The Patient

Brooke had to have surgery yesterday to repair her umbilical hernia. It had been there since birth and became noticeable around 6 months old. We waited to see if it would close on its own. It did improve, but the doctors decided it would not fully close on its own.

We decided to not tell her fully what was going to happen. She is a worrier and a deep thinker. We told her that the doctor was going to fix her belly button and make it flat and that after she was done she got lots of prizes. I stuck with that story since it made her the happiest.

Brooke could not eat after midnight. The usual deal with surgeries. I warned her ahead of time so she knew she could not have breakfast in the morning. I could have woken her at 6am to give her some juice but decided to let her sleep in (THIS decision would haunt me the entire day). Instead she woke up at 7:30 and immediately asked for breakfast. We were leaving soon so I turned on a show and it distracted her enough.

My aunt and cousin watched Madeline for us. THANK YOU! The day ended up being so long that I cannot imagine what we would have done if she was with us.

We got to the hospital at 8:45 for a 9am check in. Brooke was in good spirits and found some cool computers in the waiting room. By 10:15 I was getting a little worried as to why we were not in preop since her surgery was supposed to be at 10 am!?? The nurse manager came out and all she would tell me is that they were backed up and she could not tell me when the surgery would be. WHAT???? I was livid. She told me they would come and get us by 11 am. Okay fine.

We walked Brooke around outside and back, gave her a new leapster game. Honestly she was such a trooper. A volunteer gave her some crayons and paper which kept her busy too!


After this period of time, Brooke started asking for drinks. She started fake coughing and telling me she needed water. This broke my heart. It had now been around 18 hours since she had last had anything to eat or drink. I decided by 11:30 to ask AGAIN what was going on. The nurse manager came out again and told me flat out "The Doctor isn't here. You also have one surgery ahead of you so once he gets here it will probably be around 1pm". I burst into tears. Not my finest moment but as a mother I was so frustrated and sad for Brooke. I told the nurse I was so mad that my child is having to go through this. She just looked stunned. She then brought the anesthesiologist out to tell me Brooke could not have anything to drink or they would cancel her surgery. I contemplated leaving but we decided to wait it out.

We got called back into pre-op finally around 1pm. 4.5 hours after arriving. At least this was progress in my eyes. We got checked in and Brooke got changed. She was getting antsy but they had a TV for her.
The doc then made his appearance in our room. He told us he was called into a surgery for a 2 month old in cardiac arrest. Obviously that takes precedence over our surgery, but I just wished I was informed instead of having to ask every time for information as to why we were in the waiting room for so long! Then it was time to go. Curtis and Brooke headed off to the operating room (I cannot do those drop offs. That's daddy's job.).

She was in for about an hour and then they came and got us. Brooke did not come out of surgery well. She was screaming for her puppy (for course not even mom or dad LOL). She was crying and kept saying "get me out of here! I don't want to be here anymore!". The nurses got a kick out of that considering how long we had been there.

We waited until 4pm and were discharged from the hospital and headed home. We were gone 9 hours for an outpatient procedure. Exhausting! I also learned that when needed, my child can go 23 hours without food or water. I hope we never have to experiment with that again.

Brooke came home very sore last night and emotional. She felt a little sick after having some applesauce so she never had dinner before crashing at 7pm. She ended up having a midnight picnic with mom and dad in her bed with goldfish crackers and water. Poor thing was so hungry! By tonight she was in much better condition. She is learning that if she moves herself it hurts less than when we help her. She also was very into all of her gifts/prizes so that helped distract her too. Hopefully tomorrow we can do a spongebath to keep her from getting too stinky.

Here she was today modeling her new nightgown from grandma. Of course its a big hit!

I think by mid week she should be back to her old self. We go for a post op check on Tuesday. Let's hope this is the last of surgeries for us. Two in one year (one for Madeline) is too much!