The Surgery

Last October Lucia had 2 inguinal hernia repairs and 1 umbilical hernia repair. Chauncey took the day off from work and we all drove out to Primary Children's Hospital. The surgeon was an older man, who absolutely loves his little patients and respects the parents, too! We don't really get a lot of that respect from doctors (pediatricians) out here. They tend to treat you like you're making stuff up.
It all started with a bump BOTH Chauncey and I saw after Lucia's bath. We knew it wasn't a swollen lymph node. We just knew it wasn't normal. We took her out of her bath and straight to the insta-care, where they said it was probably (I have to say that it really gets on my nerves that they can never some up with a straight-up diagnosis. It's always maybe, could be, probably... or they send me home wishing me luck!) a hernia, but she'd be alright! This happened around July. I took her in the next day (a Saturday) to be checked out by the nurse practitioner at her pediatricians office. Same thing. No problem solving to our concern. Off we went, hoping the hernia would just disappear. I mean, they did say she'd be ok.

(She did turn 2 in August, so I've added some irrelevant to the post birthday pics. We didn't take pictures of the surgery process).

In August she had her 2 year check up and I tried to show her doctor. To my luck, the hernia wasn't showing. But a miracle happened! The man believed me and referred us to a pediatric surgeon to see what he said about it. We were finally moving forward!
I took her in about a month later. She was crying, for some reason, so the hernia was DEFINITELY visible when the doctor walked in. This doctor actually said that  kids don't grow out of this type of hernia, like we were told. They can eventually become painful and affect her ovaries! Thank Heavens we insisted on getting this checked before it got to that point.
They scheduled the surgery for a week later, which we had to reschedule due to our previously mentioned stomach flu. When the day for the surgery arrived we explained to her that she was going to sleep and the doctors would fix her belly button (she had a hernia there too). She took it alright. We really couldn't go into deep details with such a tiny person.
Her pre-surgery experience was great! They treated her like a princess! They also have a lot of toys to keep her entertained while we waited. Thirty minutes before they took her they gave her sedation medication. The kid was high if you asked me. Then the anesthesiologist came for her. We carried her up to the surgery hallway doors. On the walk there she would say things like: "Look, mommy, it's Mickey Mouse!" Except it didn't sound like you just read it. She was sorta drunk on those drugs, so imagine... wobbly head, eyes half shut, finger not quite pointing where she wanted, and a funny tone in her voice. She was right. Mickey was painted on the hallway walls. Even though it was funny, I don't ever want to see her that way again. They do this so she doesn't flip out when the strange man (the anesthesiologist) walks away with her. We're not even there when she goes to sleep.

with mommy and daddy

After about an hour it was over! They called us to go in and see her in recovery. When she woke up she went mad! Imagine waking up in a weird room with a (breathing) tube down your throat and an IV. The tube they pulled out immediately, but they had to leave the IV on. She tried hard to pull it off. For a long while she was kicking, screaming, and crying all over the bed. We tried to calm her, but were more focused on keeping her from pulling the IV out. After about 2 hours she was more calm. She drank and ate some. We went home. The drive home was ok.

Lucia and her new trike (well not quite new anymore)

The next couple of days were not so great. She was experiencing so much pain she would just cry and kick around on the floor. We couldn't calm her. Sometimes we just had to let her do her thing. She seemed traumatized almost. It was behavior we had never seen coming from her before. It was a while before she was fully healed and could jump around again. But it was over! It got better! And she has no hernias.

yummy birthday cupcake