The Day After

Walked in at 7:45, after sleeping about 5 hrs, and both Lily and Benny were snoozing away.  They were up quite a lot last night with nurses buzzing around her constantly.  There was A LOT to monitor on her little body.  I guess she woke up at 3am with a full on panic attack because she couldn't feel her legs.  But she has an epidural for the first few days of recovery, so it probably feels a very weird for her.   She also has an IV in one arm, a Picc line in the other, and a tube in her nose.  So she freaked out.  Benny and the nurse got her to calm down and go back to sleep.  I feel bad I wasn't there, but I really needed to sleep!!
So today has been pretty non-eventful.  She has been sleeping all day.  She will wake up here and there, but only for a matter of minutes.  She will quietly talk, cause her throat hurts, and ask for a drink.  But sadly I have to tell her that she can't have anything to drink yet.  They are VERY slow to introduce anything by mouth.  She also needs her stomach and bowels to "wake up" and pass gas, which could take another day or two.  So until then, we are giving her little ice chips.  After a few minutes of being awake, she'll dose off again.  It's starting to get dark outside, but I think she's been awake a total of 20 minutes today.  But that's good,  it's what we want.
Lots of people have stopped by today to check on her.  A few different Urology residents, Dr Gearhart, and Dr G's fellow.  And the pain team people too.  They all were in the surgery yesterday.  It's kinda of weird talking to people who have had their hands inside your child's body.  They spent so much time working hard on her yesterday, it's probably so stressful for them to see how it all turns out.  It's like building anything I guess, after you're done- you really hope it works!
Tonight will be more of the same, hopefully.  I say that because sometimes after surgery things can take turn and go down hill.  So I just continue to be aware of everything, and pay attention to any signs.  And thankfully the nurses have seen many cases of this and know exactly how to care for her.  Such a huge blessing and confirmation of why we come across country to do this.