Elder's Surgery

Well, Elder had her surgery.

It was scheduled for 11:45 am at Mount Sinai Hospital. We got to the hospital at 9:15 as requested. She went through the pre-op questioning. At one point she asked if she could wear my brown scapular. I gave it to her, but told her she would probably have to remove it for surgery. She met her nurse and the anaesthetists and was walked into the OR by a nurse at 11:45. I was told the surgery would take about 1/2 hour. I got myself a small decaff double double. (In support of Elder not being allowed to eat anything after mid night- I fasted that morning too. - But she was getting glucose now, so I thought it only fair I get sucrose-and a bit of milk and, what else does decaff have in it? It was now that I remembered Elder was still wearing the scapular - oops- but it isn't metal sooo....)

Anyway at about 11:25 the volunteer in the OR Waiting Room got a call to say that Elder was out of surgery at 11: 17 and was now in recovery. It would be another hour. Ten minutes later, another call Elder wants to see me. I go into recovery.
The attending nurse said, " Well we now know what sign to look for if your daughter does drugs." Confused I ask, "What?"
"She's a chatterbox on drugs."
Apparently she didn't stop talking and only fell asleep for the 3 minutes of the actual surgery. Yup 3 minutes. that's all three minutes.

She was still loupy and a bit loud. I told her a few times to hush. She mentioned that she still had the scapular. The nurse pointed it out. I mentioned we forgot she was wearing it- Well we let her keep it, but usually we don't allow stuff around the neck- it could get dirty or could get tangled in the leads. But it didn't cause any problems. ( Elder told me later, that they asked what it was, it if it as a "Good-Luck piece" She didn't answer them. -She really didn't think that before surgery was the time to explain Our Lady, Saint Simon Stock and the promises of the Brown Scapular-)

About an hour after the surgery she tells me she wants her daddy, so I call home and leave a message asking him to come. (Should point out that I had left 2 progress reports already- Basically I told him Elder's progress and in what room I was told to wait. That way if he did come down he would have a better chance of finding us. (He was on errands with Younger- another story)

I was given the post -operative instructions, and her prescription for an ointment (Anti-bacterial and corticosteroid) They monitored her vitals for a bit. She was helped to a sitting position told to cough, which she did- this must have been important because the nurse said, "Good." She ate 4 cookies, 2 glasses of apple juice, was told to dress, and was wheelchaired out to a taxi. The nurse even gave us a plastic lined paper bag in case she got nausea in the cab. We got home about 2: 15 p.m. She ate Nutella Sandwiches and drank milk, watched 1/2 hour of TV, and went upstairs to sleep woke up about 4:00 and lay down on the chesterfield with me as a pillow, at which point Bear and Younger came home. They missed us by an hour and a half.

This morning the bandages came off, and all that is visible is a small 1/3 cm red dot which will most likely fade away completely. The post-op is okay, except that the eye itches like mad. We have worked out a compromise: Elder doesn't scratch or rub her eye, and we will put up with her complaining that it itches. There is no pain just the maddening itch. The ointment should help.