Hospital Day 3

So Good to See a Smile!

Good Morning!  Today is day 3 of our stay and we are wishing to be home, but Catherine isn't ready yet.  She is not really experiencing anything way out of the ordinary for the extent of surgery she had (cutting ribs as well as vertebrae, putting in the VEPTR) according to her doctor, but it is hard to see my sweet girl in so much suffering.  She is in some pain as well as feeling lots of nausea and vomiting pretty much every time she tries to move.  It is quite a conundrum because the morphine she is receiving through her IV can help control the pain but causes the nausea!  We are trying to make sure she gets Tylenol regularly to take the edge off so she doesn't need quite as much morphine.  Her hematocrit is low as well and they need to start giving her iron (she is borderline in need of a transfusion) which can also be hard on the stomach.  And to top it off, she is NOT eating and has absolutely no desire to eat.   She gets VERY irritated with me when I try to encourage her by asking will she eat this or that with resounding "No!"s.  Yesterday I saw a few smiles; however, it has been quite a while since I have seen one...really missing those :(  Hoping she perks up some today...if she does we will be headed home tomorrow!  Woo Hoo!  Please  pray that her pain will get under control and her tummy will feel better so she can eat.  On the plus side this new Children's Center at Hopkins is beautiful!  We feel extremely blessed to have such a wonderful surgeon and lots of nice caregivers.  All the rooms here are private now (even our PICU room was) with big windows and lots of open space.  There is lots of walking coming in and out with the bridges from the parking garage and just how spread out thins place is, so we have been getting our exercise.  On the home-front, the other kids and puppy are doing well.  Stan and I are tired but hanging in...God is giving us what we need moment by moment!

Funny Catherine Quote after waking up from surgery:  "I don't feel the best!"  and yesterday: "I want to get out of this bed!"  Hoping she feels up to doing this soon!