Monday, November 23, 2009

Update on Recovery

Finally I have a minute to update everyone on my little Miss. The surgery day went well. I was able to take Shelby to school that morning (to help keep her mind off food) since her surgery wasn't until that afternoon. Pre-op went fine and after the versed (goofy juice) Shelby was pretty out of it so she left for surgery no problem. At one point, she was holding her hands up acting like she was catching butterflies or something. No telling what she was seeing on that crazy medicine ;)

She was only in surgery for about an hour when the surgeon came out to let us know all went well. Once in there, he opted to do the sphincter pharyngoplasty instead of the pharyngeal flap that he was originally going to do. There are pros and cons to both surgeries, so this is where I just have to trust the surgeon and his judgement and hope that he did the best option for Shelby's future.

She came out of surgery OK and obviously in pain; however, this time around she wasn't in "emotional pain" like she was for the first surgery, thank God! She was just mad that her throat hurt and upset about her throat. We kept her on morphine thru IV as often as I could get it for her to keep the pain level down. Unfortunately I had a TERRIBLE nurse the next day at the hospital who obviously didn't understand the need for IV pain meds. Just to tell you her incompetence the first thing this nurse came into the room and asked was I quote, "WHY does she keep complaining that her throat hurts?!" I just looked her like she had 4 heads and said, "Uh because she has stitches in the back of her throat and on her palate. She just had surgery!!" Needless to say it was downhill from there with this lady ALL day :( I had to fight for medicine for my baby girl all day until the next night shift nurse came on board. Your nurse can definitely make or break your hospital stay for sure. Anyhow, we checked out the next day since I knew I would do better at home giving Shelby meds whenever I needed to!

Amazingly though Shelby has been really great at home. Once her pain level came down some she is remarkably doing well. Her recovery so far has not been near as bad as her first surgery so I am very grateful for that for sure :) Thanks again for all the prayers and obviously they are working as little Miss Shelby is almost back to herself already!

4 comments:

Beth and Ryan said...

Glad to see the update! And so glad to hear that Shelby is ok and doing well. Hope you and your family have a very happy Thanksgiving.

Anonymous said...

Glad to find your post today and to learn that Shelby is almost doing fine. Soon, it will be over. A "bisou" to each of you.
AUdrey

The Evans Family said...

So happy that things went better with Shelby this go round! Sad to hear that a nurse at the hospital was less than understanding. They are certainly far and few between there--we've had mostly excellent nurses!

Hope Shelby can enjoy something for Thanksgiving. How long is the liquid diet last?

Tina

Jen & Bill said...

Ricky had a sphincter pharyngoplasty as well last December instead of the p-flap (with Dr. Burstein). unfortunately for us he needs another repair - probably in March. he tore some of it open.