair net and seemed to be excited about all the attention and goings on of the hospital.
Then, another friendly nurse came to put Hannah to sleep and wheel her away. About 30 minutes later the doctor came out to the waiting room and said that the surgery went well. A few more minutes and the nurse came out to get me.
Oh, my poor Hannah! She didn't wake up as happy as she had fallen asleep. She was confused, lost, and scared.
I held her and comforted her. She asked why she wasn't in the other room, where was the other nurse, her arm hurt, her skin was itchy, she wanted to be awake but she couldn't think, she couldn't move, she was scared.
She couldn't hold her head up and kept falling over. I felt we were a little rushed, but within 45 minutes after the surgery I had her dressed and we were headed home. The nurse said she was fine. Hannah would wake up eventually. I took her word for it.
We said good bye to the nurses. Hannah got her ride in a wheel chair-all the way out to the car.
We were home by 11:00 a.m. What a morning. We are wondering if having one little cyst removed was worth all this misery. She will have a hard cast on her right arm for the next two weeks. She sat in the green chair, propped up with pillows and ice packs for the rest of the day. I fed her her meals. Her wrist doesn't hurt too much but her head is throbbing. I think it might be from the pain medicine. I will try not giving her any to see if the head ache goes away. I am grateful that she is well. I hope to have her cheerful smile back very quickly.
No comments:
Post a Comment