We were to get to the hospital for 9:15 and according to the hospital, plan on staying about six hours. We dropped off Alice at the Stahler's, dropped off Kate at the Theriault's (thank you friends) and we were off by 8:25. Ken did the 401 morning rush hour drive for a change, and Fiona was great. The hospital called on the way to say they'd had a cancellation so to proceed directly and Fiona would be going in sooner than her 11:15 time slot.
We got to the hospital and Ken gave Fiona a blessing in the van. He blessed her that she would recover and be fine and everything would go well. We checked in, went to day surgery and were given pajamas for Fiona to wear. Fiona was not impressed and I thought they might have to put her under to get her in them... but they didn't. I might have had to threaten to leave her and get the nurse to do change her, but she finally cooperated! Then she perked up and played with toys and waited until patient number one was out of surgery. At 10:30 I carried Fiona into the OR and then helped cradle hold her while they held the gas on her face to put her out. Not a pleasant experience, but not stressful.
Ken and I then went and sat near the Tim Horton's. He did some work and I did some work. We headed back into day surgery about noon and the children's coordinator was talking to the next patient. Fiona was in recovery about 12:30 and about 40 minutes later they let me come to sit with her. She was responsive but really, really sleepy. They couldn't keep her awake. I picked her up and cradled her and of course then she really fell asleep. Her lips were swollen, she had dried blood in her nose, she looked awful. The nurse was nice but impatient for Fiona to wake up. Fiona really didn't want to wake up. I pressed after a bit about when we could go upstairs. They would keep her for an hour in recovery and then she was supposed to stay in the pediatric ward for another hour.
The nurse said that she could go upstairs asleep, this was after I'd put her back in the bed and we'd tried to wake her up again. She was responsive, she knew who she was and where she was, but she didn't want to stay awake. So they got a wheel chair and I held Fiona while someone pushed us upstairs to peds.
The nurse had an entirely different outlook. In surgery they need to make sure they came out okay. Upstairs in pediatrics, the nurse said, let her sleep, she needs to sleep, she just went through something really hard. So we watched the clock and watched Fiona and wondered what next? Do we send Ken in a cab to pick up the other car and the girls? Would we be released in time to do it all together? And just how long would Fiona sleep?!
Just after 3 we told the nurse that we wanted to leave by 3:30. We tried to rouse Fiona again. She had a lick of a popsicle, a sip of apple juice and a sip of water. The nurse said we could take her home so we left. We picked up Kate and Alice and went home. Ken and Alice went out to get dinner and Fiona slept.
I can't remember when Fiona first barfed. She was up a little watching her Care Bear movie and drank a little more, but she barfed. This continued all evening. She slept, woke a little, drank a little and then barfed. She tried to pee in the hospital and then again when we got home, but nothing. She hadn't eaten since 8:30 the night before and I was starting to fret. After each of the girls were born barfing was what I did as a reaction to the morphine, it seemed normal, but yucky.
I reached out to a friend that's an OR nurse for some advice and she suggested gravol. Fiona finally peed around 9:30. Ken went out to get gravol and we gave that to Fiona around 10:30 and she barfed it up about ten minutes later. She had more water. Then she fell asleep in my arms again. Ken sent us to bed just after 11. Fiona barfed again at midnight. Then again just after 1, then again at 4:30. At 11:30 I said a small prayer and felt comforted that she would be better in the morning.
At six o'clock this morning Fiona woke up and was back to normal. She was hungry and thirsty and she needed to pee. Oh my goodness sweet relief! Ken got up with her (thank goodness) and I slept another hour and a half.
What a day! Yesterday was rough. I was worried about Fiona and how she would respond and in part I suppose for good reason. BUT, the care she received was great, we have good dental benefits and all's well that ends well? I think I feel most grateful for the spirit and the feelings of comfort I felt over the course of the day. I never doubted Fiona would be okay, I just wasn't sure what she would need to get her there. I'm also supremely grateful for my children's good health. I know I take it for granted even though I try not to. I'm glad it's over!
These photos were taken of Fiona in the pediatric ward at the Birchmont site of the Scarborough and Rough Hospitals.
