I know many of you followed along on Facebook but I realize some of my posts may have shown up on your page in an irregular order leading to a bit of confusion. I figured now that we are out of the hospital I can maybe give you a clearer view of what transpired.
We went in on Tuesday for surgery. After x rays our plastic surgeon suggested that he separate the middle two fingers instead of the outside two. Taking into consideration that Maggie had battled a cold recently and the adverse effects of anesthesia on young kids, he opted for the quicker surgery.
Maggie fell asleep and we handed her off to the staff and away she went. I thought it would be easier, but it wasn’t. An hour into surgery the ENT came out and explained that Maggie had two middle ear infections. The ENT explained that she was basically hearing through water. She was able to clean out her ears and put in tubes and gave Maggie the ability to hear well again.
I had had a feeling this was an issue. Maggie would rarely startle with a loud noise or turn completely around to look at you if you called her name. I had the kids do little tests every once and awhile to see if there were any changes and there was never any consistent sign that she could hear well. Well, today I told Kiko to clap his hands and she immediately turned. Kiko’s face lit up, he was utterly amazed. Thank you Lord.
Getting back to the surgery, everything else went as planned. She came out of anesthesia well but her oxygen levels were a bit low so they admitted us for the evening to observe her. I felt peace knowing we were there “just in case” but didn’t expect anything to happen. Well… we settled into the room and I noticed one of her casts had blood on it. I was told that this could happen but it struck me that it seemed like a lot of blood only on one hand. We watched the bandage turn more red and spoke to the resident who assured us that this was in the parameters of normal and that it would stop shortly. And it did.
The following morning our plastic surgeon told us that he couldn’t stop thinking about Maggie and out of caution wanted to change her dressing. This was the pivotal moment folks. All of you who prayed for him… if he didn’t listen to his “gut” we wouldn’t have caught the underlying issue.
He undid the bandage and I was able to see her hand and I was awestruck. I was also a little queasy. After he changed the dressing he left and that was that until 5 minutes later when I saw more bleeding through the bandage. The nurse paged him and that’s when he decided that he had to get a good look at her hand in the operating room to figure out why it was bleeding again.
I look back at all the months of research and how we had made deliberate decisions. I look at all the preparations that were made for each surgery and how long we waited for everyone to be there and ready. This was nothing like that.
Carlos and I immediately said, “Yes” and within the hour Maggie was in surgery. Our plastic surgeon discovered that swelling had disturbed two stitches. (I hope you appreciate that I am trying to leave out gory details.) In his almost 30 year practice this is the only time this has ever happened.
::cue Maggie taking a bow::
This time around Maggie didn’t come out of anesthesia well, they gave her medicine to open her lungs which then increased her heart rate. With Maggie’s unexpected surgical needs and respiratory issues we landed another stay in the hospital. She ended up doing super well and by the next morning we all had the peace of mind that issues were resolved and our focus was healing.
So there it is, a play by play. I hope that despite my half functioning brain, you can see God’s hand in Maggie’s story from beginning to the end, in all the details.
Two for Joy 