Surgery day

Today was the big day! We headed out bright and early - ok, not so bright at 5:30am - to the hospital. Cadence was pretty suspicious of, oh, everyone until she got some happy juice (versed) while waiting to go to the OR. She then became her typical silly and engaging self as she took Brad's OR hat off and on! Brad carried her back to the room and she was under fairly quickly. A nurse in the OR called us every hour or more to update us (it's nice to have connections!). Dental filled her cavity and took x-rays, then she had her ear tubes placed and a hearing test done. All of that went well with good results. Her palate repair took about 2 hours and by then her lip was too swollen to fix. We'll come back in a couple of months to do that.

I had already been up to the Peds ICU and knew that my good friend, Julia, would be Cadence's nurse. She texted me after she got report from the OR and let us know when to come back. The first nurse that saw us said "She's feisty!". Oh, yes!! I predicted that she would wake with a vengance. They had given her same pain meds before we got back that knocked her out for a few hours. By 4pm, though, she was awake and not too happy. My parents and the girls came to say hello and Cadence was a little overstimulated. Laurel drew a sweet picture of Cadence in the hospital bed and me standing next to it crying. (She's not far off!) She slept in my arms off and on for the next 4 hours. Brad headed home since he has to work tomorrow. My friend, Michelle, is her night shift nurse and we just got Cadence settled for now.

It's been a challenging afternoon but nothing unexpected. I hope she feels up to eating tomorrow... the sooner she does that the sooner we can get home! While it feels quite strange to be on the other side of the bed as a parent rather than the caregiver, I am happy to be in a place where I know that everyone is looking out for her!