SURGERY NUMBER 4 A SUCCESS

This morning Piper had a surgical procedure to remove the stent that was placed in her ureter so it wouldn’t collapse post-transplant.  It was a very quick procedure, but she still had to be put under general anesthesia, which always makes a parent nervous.

Erin and I got over to A.I. DuPont early…like 7:13 am early…and checked into day medicine.  They took some blood from her hemodialysis port and then she was moved over to pre-op, where she got the same pre-op private room I got two weeks ago (to the day).  She has to be isolated from other sick kids because she’s a transplant baby.  That means we always get private rooms, which is kind of nice under the circumstances.

We went through the usual pre-op riga-ma-roll and signed all the necessary consent forms and watched concerned nurses take the same vital signs over and over.  It’s all very formulaic.  The anesthesiologist rolls her eyes and mouths “it will be fine” while a seemingly frantic nurse takes another blood pressure. We’re used to it by now.  So used to it that when we are transferred to the PACU waiting area (dry eyed for once), we look at the other worried parents and are thankful we kind of know the drill by now.  I really feel for the parents whose kids are having their tonsils out and it’s the first time they’ve been in A.I.  It’s the kind of place you never want to be as a parent and even something as benign as a tonsillectomy can make even the steeliest parent scared.  It’s something about surrendering your child to someone who is going to cut into them.  It just feels wrong.  Luckily, we know how good everyone at A.I. is so, while we aren’t “worry free”, we’re “not worried.”

Twenty minutes later, the doctor was out to tell us everything went great and we’d have to wait another 30 minutes to see her in the recovery room.  When we finally got to the recovery room, we had to wait for a long while because no one knew if they were discharging us or transferring us back to day medicine.  The latter proved to be true and once they got Dr. Kaiser on the phone, we were quickly moved back downstairs.

Anyway…by 10:30 am we were home and Piper was back to herself and now she’s pulling at my leg while I write this.  She’s also yelling.  I’m not sure what she’s saying, but pretty sure she just called me mommy.

As usual, our little Piper is the strongest of all of us.  She is an amazing little girl and while the other two girls are equally awesome in their own way, PIper is a survivor.  If you had to be stuck in the Rockies on a cold February night, she’s the kind of girl who would find a way to make a fire, gather some food while continually telling you to “calm the hell down.”

Happy New Year to all of you.  Thanks for your continual support and all of the great food that has put me in the minority of kidney donors who doesn’t lose weight post surgery.  Hey…I ain’t complaining!

Love – Chris and Erin

P.S. I will be posting some wandering thoughts very soon.  Probably next week.  The further we get from the transplant, the more awesome I realize it was.  If you like those kind of wanderings, then stay tuned!

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