Gloria's Surgery

She had an early morning report time Thursday, and the hospital was an hour and a half from home, plus the weather was bad. So we headed out the evening before. Lita came up the day before to stay and help with the kids along with Pawpaw and Manah. The kids were all thrilled to see her! We left her preparing dinner Wednesday evening while the kids played happily in the many puddles outside! These pics helped me in the days to come because I missed them like crazy!

Lito came in just before we left and took Allia to the OPAS show of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. This was a date they had planned in the fall, long before we knew they would be coming to town for a surgery! Don't they make a lovely couple?

The trip was uneventful, and we arrived at our hotel and got all cozy for the night. She had to have a shower with antibacterial soap as part of her prep...and some Orange Chicken for her last good meal for a while.

The next morning, Austin and I took turns getting a quick hotel breakfast so as not to tempt our fasting patient, I did some Dutch French braids to keep that long beautiful hair out of the way and untangled, and we headed across the highway to the hospital. She was a little nervous in prep but handled things well and even had a great big smile for Lito when he arrived (drove up that morning to be with us after staying the night at our house).

It took them two whole hours in anesthesia just to get her all ready. But thankfully the actual surgery only took a few hours. So almost 5 hours later, the surgeon came to tell us that it was over and she did well. She was able to remove almost all of the tumor, saw the nerve it grew from, and still suspects it is benign (they are sending it for pathology).

When we came in to see her, she was still very dopey and in a lot of pain when she was not asleep. It was tough to see her like that. Lito made sure that he got another smile (as soon as he could) by going down and getting the biggest balloon the gift store had...a life size bugs bunny!

Our sleeping princess

 

It was a tough couple of days as they got her pain under control (we suspected this would be an issue since she is the most intolerant to pain of all 6 of our children). She got her chest tube out Saturday morning and finally perked up a bit, just in time for some visitors. It was amazing that she had so many considering that none of our friends or family live nearby!

Austin spent the first 2 nights in the hospital with her and let me rest at the hotel. So Saturday I sent him home to sleep in his own bed for a bit and to help the grandparents get the other kids to mass. He agreed since Auntie Carol was coming up that day for an overnight visit.

Gloria was really happy to see her, and Auntie Carol treated her like a princess. She made a few runs to the store for favorite foods, as we were having trouble getting Gloria to eat. The caramel sauce she got to dip with apples was a huge hit along with the gummy lifesavers and skittles to help Gloria take her yucky tasting oral med. She even sat with Gloria so I could walk to the nearby church for mass!

That afternoon she also had a visit from our sweet friend, Dr. Posvar, who was passing through on a trip. The rest of his family stayed in the car due to illness.

  Some friends and neighbors sent notes and gifts with us for her, and she finally felt like reading and opening.

 And she tasted some treats her sisters sent. They were so sweet initiating "project Gloria" a couple of weeks before, which consisted of collecting a list of things for Gloria including a special box, various candies, an electric toothbrush and some other things I have forgotten in the sleepy fog. ;)

Sunday afternoon she had a visit from Pawpaw, Manah and her big sisters. I think the girls were really glad to be together again for a bit.

At this point, she had been in bed for 3 days, not wanting to get out because of the pain/discomfort. It didn't help that the hospital play room was closed all weekend. So she really had no motivation to move. But it was open Monday, and we had strict orders to get her out and moving around. So I talked her into a quick trip which turned out to be a longish trip because they had Wii with lots of games she had never seen.

 Austin drove back in around lunchtime Monday, and we were told we could leave that evening if she was up and walking around and proved she could take her pain meds. The doc kindly switched her to a less disgusting medicine. Then Austin turned into Daddy drill sergeant (not really but close!). We got her up and around several times and finally got orders to leave after dinner. Yay!!! We got home just in time to see everyone before bed and to get her pain meds before all the pharmacies closed! We all slept so well with no nurses or beeping monitors to wake us up every hour or two. Gloria didn't even need meds in the middle of the night! She was zonked!

Lita generously stayed to make sure we caught up on some sleep and were back on our feet. We had a visit from Uncle James and Aunt Karen too!

 They caught a lizard that Anastasia was more than happy to torture hold.

We had a big dinner of Daddy's BBQ ribs to celebrate with Lita, Pawpaw and Manah, and our friends the K family. I failed to get pictures of that. Oh well!
Praise God for such a blessed experience! She will be on limited activity for a few weeks. I can't wait for our girl to be completely healed up and back to normal!