6:00am
Good morning. The dogs are the only ones happy to be awake at this time of day. Our goal is to leave for North Richland Hills by 6:30am to allow for traffic and arrive there by 7:30am.
6:20am
Picture of Mommy and Amanda before we headed out.
6:25am
Mrs. Debi in driveway. Going to follow us to the hospital and stay with us to pray and offer moral support.
6:55am
Arrived early. Traffic not as bad as expected.
7:05am
Paperwork filled out. Watching Disney Channel. Took a picture with Mrs. Debi and with Daddy.
7:30am
Back to pre-op. Amanda got the official hospital gown and we had to wait. Amanda was very brave. A few tears and a few fears here and there, but she was a brave little girl. Amanda played games on the Pocket PC to pass the time and to keep her mind off what lay ahead.
8:15am
Dr. Quatro paid us a visit to let us know she was finished with her previous surgery and would soon be ready for Amanda. She explained that we should prepare for Amanda to be in surgery somewhere between and hour and an hour-and-a-half. Look at the brave girl smile!
8:30am
Nurse brought the 'giggle juice' to help Amanda relax. Another nurse, one who would be helping with the procedure also stopped by to say hello, check some notes, meet Amanda and assure here that they were going to take real good care of her. Everybody there was EXCELLENT with children. Just a little crying
8:42am
They took Amanda back for surgery. She teared up a little bit but was being brave. Mommy was trying to be brave, but she teared up more than just a little bit as Amanda disappeared around the corner.
8:45am
In the waiting room with Mrs. Debi and Mrs. Pat from church. We prayed, waited, called our parents and waited some more.
9:50am
A nurse came out and called for us. We are in a separate waiting room now. Nurse said Dr. Quatro would be in to discuss how the surgery went and then we could see Amanda in recovery soon.
10:00am
Dr. Quatro came in and said all went well and explained what all she did. After Amanda was asleep, she moved her arm all around trying to reduce the elbow (get it back in socket). It would not go. She then made an incision and checked the socket for debris that was keeping the elbow from going back in socket. Nothing was there, but the tissue around the joint had obviously moved into the vacancy previously (and rightly) occupied by her elbow! Once this tissue was gently moved back, the elbow went back into place easily. Dr. Quatro said she then worked the elbow 'quite hard' to see if it was going to pop out of place again and was pleased that it stayed as it should Amanda's arm was moved all around. Amanda was closed up, stitched up and put in a sling.
10:10am
We were allowed to go to recovery and see Amanda. Mrs. Debi and Mrs. Pat came with us. Wow, this was not fun. Amanda was crying and in distress. The nurse explained that Amanda had kicked and removed the IV from her foot before all of the 'coming out' medicine had been administered. She then explained that the very 'giggle juice' that made her so happy before surgery would make Amanda very emotional, and probably angry, coming out of the anesthesia. Since there was no IV, it was either let it work it's way out of her system or stick her again (which nobody wanted to do). For quite a while Amanda did not respond to our presence in the room. The first couple times she looked at us it was almost scary. Due to the drugs, she did not really recognize us and she looked...well, she just looked mean. I cannot describe the way her eyes looked other than to say it was definitely drug induced, and if I ever see a grown up holding a weapon in their hands with that same look in their eyes...I expect that to be the last thing I ever see! Mommy cried and loved on Amanda as only Mommies can. Eventually she could recognize and speak to us (telling us how badly her arm hurt).
11:00am
Going home. They sat Amanda up, got her in a wheel chair and we headed to the car. Mrs. Debi drive the car around while Mrs. Pat and Mrs. Barbara helped carry all of our stuff (clothes, pillow, backpack, new stuffed animals and a barf bowl) to the car. Thankfully the barf bowl was not needed on the way home and Amanda drifted off to sleep.
12:00 noon
We got Amanda home and situated on the couch in my office. Her arm hurt, so we just prayed and let her rest. All of the sudden she started whimpering and we wondered what caused her to hurt so badly all of the sudden. Then we found out...we found out why she whimpered suddenly and why they sent the barf bowl home! After a bit of clean up, we opened up the hide-away bed and got Amanda set up on that.
2:00pm
Both Amanda and Mommy were sleeping so Daddy went to work.
6:00pm
Mommy and Daddy ate dinner prepared by Mrs. Debi and Amanda had a Popsicle and some ice cream. Daddy and Boo came into the office to support and encourage Amanda (see picture).
8:00pm
Amanda went to bed. Thank you Jesus the day has gotten better! Amanda made it through the afternoon with no pain medicine, although we did give her some at bed time to help her sleep. It seems we are getting a little more accurate reading on the 'Amanda pain scale' now, too. Daddy felt really bad about telling Amanda to 'suck it up' (not in those exact terms) last week when we thought she had a sprain but her elbow was really dislocated, but Amanda also learned the lesson about being a hypochrondiac and saying every pain was excruciating. She is sleeping now and we are all feeing much better.
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