Recovery Day #3....2/7/11-swelling, let the bruising begin
Recovery Day #4....2/8/11
Recovery Day #5....2/9/11...more bruising
Recovery Day #6....2/10/11....feeling better!On February 11th, Sarah had a post-op check and we were told everything looked great. I finally crawled into bed that night around midnight and was soon awakened at 1 am by a little girl tugging on my arm. She was bleeding from her mouth and nose! I took her to the bathroom and grabbed a washcloth to clean up the blood. Something was hanging from the roof of her mouth and blood was pouring out. I needed help and woke Greg. He took one look at the situation and called 911. We could not tell exactly where she was bleeding from. I asked Greg to check her bedroom and he found a blood soaked pillow and hand towel. The paramedics arrived and transported Sarah and I to the ER. Upon arrival, an IV was started and an attempt to suction her mouth soon began. As the doctor worked to suction the draining blood out of her mouth and nose he said that the large piece hanging down was possibly just a blood clot, eventually it dislodged and fell out of her mouth bouncing off her leg and landing with a splat on the floor.....I looked up at the doctor and asked "was that her palate or just a large blood clot?" he indicated that it appeared to be a very large blood clot. I slowly leaned to where I would be able to see it and saw a huge gelatinous mass on the floor....about the size of a racquetball! I don't even know how Sarah could breathe past the huge mass while it was in her mouth. Meanwhile her mouth continued to bleed soaking many towels and trickling down her throat. She began to complain of stomach pain as her little belly filled with blood. Soon it was determined that she needed to be taken to the OR to remedy the situation. As we waited for the team to assemble, blood was ordered as it began to look as if she would need a transfusion. Soon the anesthesiologist went through the "risks" with me indicating that this would be the most risky procedure Sarah has had due to the unknown source of bleeding, inserting her breathing tube, her cleft palate anatomy, and her significant amount of blood loss. Then she was whisked away for what turned out to be a nearly 2hr surgery(after 3hrs in the ER). The blood flow was stopped and another attempt to repair her palate was performed (by a surgeon I had never seen before). Upon arrival at the ER her hematocrit was 28-(normal is mid 30's). After surgery, they checked again and it had fallen to 21-the number where tranfusions commonly occur. Her doctor decided to wait and see if her body would recover on its own since she is otherwise healthy. Several hours later it was rechecked and it had climbed back to 26.8!! The hospital was filled to overflowing with sick kids and since our surgery was not planned (it happened at 5:30am on a Saturday morning) we set up camp in an overflow room-which meant no bathroom and no parent bed. Exhausted from a night without sleep, Sarah and I slept off and on throughout the day (mom in a chair). We stayed overnight and were discharged the next day around noon. Sarah continues to recover and is doing amazingly well! This is definitely one of those times I know prayers were carrying me through-thank you to everyone who was praying for us even if you did not know why!! I am so thankful for God's grace, provision, and help in time of need!
Mama zoning...... no sleep....2/12
Moments before discharge-- 2/13!
