Surgery over

The surgery is over and Nora seems to be doing well, according to her doctors. Her parents assume the doctors are right, and are trying to suppress their parental instincts to feed their very hungry child.

Nora is sleeping peacefully here in her hospital room. It’s about 2:15; she came out of surgery several hours ago. It’s hard to imagine she can sleep with nothing in her belly for almost 11 hours now, but she is also pretty worn out, I am sure. During the times she’s been awake since having the surgery, she has grabbed anything within reach and crammed it in her mouth. Poor baby! She’ll probably get something in her belly again starting tomorrow morning. Who knows what kind of night we’ll have? Janelle is actually going to go to Bill and Dottie Scott’s place to sleep tonight, since it’s been many months since she’s had a decent night’s sleep, she’s still trying to recover from whatever bug was ailing her and Nora’s not allowed to nurse until morning anyway.

We are surviving this, of course, and we “know” it’s for the better. But Janelle especially is bothered by feelings of anxiety in the hospital setting and has a hard time with Nora’s distress, not to mention the false alarms of the oxygen monitor. I’m glad she’s going to sleep elsewhere tonight. They say these operations are usually a lot harder on the parents than the kids, and I can see how that is true. But at least the parents get to eat.

She’s now awake and so obviously hungry it could break your heart. It’s hard to remember to believe that it’s better for her not to eat yet. Fortunately, so far she hasn’t gotten hysterical with hunger (the dextrose in the I.V. is probably helping a little with the blood sugar portion of that equation), and kind treatment (starvation notwithstanding) and singing seem to be able to bring her comfort. I hope she can sleep as much as possible until morning.

We are so grateful knowing that Kali is having a fabulous time with her Grandma Myers at our place in Keezletown. We are eager to bring Nora home from the hospital to her—again—with hope in hand for some healthy growth for Nora.

All for now, Jason

p.s. below is a short email written to family earlier in the day...

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Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 10:42 AM
Subject: blow by blow

A quick email to you all family. We are sitting in the surgical waiting room and I’m trying to pass this time so I’m emailing you all. I don’t have a lot of news to report other than that all 3 of us survived the 6 hours from 3:30am until 9:30am during which time Nora couldn’t eat. She was pretty unhappy when they took her to the OR, but it could have been worse. Lots of crying and munching on her little hand, but also some playing and sleeping as well. I about fainted after they put the IV in, but thankfully they didn’t have to wheel me off… A few bright spots included the surprise at seeing one of our NICU nurses who was called to put her IV in. It was reassuring to see a familiar face. We are also waiting here with a college friend, Matt Goins, and his wife Katie (who has surgery today too).

I thought of my daddy when they took Nora from my arms and I couldn’t keep the tears at bay. I remember him telling me that he cried when they took me for my eye surgery when I was just two! I know, in a new way, how it feels… She was a trooper though. Her little hospital gown was ridiculously big so we just wrapped her in a blanket. She then was eating the gown with colored doggies on it!

We have received a call saying that she is doing well under anesthesia and surgery is underway. We’ll do our best to be in touch again later today.

Dr. Braddock has already visited us here in the waiting room. He had Nora’s skin biopsy secured in his pocket and wanted to see how we were doing. He continues to be very kind. For those that don’t know, his abstract regarding Nora for an international conference in August has been approved. He’ll be making a large poster on Nora and another case and since it will be a powerpoint he will be able to share with us what he is sharing with colleagues. He also was very happy to agree to my request to include at least one “normal” picture of Nora with her family (or at least Kali). Okay, better shut down for now. Waiting, waiting…Janelle