Lucky

Grace was admitted at 8:30 on Thursday morning.  By 10:30 they were wheeling her back into the holding area.  Up until this point she had done really well.  As soon as Dr. Fraulin appeared she panicked.  I held her against me as he drew on her back.  Unable to relax, the staff said I could "suit up" and carry her back into the OR.  She was struggling to not let go of me, and I did my best to place her on the bed.  The anaesthesiologist held her face to put on the mask for the sleep medicine.  I held her hands, stayed as close as I could to her face, and sang her our song.  Tears slipped from her eyes, and soon started slipping from mine.  The surgeon reminded me I couldn't cry.  I kept it together until they told me she was asleep.  A nurse escorted me out, telling me I had done really well.  As soon as I saw my Dad outside the waiting area I broke down and let all the emotion out.  Then again when I saw my girlfriend Erin.

Grace's surgery was 75 minutes, and she was in recovery for just over half an hour.  When they paged us, we went back to her room.  The best sight to see was seeing her again.  Awake, and almost finished a  blue pedialyte popsicle.

We were discharged by 2 pm.  Grace was an amazing trooper.  She never once complained before the surgery that she was hungry or thirsty.  She only moaned a little afterwards, disgruntled with the IV in her arm.  She only cried softly when she said her compression bandage wrapped around her chest was tight.  As I type this she is sitting in the kitchen, playing quietly on the Ipad.  They say kids are resillient, and it's true.  It's amazing how quickly she has bounced back.

I'm feeling really lucky.  Lucky that:

1. The hemangioma was just under her skin, not in her muscle.
2. That we have such amazing health care in this country.
3. For the skilled hands of her surgeon and the caring staff at the hospital.
4. For the friends and family that have gathered around us.
5. And for you all out there in the blogosphere who have never met our sweet Grace, but still upheld her in your thoughts and prayers.  We live in a pretty awesome connected world.

She is still on Tylenol every 6 hours, and will wear the compression bandage until we see Dr. Fraulin again next week.  Today I am feeling like we are all more settled.  Less emotion in our home, and less stress. 

We are getting back to normal, and normal is good :)