One Week Post Op

So we went today to GR to get the stitches out - everything looks good.  I gave her a bath tonite and washed her hair:)  And afterwards it really don't look too bad - I don't think we will have to cut it quite yet.  Pony tails might look funny right now so we can wait a bit longer on those.  Its not like she cares either way.  Here is some pics of her after the bath tonite!  Also I discovered that she has a new tooth coming in on the upper right!!  3 more weeks till activation...yeah :)

Surgery Pics

 Wanted to share some pics  - of her surgery.  She has been amazing thru the whole thing.  yesterday and today you would never know the girl had surgery  - she is her normal self :)

Waiting for Surgery, Watching Shrek with Daddy

Big Girl still waiting....

Next day - waking up - still not feeling so good :(

On the Way Home - Sleepy Girl

Still Smiling :)

Left Side

Right Side

Not as bad as I was thinking - still not sure what we will do with her hair :)  I get to wash it thursday after we get the stitches out - and then we will see. 

Much Better

So we took off her head dressing last night - she was not too thrilled about the whole process - but once it was off - she was a much happier Mallie.  I was actually surprised at what it looked like - I am going to try and post pics later.  It really don't look that bad - and I think her shaved hair might be covered up once I can wash and brush it out.  We can't get the incisions wet until the stitches come out - which is thursday.  Poor girl has the worst hair ever right now and I want to wash it in the worst way.  I know she can care less - its more me:)  For now we are tying it back as much as we can in a pony.  Today she is even more herself and hopefully we can keep her from messing with the incisions too much!

The surgery update....the long version :)

Well I am gonna start with the surgeon post op consult and work our way forward.  So after almost 6 hours of surgery - Mallie came thru very well.  The surgeon said she did great!  Her left ear was done first and he says the first ear always takes longer.  They do some testing on the ears with the divice hooked up that can give indication of how good they will work.  Its preliminary and not 100 accurate so only time is going to tell us how Mallie will do with them.  But this is what he said - she responded on both ears - but it was not normal.  Ha!!!  Whats normal anyways and this is our little Mallie.  She always likes to keep us guessing!!  He said based of the initial testing that possibly she might not be able to detect lower pitches.  But also saying that if there was an air bubble or something in there it can effect the testing and all that can change when get them activated.  So the fact that she was responding to the testing is AWESOME!!!  The surgeon was very pleased and also encouraged with the results.  Steve asked him how her haircut was and Dr Daniels said.  "Symetrical".  with a smirk.  The poor girl - I can only imagine how her hair looks.  Guessing she has a rocked out version of an 80's mullet since she kinda had that going in the first place.  Now she will have shaved sides to boot.  We got to go back to see her around 7pm in recovery. She has a bandage on that looks alot like an old style football helmit.  Its gauze underneith and the outside is a thick foam tape.  She is really puffy from the IV fluids so she looks pitafull.  Still cute as hell..... They said she came to really quickly from such a long surgery.  She was still pretty out of it and they were working on getting us a room upstairs - so the recovery nurse convinced us to go get dinner.  When we got back Mallie was more awake and it was time to head upstairs.  Worked out good.  The new hospital is really nice.  Everything is really clean and kid friendly.  It was nice to be in the waiting area and not have a million people hanging around.  Everyone there had kids in procedures and there was never more than 15 people waiting at a time.  The TV's in all the rooms - have movies on demand - which is nice.  All kinds of movies too - not just little kids :)  So we went up to the 9th floor to get settled in and our room was HUGE.  It has huge windows the length of the rooms that at night shades can be drawn down electronically.   MAkes the rooms really bright during the day!  Our room had a couch that pulled out to a double bed plus a comfy recliner.  The cribs are much nicer too - they don't look like jail cells but more like cribs.  Of course everything is bright and new so - I have to say it was great to be in the hospital.  The first night Mallie did really good - she was pretty sedated but cranky at times.  We were able to start feeding her some apple juice mixed with water once we got up there and she kept that down.  So at 11 she ate a two ounce bottle of her formula.  I fed her a couple times during the night too and  she was doing fine with that.  around 6 am she woke up really crying - she seemed uncomfortable - so we decided to give her some morphine than at the next med dose we could give her the Lortab (its vicodin &tylenol)  for kids.  She took her first dose of that and had no issues with getting sick. Encouraging cause they were sending us home with that.  We left the hospital at noon after she ate.  She fell asleep instantly ans slept until Whitehall.    The in and out the rest of the way home.  She played for a bit when we got home.  I gave her some pain meds and fed her - then she took another 2 hour nap.  When she woke up - it was time to take her antibiotic - I gave her some yogurt with the dose.  She was getting more crabby and just wanted to lay on the floor.  After about an hour - she got sick :(  For the next two hours she was still throwing up :(  That can happen from the antibiotic that she is on.  I was worried because of her sugar - I tried to test her sugar a few times and the meter kept reading an error.  Saying the strip or the meter was not working.  What a genius of technology I have.....Steve went to town to get some gel icing and a few other things we were going to need.  I called and had her surgeon paged.  He called back in 15 minutes (thats awesome).  He was going to call her in another script for the morning.  WE just had to get her tummy feeling better so I could feed her.  It was about 11pm when I finally was able to give her a little something and she had not thrown up since 8pm.  Since the glucose monitor was not working - I had Steve get new batteries too. Those did not work either.  I can't believe that thing does not work anymore - its only been used like 20 times.  I gave her some gel when Steve got home plus giving her gatorade/water mixed every 10 minutes.  I fed her every few hours last night along with her tylenol dose.  She is much better this morning!!  She is sitting and eating her puffs and now playing on the floor. She is even rolling around :)  The helmit thing is heavy so I am amazed she is holding her head up and moving like she is.  She is stronger than she even knows :) Tonite we get to take her helmit off.......I am nervous of how she will look under that thing.  Plus once its off her stitches are no longer protected.  I will update on how that goes.  For now I am looking forward to napping later today :)  Love to all!!!

late update

Well Mallie Came thru the surgery fine (about 6pm) and she just had her first bottle of real formula.   Its almost 11pm.....   We will stay tonite and then be discharged in the morning.  I am so tired that is all I am going to write for now.  Thanks everyone for all your thoughts and prayers today.  I will give a full update tomorrow when I can - Goodnight all - lots of Love!

