Girl Child was looking forward to a visit from a friend late this afternoon/early evening, as well as a visit from DH and Boy Child. She woke up at one point to very specifically ask that I wake her up if her friend R. got there while she was still asleep. DH is still fighting his cold, so out of an abundance of caution, he and Boy Child donned masks and gloves for their visit; a cold is the last thing Girl Child needs on her plate right now. DH brought me some clothes from home, so bonus. R. brought Girl Child a warm fuzzy blanket, and we all chatted for awhile. Girl Child was actually quite alert for the visit, and I think she’s not as sleepy on the valium as she was the first day; it still works for her, just doesn’t make her sleep for as long as it did. R. and her mom left, then Girl Child called and talked to some more friends on the phone briefly.
Shift change happened somewhere in there, and the same nurse we had last night, Nurse K., was back for us tonight; we liked her a lot, so that was nice. DH and Boy Child left to get dinner, but while at dinner, DH decided to come back afterward because Boy Child was clearly missing his sister a lot. The guys brought me tiramisu from the restaurant they had dinner at, which was really nice. Then Girl Child needed to be turned to her side, and it didn’t go so well. She took the muscle relaxer and was going to save the valium for the next roll 2 hours later, but she ended up in tears when her back spasms just weren’t calming down, even with her finding a star/firefly and trying to breathe and relax, so she went ahead and took it then. Boy Child told me he was scared; this is the first he’s seen her since her surgery, and the reality of what she’s going through is a lot to take in for a 9 year old.
We learned that Girl Child’s surgery tomorrow has been moved up to 7:30am (it was originally 9am), and Boy Child gets on the bus around that time. We arranged for my Cousin S. to come to the house to get Boy Child on the bus in the morning so DH can get back here before Girl Child heads back to the OR. DH and Boy Child left for the night, and I settled in with her. She was sleeping well when I got a call from the desk nurse saying some friends of DH and mine were there. I met B. and D. up front since Girl Child was sleeping, and we chatted for several minutes. The break was nice, and they passed along a McDonald’s card for when Girl Child is ready to eat “real” food sometime after Monday’s surgery. When I mentioned later that they had stopped by and gave her the gift card, it brought a smile to her face.
Over the course of the night I (and Nurse K.) have seen more of Girl Child’s personality come through the haze of meds, and she’s been awake longer stretches. She dictated an email to friends, worked on her incentive spirometer (getting just above 750ml, which is an improvement), managed to swallow another colace pill in jello, and watched some tv. Nurse K. told us that the hospital’s census is climbing again, and they’re preparing a few rooms on our current unit to be used as ICU rooms. She was kind of hoping that we might end up in one of those since we wouldn’t have to be transferred out after Girl Child no longer needs ICU care, and it would have all the amenities of the regular rooms. Fingers crossed, there. At one point, we both fell asleep, and I woke up to a stuffed animal tossed at my face when she wanted to be sure to get some fluids in before midnight when she’d have to stop everything for surgery. Apparently she’d said my name a couple times, but I hadn’t responded. Nurse K. told us she could have a coke if she wanted it, so she took her up on the offer and drank a decent amount. Her tummy still feels tight, though. She’ll get a last dose of valium around 4am when she’ll need to be turned again, then they’ll probably start prepping her to go to the surgery floor around 6:45. I’m glad our surgeon was able to move up the time; the earlier in the earlier out in what’s going to be another long day.
