here we go again!felt a little deja vu at the day surgery with Sasha today. After our previous visit for her deflux procedure last year, we knew what to expect from the routine this time.
Here were the few things that were different:
This time it was a surgical procedure and small incisions were made into her eyes, and a few muscles were moved (the deflux procedure required no incision. they call it 'non-invasive' but i still think having medical equipment of any kind stuck up inside you always feels a bit invasive)
we got to wake up around our regular time as the surgery wasn't until 10:15 (last time we were up at 5:30). still had to be there 1 1/2 hours beforehand. though she wasn't allowed to eat she did get to have some apple juice 1st thing in the a.m.
this time she is a vocal toddler who can pull your heart strings by saying "I don't like it. please take it off mommy" when you try to put her in the gown and the bracelet. the nurses loved her as she was a super calm and cooperative patient. I'm sure the nurses don't often get thanked by their 2 year old patients after going through the pre-op routine of weighing, blood pressure check, putting on bracelet and numbing cream for the hands
as always she pretty much went with the flow with little fuss. I always talk her through where we're going and what's going to happen beforehand. guess that seems to help her understand when we're there. And she has had about an appointment a week lately - between ultrasound, blood pressure checks (pretty good at this point. next blood pressure check will be in sept), multiple eye doctor visits, a trip to the emergency to have her head glued...and now this!
last year I got to go see her in recovery, and this time I also got to go into the surgery room with her until she was asleep. I held her as the anesthetist held the mask (her veins always prove tricky to find, so this time they didn't do the injection) and it is a very strange feeling watching your child be put to sleep...but I was happy to be there for her. Here are some pics from after surgery. and after she ended up sleeping for hours she was perky and wanting to play!
(see video of Sasha and her picnic below)no glasses today...back to those tomorrow for a while longer anyways. Though Mark was a little under-thrilled that her eyes were not perfect right away, I did notice some difference. Especially without the glasses, her right eye had gotten to where it automatically was turning in all the time. Today, you can see she is noticing something is different...but not her...still happy and healthy!! we'll keep you posted on her eye progress and her follow up is aug 22.
I realized today that in 2 years and 3 months, this is the summary of Sasha's experience with Children's hospital so far:
- 15 days staying in hospital (5 days when born because she had jaundice, and 10 days when she was six weeks old and got her urinary and kidney infection)
- 2 trips to emergency (1st at 6 weeks with fever -which led to the 10 day stay, and 2nd two weeks ago from the head wound)
- 2 day treatment procedures
- 2 follow up ultrasounds
Keep in mind this is all "common" stuff...who knew there were so many freakin 'common' things that could happen to your child?? Though our experiences with Sasha have now made all things medical feel a bit routine (and Sasha now handles it all like a pro!) I have only an inkling of what it is like for parents who have to spend some, most, or all of their child's life at the hospital for things they may never be cured for. The kids are always the most resilient ones.
Anyways...in all of this we have also never had the stress of being able to afford the care our daughter needs. When she coned her head on the table and cut it open a bit, our only hesitancy was whether or not it was a small abrasion or in need of stitches (we could tell she was fine over all) But since it was her head we said "let's go". Now, if we had been a family living in the US without any coverage our first concern might have been "can we afford to have her head fixed if something is wrong?". A big difference I have heard between here (Canada) and there (USA) is the 1st question asked there is 'where's the credit card'. Here the 1st questions is 'what happened?' and 'do you have her care card?'
nice words indeed when you're already stressing about your kid!
In fact, upon reflection Mark and I have become insanely full of gratitude for being Canadians where our family has access to a top notch public health system!!! Not that we were ever ungrateful...but when you really stop to think about the luxury of the system we have overall (even with the faults each of us may have to gripe about - and actually I can't really gripe especially about Children's as they have been amazing!) it really makes me wish I could personally thank Tommy Douglas for having the courage of his convictions to push for this legacy for my generation and those to come! Time to write that letter to my MP, MLA and more (including revisiting the BC Health Coalition campaigns) - Dear leaders...please don't sell health care out!
Two of our family have been having appointments lately: Sasha...and for once not me! haha ;) Mark had developed an infected wound on his leg. He went to the clinic last week to have it checked and he was given antibiotics for the infection. The other day we went back and the doctor cut it open and dug out all the bad stuff...and this weekend we'll see if it finally gets stitched up! Good news: The swelling has gone down and not looking too gross anymore. Mark was disappointed in my lack of desire to tend his wound, but I get quesy when things reach a certain point of yuckiness - so no Nurse Nightingale for him...
almost better...so a quick summary of the fun stuff in our life - just so you don't think it's all been a medical drama here for the past few weeks ;)
the folk fest was, as always, an uplifting weekend! though I missed the friday night with my amigos for Sasha's trip to the emergency, our 2 days there were plenty fantastic! Saturday we played with Tanya and Nolan and had a great family time. my favorite Sasha line for the day was when I was bouncing around with her at the African collaborative stage and she took my face in her hands and said "mommy, I wanna get down and boogy" - OMG!! too too cute! and she now has a love for hula hoops...I need to find one in her size. As is our custom now, we lounge in the shade of stage 2 for lovely music relax time, and here Sasha dozes to the amazing vocal stylings of the Womens Voices Rising collaborative - which was stunning :)
Granma Penny came and picked up Sasha so Mark and I had saturday night, sleep in sunday, and all day sunday to relax and play just the 2 of us...and a bunch of our friends and even some of our co-op neighbours! brilliant good music and good times. Next to the closing show with our fave artist Micheal Franti & Spearhead, my favorite moment was the 'Celebrating Utah Phillips' collaborative on the Sunday. He passed away back in May, and I feel so lucky to have been introduced to the music and storytelling of this wonderful man, and more happy both of our kids got to see him alive (though Sash won't remember, Che has become a big fan too) He has left a big impression on this family...contributing to our radical nature ;)
as for nature...here's a pic of the awesome orange flowers that are filling our patio - a nice surprise as we didn't know what they were gonna be! and I can't believe I didn't mention it before, but earlier in the month one of our co-op members was checking the suites dryer vents (for fire insurance purposes) and you will never believe what he found in the back of our dryer...
2 dead birds! been in there a loooong time. but the heat and dryness had preserved them. hmmmm. good news: the dryer is working better now
we have also had some fun with friends: I've been to 2 housewarming gatherings and a press conference for a couple of friends running in the civic election; Mark went to a the COPE annual summer bbq fundraiser with his CUPE 391 crew; and had a boys night out to spend some time with his old friend Mike who he hasn't seen in a very very long time. A nice mid-day gathering at Thomas & Kristina's gave us an opportunity to meet his whole family visiting from Ontario. sweet!
alright. I'm done. though I'm sure i've forgotten something...can't be that important.
time to enjoy a long weekend with family and friends...love our fun in the summertime! hope you are all still enjoying your summer too! squishes :)
enjoy the clip of 'apple & orange' talk while Sasha serves a picnic on the roof of her 'tent'
No comments:
Post a Comment