Surgery trip

There has been so much emotion wrapped up in the past few days, maybe even in the past few months as we have waited in anticipation and expectation for Megan's surgery date.

It was a very successful trip, Megan did an incredible job with everything.

We arrived in Seattle on Monday night, checked into our hotel, had dinner and went shopping. It was a fun and relaxing night.

Megan fell asleep at about 10:00 pm, so when I woke her up at 7:00am, she wasn't ready to wake up and she wasn't ready to eat. I was very concerned about her not being able to eat past 7:30 am and when she wasn't hungry for breakfast, I just thought she would never make it. She did incredible though! Thank you for praying, it was a miracle that she didn't complain about it at all, all day. She had a few drinks of 7up before 11:30 am, but that was it for the rest of the day.

Megan was checked in about 1:45 pm, we went through all of the important paperwork, she got changed into hospital gown, and we waited for two hours. Dr. Sie was tied up with another surgery, so the wait was long.

After about the first hour in that little room, I felt anxious for Megan, feeling sorry for her having to wait so long without eating. Mom played silly games with her and distracted her for a while. After that, she was so tired, she fell asleep.

After sleeping for about 20 mins, the nurse and anesthesiologist came in to get ready to bring her into surgery. The nurse needed to look at her bracelet and Megan sat straight up awake, but not fully ready to be awake. I was leaning over her, dressed in my funny looking anti-germ suit, the nurse was talking to me about her surgery, and Megan lost it. She was crying, she was tired, hungry, scared and just done! They asked if she needed to calm down or just go. At this point, she had had enough and I knew she wasn't going to calm down so we just took her back to the surgery room.

This part was so much harder than I anticipated. Megan was already upset and once we entered the room, she just got scared. It was huge room with lots if machines, supplies and people, with a tiny little 'bed' in the middle of the room. There was no way she was letting go of me and laying on that bed, so they let me hold her while they put the gas mask on her. Once she was asleep and we put on her on the table and I left. It was so hard leaving her there in that room, I just broke down crying as I walked out the door and down the hallway.
Mom reminded me that Jesus was in the room with her and that gave me peace. We got something to eat while we waited for her surgery, we hadn't eaten since 7:30 that morning either.

About 45 minutes later, she was done with surgery and we met with Dr. Sie. She said everything went great, they did the sphincter pharyngoplasty surgery. She did not put tubes in her ears, as there was no fluid in her ears and they looked great.

We were anxious to see Megan, she met us in the hospital room about thirty minutes later, awake but still groggy from the anesthesia. It was so good to see her, she looked great.

All evening, she was in and out of sleep and wasn't interested in eating or drinking. She only said a couple of words while she was out of it, but there was a crispness to the sounds that wasn't there before.

It was a long night of interrupted sleep, I ended up just sleeping in the bed with her most of the night, which worked for me too, I just wanted to be close to her.
The next morning, she was looking and feeling way better, without the morphine for pain control, she was so much more herself. Mom offered her a donut while I was napping and she ate the whole thing, it was the first thing she had eaten for over 24 hours, so that was huge! She kept improving all morning as she gained some more strength.

We rested at the hospital, Megan napping and Mom and I getting little breaks to step out into the sunshine, until it was time to leave at 5pm. A shuttle took us to the airport, we had a frustrating security experience and finally made it safely to the board room. It was so nice to spend two hours of relaxation, food and quiet in the board room until our flight left. Megan slept almost the whole way home and went right to bed that night.

She is doing so well, I am so proud of her and what an incredible trooper she is and how brave she is! Yesterday she was doing well, talking a little more and gaining more energy and today she is doing incredible. She hasn't needed or wanted any pain meds today and has played in her normal way all day, she is amazing!

As far as Megan's speech goes, it is going to be a process of learning and understanding how to speak with her newfound ability to physically make certain sounds. Even today, I can hear her making certain sounds that she wasn't able to make before. It will be fun to watch and hear her progress unfold, we are so proud of her!

Thank you for all of your prayers, they were very much appreciated and very felt, we are so blessed by all of your support!

Here are some pictures from our trip:

At the airport in Anchorage, ready to head to Seattle.

Drinking hot chocolate at the airport.

Grandma and Megan having dinner in Seattle.

Megan and I out by the pool on surgery day.

Megan playing with her new Barbies from Grandma. Jeremy (the groom) and Analise (the bride).

About an hour after surgery, taking a sip of apple juice.