One down

About 20 minutes ago they finished her left ear......for some reason the doctor thinks the right ear will be quicker....will see.   - so we keep waiting.  Steve says his butt hurts :)  I am so tired but you can't really sleep on the furniture in the wating area.....its not the most comfortable stuff.  We will be staying the night and heard the rooms upstairs are really nice.  Mallie is still doing good but its gonna be awhile longer yet.  Be back later with more updates.

surgery update

The nurse just came back and said Mallie is doing fine.  The did check her left ear and it was clear so we will be getting both done today!!!!  Still have a long wait ahead of us.....it can't go fast enough.  Her sugar was a bit low so they started some stuff thru her IV.  I knew that would be an issue as she is used to eating every 3 hours with snacks in between.  She sleeps all night but thats the longest she goes.  8-9 hours.  In another couple hours they will come and update us again.  So far so good :) 

Surgery DAY!

Top of the afternoon to everyone - we just got settled in the waiting area.  The surgeon was running an hour behind this morning so she didn't go back until 11:30 instead of 10:30.  We went and grabbed some lunch then wandered thru the gift shop.  The plan for the surgeon is to do the Right ear first then check the left for fluid.  If there is fluid in there they will put a tube in and she will be done for the day.  If no fluid he will proceed with the left ear.  The new Childrens hospital is really nice, bright and alot more quiet.  Lots of cool things for older kids to enjoy.  Both Steve and I are nervous as hell - but we know this is going to be great.  When they came to get her  - I wanted to grab her and run out the door.  She did'nt even cry when the lady picked her up to take her.  I think she was so tired and hungry that she was like Whatever at that point.  I have lots of emotions running thru me right now.  I want to cry but I can't, I am nervous for the surgery and anxious for it to be done.  More anxious for the activation in a few weeks to see if these things work.  I know we have made the right choice for this to be done, but somehow while we were waiting this morning I was questioning what the hell have we gotten ourselves into.  I hope we are doing the right thing.  I hope this will be worth it.  I will  update more a little later when we know.  They are supposed to let us know when they are done with the first implant.  Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers this morning, keep em coming!!!!  Love to all - Steph & Steve

Pre Op Appt

Yesterday we met with the surgeon and basically its a go - one thing could throw a wrench in this and that is her left ear.  The tube she had placed is now out and if she ends up with fluid in that ear, they can't put the implant in.  She was clear yesterday so we only have to make it another 6 DAYS!!!!  Ugh - please go our way.....we don't want to put her thru two surgeries.....  if the fluid shows up - they can still do the implant in the right but would have to do new tube in the left.  Then we would have to go back for second surgery for the other ear later.  Or we can just do the tube and schedule the implants later.  So countdown - 5 more days and Mallie will be free and clear to get this done :)

HOLY COW

So as most of you know Mallie's surgery for the cochlear implants was set for May 19th of this year.  We were hoping the surgery would happen sooner so we can get a move on with it.  But it was set for May and I was ok with that.  A couple months out to mentally prepare....OK well yeah right....the Dr. Called yesterday and they had a cancellation and its now NEXT WEEK!!!!  March 17th!!!  I can't believe it!  I am so excited , scared, nervous, emotional, you name it.  I just can't wait for it to be done and we activate them on April 14th.  This could change Mallie's life forever and I just can't wait to see how.  So since it was moved up with like a weeks notice we had to see Dr Leikert today for Surgical clearance - then tomorrow we head to GR to meet with the surgeon again.  I have so many questions.......And if he makes one comment questioning her intelligence I will go postal on him....well maybe just a little bit - after all he will be operating on our baby...I should be nice and politely correct him.  Right???  I suppose :)  Don't know what time the surgery is yet and from everything I read each ear could take 1 to 3 hours  - with potentially a 5 hour surgery ahead of us.  UGH!!!!  I hope its not that long - I pray its not that long.  Then if all goes as planned we should be home the same day.  Then in less than a month we turn them on - Then Watch out world - Mallie will have a lot to say!!!!!!!  Wish us luck and I will for sure be updating on the blog of our next week's events.

Still trying to get Mallie to drink  from a sippee.....I am unsuccessful!!  Ask Steve though I am relentless.  Mallie always wins!  Just got another one today to try.....I swear she laughs at me because she knows how much I want  her to do it.  My biggest thing is I want her to drink things other than formula so she can keep up her hydration, especially since we are incorporating more food.  I would add a third meal and go down to 3 bottles but she won't drink anything else :(  She is still doing great with sitting up and she can sit on her own for a long time with minimal support!!!  She weighed 12lbs 10 ounces today.  I don't remember the last time we had a weight check but it seems like it may have been a month and she has only gained a couple ounces but SHE Gained :)  So thats all that matters.