The Long Story Long

If I had read a post like that I'd be checking in, so I felt I better update. Although, it is Labor Day weekend, so maybe many of you won't read this until I've already caught you up. So for my memory bank as well, here is the story:

Yesterday when Gertie woke up from her nap John saw a big bright red drip of blood on her lip. We looked in her throat and could see some blood and a big bright red spot in the back of her throat. We knew we'd need to take her in, but the blood didn't continue to come out her mouth, and we were trying to determine if we could take her to the urgent care here in town, or head to Mason City where the ENT doctor has his practice. I tried to call the triage nurse, but I got voice mail, so we had decided to just head to Mason City. As we were walking out the door, the nurse from our local hospital called back and assured me that they could determine whether we needed to head down to the ENT or if they could handle it here. So we changed gears and decided to go to the local urgent care. A very long two and a half hours later they told me that I needed to go to Mason City, and would I like to ride in the ambulance or drive myself? I opted for our own ride, so I collected John and Grace (Ethan is visiting Cousins Hunter and Tate) and we drove down to Mason City.

Things moved much more quickly while we were there. The doctors made a decision that they'd like to remove the blood clot and stop the bleeding. Gertie didn't even cry when they put the IV in her wrist. She is so brave and I am so proud of her. The nurse gave her a bunch of stickers and she immediately stuck them all over her lower arm. They were lots of dime-shaped stickers of the Disney princesses and they were headed in for surgery. John and Grace left for some much needed dinner, as it was 8:30 or so by then. I was able to stay with her as we walked toward the operating room, and left her only as they walked her into the operating room doors.

When the doctor came out he told me that she is quite a trooper. She did great. They found a couple veins that were trickling, but nothing that was gushing blood. That was good. They cauterized the whole area, I think he said, and it would be extremely rare for this to occur again. He kept us in the hospital overnight. The nurse on staff was great. Gertie slept pretty well after I finally insisted on turning Snow White off the television at 11 p.m. I couldn't believe she was still awake. I figured she'd be so tired after that long day, but she was mesmerized by the movie. What she really wanted was something to eat, and the nurse gave her a popsicle. She kept insisting that she wanted another one that was purple, but the nurse said no. She needed to go easy after the anesthesia.

The doctors came in before 7 a.m. and woke Gertie up by basically sticking a big popsicle stick down her throat, and that didn't go over very well, but they said everything looks good and she can go home.

Since home she's been very clingy, a little spacy, and hungry. I am trying to be very careful about what I give her to eat, but she's going after the popsicles again. She has a bit of a fever, but I believe that's pretty normal. Nothing to worry about unless it's up to 102 degrees.

John seems to think she needs some Disney movies now. He is on that errand. It was making us remember Grace when she was about Gertie's age, shouting at me as John and I were having a serious discussion about something, "Don't say that about my father. He's not crazy. He's a genus!" We both looked at her and realized that that was a line straight out of Beauty and the Beast (except for the "genus" for genius part). That was the beginning of Grace's acting career, reciting everybody else's lines as well as her own.

I am hoping for a nap this afternoon, a long one. I think we're all exhausted.