Surgery Complete

We are home after a very long day yesterday at the hospital. And seemed for the most part to be one confusing situation after another.

At our last plastic surgeon appointment we were told to call as soon as we woke up yesterday to let them know if she still had the infection. I called the office at 7 am and left them a message. I waited until just after nine and called them again as they had not called me back. The receptionist told me that I should have called before nine as the surgeon was now in the OR and could not be reached. I stated that I did call much earlier and left her a message, and she replied by saying she did not check her messages yet for the day. She then proceeded to tell me that she would try to leave him a message and get back to be around noon. As I had arranged for a babysitter to come for 10 am, I quickly called and asked her to come for noon instead.

At 11 am the surgeon's office called back with instructions for me to get to the hospital by noon as they would be fitting us in before 3 pm. I called the babysitter back and she graciously jumped in her car and came over. We arrived at the hospital right at noon, but when we arrived at the admitting desk they had no record that we were supposed to be there and would not admit us. They asked us to sit in the main lobby area while they tried to contact the surgeon (who was in the OR). After an hour of waiting I called the surgeon's office myself and they were shocked that we were not yet admitted and told me that they had faxed the request to the hospital earlier in the day. I relayed that info to the 'friendly' admitting staff and they again told me that they had no such request. After three calls on my cell phone to the surgeon's office a fax finally surfaced at the admitting desk but on it the surgeon's request that we be moved to wait in ambulatory care wing until this mess was resolved was misunderstood in that now they thought Miah was being admitted as an ambulatory care patient and not as a surgical patient. The reason for the request to move us to a different waiting area was that Miah was fasting and the main general lobby is home to a small cafe and everyone was coming to eat their lunch in the seats beside her. Needless to say we did not get permission to move and sat in the lobby for 3 hours!!! Not fun with a child who is tired and hungry and now really grouchy! There was a vending machine and she kept asking me if she could just go over to it and look at the food!

Finally at 3 pm there was a shift change at the admitting desk and the 'friendly' staff went home and a very nice young girl arrived asking why we were waiting. I tried to explain as best I could without bursting into tears and she states "I have your fax over here. It has been here for while now." So at that point she got us registered and sent us to the surgical waiting area.

Much better in this waiting room as there was a TV and no one is allowed to eat in this area. Again there was a little confusion as to who we were and why we were there. The nurse didn't know about putting emla cream on her hand for the IV and looked at me like I was speaking another language when I asked. She also did not give her Tylenol as in our other experiences, but I didn't even question that one. I changed Miah into her hospital jammies and we waited some more. Finally at 5:45 the anesthetist came in to get her. Of course the way the day was going, I was thinking our luck would be to get the only guy in town that does not let the parents escort their child in and guess what...we did! So, I had to explain to Miah that I could not come with her this time and she started crying, clinging to my leg. The surgeon arrived at that time to get me to sign some papers and I was able to convince her that she could walk in with him. She was OK with that....so off they went.

Surgery lasted 45 minutes and Dr. W was able to remove the nasty undissolved stitch that was giving her trouble, clean out the wound and stitch it back up again. He did say he left a bit of a hole so that this time it can drain if it needs to. I was sent to the pediatric ward to wait for her to be brought from recovery. When I arrived, I told them that my daughter was being sent up from the OR. Again I got blank stares and they said they had no idea that they were receiving a patient. OK, I should have seen that one coming. Miah was finally brought to me around 7:15 and we spent the next 2 hours eating ice cream and Popsicles...that's why you go to the hospital right?

She is doing well. She didn't sleep great last night, lots of bad dreams I think, but she doesn't seem to be in much pain. She ate a big breakfast and is currently enjoying snack two of the morning. I think she is making up for yesterday! Thank you all for your prayers! We're praying for no more infections!