Not Quite the Grand Canyon

In some respects, our 4:30 a.m. wake-up alarm came all too sudden because we had a restful and cough-free night's sleep from Willow (we thank God for that). On the other hand, it couldn't come quick enough because our spirits were anxious to get Willow's surgery "on the road" after our roller-coaster ride/on-and-off again false surgery starts given Willow's erratic health condition. After getting ourselves ready, we woke the girls up at about 5:15 and plopped their limp little bodies into their car seats in the dark of the morning. (Barret spent the night at a friend's house so that he could get a ride to school and not be disturbed by our early morning preparations.) We arrived at Children's Hospital right on time (6:00 a.m.) and everything seemed to click along like clock-work; check-in, routine questions, forms filled out, verified vital signs, changed into surgical clothing, etc... By the time she was finally wheeled into the preoperative room, Willow was already becoming groggy from the pre-medication and almost fell asleep in Victoria's arms. We met with several different nurses, all of whom were extremely friendly and helpful, the anesthesiologist (seen below), and her surgeons (one for her ears because tubes needed to be implanted, and the other for her cleft repair). Again, all were as equally kind and patient as the nurses. What a wonderful place for sick children, but just as wonderful for fearful parents entering into the unknown with their most precious gifts from God.

It was a sad and somewhat emotionally-restrained moment when Victoria and I watched the anesthesiologist take Willow into her arms and disappear around the corner, into the operating room. We waved good-bye, already starting to count the minutes until her estimated two and a half hour surgery would all-too-slowly come to an end. After killing time by eating a few "things" in the hospital cafeteria, our preassigned pager finally rang its unique tone three hours later. We grabbed our stuff and hurried to the post-operative room. They really didn't want Poppy in there, so Victoria went to see Willow first. I guess it was a bit shocking and moving for her to see her little Xuan Xuan lying there, all helpless with a swollen mouth and all. I finally worked my way in there to see her, sneaking Poppy in, and was thankful that it was over, knowing that the really hard part is yet to come. Dr. Cedars, the cleft palate surgeon, said that everything went swimmingly well given the large gorge in the roof of her mouth. While not quite the Grand Canyon, he said it was definitely one of the larger clefts he's seen and worked on, but then he was quick to say, "Not anymore!"

Willow's now in her room, with Victoria, receiving hourly doses of morphine to ease the pain. Much to our surprise, she's going to be in the hospital for four days and three nights (we originally thought two days and one night). Since she can't eat or drink anything for a couple of days, they'll need to keep her intravenously hydrated and fed, something we obviously cannot do at home.

Our whole family so appreciates your thoughtfulness with prayer, calls, notes, meals, etc... We have it so good.

Gratefully in Christ,

Tom (& Victoria)

PS:  More updates to come later.