The Medical Chart

My prayers were answered, and Gertie's surgery went very well. She was scared when they carried her off. I had prepared her for them rolling her away on a little bed, and she many times was telling Dad and me the story of how the people in masks and hats are going to come in and roll her away on a bed.

But when the time came, they just took her from my arms. They were in scrubs, but most of them didn't wear masks, only hats. They said it would take about 45 minutes. I felt like that time flew by. I don't think it could have taken that long. The surgeon said that her tonsils were pretty big, and her adenoids not as big, but the surgery went well and she's waiting in recovery. She'll probably be in there for about an hour. They'll come get you. It must have been about 20 minutes later that they said she was asking for me. And it was a long walk through the halls until I reached her. When I saw her she was kind of sleeping and little bottom lip was sticking like she was sad (because she was). I climbed into bed with her and she cried for a minute, and then she'd fall back asleep and then wake up and grab me as she cried out. That went on for a bit and then they wheeled us up to the hospital room.

She had no vomiting or nausea that we could tell. She drank right away and ate popsicles. At lunch time they brought her a clear liquid diet of jello, broth and juice. She ravenously went at all of it. Just one bite after another. She said, "Something else."

Grace and Ethan were in the hospital room by the time Gertie and I arrived. Grace really wanted to be there, so John had dropped them off on his way to work. They both did really really well in the room. Gertie didn't seem to want their hugs or affections for the most part. She just wanted mom. That made both of them a bit sad, but I told them not to take it personally. Ethan was going a little stir crazy after a bit. He was tossing the stuffed elephant around and stuffing his arms and legs and trunk into his body. That made Gertie mad. Lots of things he was doing were making her mad. Not really mad, but just irritated. My friend Regina came with a Sponge Bob painting and coloring book. That was a big hit. She had lots of goodies for Gertie, including stickers. That kept Gertie busy for a good while, and I was thankful for all of it. (Thanks, Regina) Then she took the big kids off for lunch. That was great too. A big help to quiet the room down for a bit. And they brought back some books that were great for passing the time as well.

John came over after he was done with work, and she was very happy to see him.

One of the nurses brought her a stuffed kitty cat. She really clung to that. A friend from church brought a zoo book with flaps for her to turn up. That was a huge hit considering we just went to the zoo not too long ago.





Any time food was mentioned she cried out that she wanted whatever it was. We quickly learned not to discuss food. By dinner time I asked if she could eat something, anything. They said as long as it was soft, so she had mashed potatoes and gravy, chocolate milk, cottage cheese, peaches and pudding. She ate ravenously again. It tired her out pretty quickly, though.


I think it was because we were just there for observation, the nurses weren't in and out too terribly much. They would check her vital signs every couple of hours and give us pain meds when we asked for them, but when we went to sleep, they really left us alone. That was nice. Gertie slept fitfully. She woke up several times crying out, but it was in a sleepy state, and she'd roll over and fall right back to sleep.

By morning she said she had no pain, although she was still a little irritable and clingy, so I think she had some, but not too bad. At one point the doctor told her that she wanted to look in her throat, but she needed to go get the light first. She left the room and Gertie said, "Mom, I don't want to do it, but I have to, right?" She is getting an early understanding of how doctors get their cooperation reluctantly. They said she was doing great and we went home around 9:30 a.m., I think.

Well, I hope this wasn't too dull. I wanted to remember this as it went down. Thanks for all your prayers. Thanks to my Lord, my faithful Lord.