Since it was a holiday weekend, with July 4th being on Monday, we camped Friday and Saturday and left on Sunday. We were able to get Kaiden in KC on Sunday and attended the KC Riverfest on Monday, swam at the hotel, did a little bit of shopping, and simply spent some quality family time. The day of the surgery went very well overall, and the kids did fantastic!
We arrived early around 7:30am, as she was the second scheduled surgery of the day. She was slated for 8:45am, and of course had to have nothing to eat or drink. I was concerned about this because her typical routine is to wake up and have a bottle. She did fantastic though, and it's probably because she was in a new place, and was preoccupied with everyone and everything. We got checked in, and the nurses took her vitals, weight, and asked typical pre-op questions. We were then taken back to the pre-op area where the anesthetist and surgeon came to visit. Fredo was holding Elaina and she fell asleep in his arms before any of them came to see her. Dr. Goldstein marked her head, and she didn't even know it. After they both asked their questions and reassured us that everything was going to be fine, they left and we just had to wait until the nurse came to get us. It was all too real and scary at that point, and I of course began to cry. It is so difficult to let your baby go, and not be able to protect her from any harm. In fact, you doubt yourself and whether or not you are really doing the right thing for her. Afterall, I am the one who is supposed to make sure she is always safe and I remove harm from her path. For some reason, I have always felt very uneasy as the surgery day approached, but this time I was at ease. I don't know why really, but it just felt like it was going to be okay. The thought of leaving it and something worse happening later was frightful, and I knew she was old enough to be okay, and young enough not to remember.
When the nurse came, I was still crying, but Elaina was fast asleep in Fredo's arms. It was a blessing really because even as he passed her off to the nurse, she stayed asleep. Her wubanub monkey pacifier went with her as her favorite comforting friend. The nurse assured us once again that she would be in good hands and she would be with her the entire time. After she walked through the doors to surgery, Fredo and I collected ourselves outside of the waiting room before going in to our other kids. We needed to be strong for them, and it was important to us that they were all there for the surgery. They were all playing games, and it didn't seem to phase them. One asked me what was wrong, and I just said I was sad to have Elaina go into surgery, but that everything was going to go great.
They said it would take about an hour and half from the time she left our arms to the time we were reconnected with her. I told myself two hours just to be safe and not worry over something was was really okay. Dr. Goldstein came out just as expected and told us the surgery went great, and that from his expertise he is positive it was a dermoid cyst, but of course it would be sent off for pathology. He gave us the typical instructions and encouraged a follow-up appointment. He was kind and took the time to answer any questions we had. There was no stitches to be removed because they were dissolve-able , and no special instructions other than to apply triple antibiotic ointment once daily. 15 minutes later we were taken back to see her. She was just waking up but looked great. She still had her IV in, and was swaddled, but I swooped her up pretty quickly. I was sooooo happy and relieved to have my baby back and she was okay. We seriously were not in PAR for more than 10 minutes and the nurse gave us discharge instructions and sent us on our way. I was hesitant that they did not recover her for longer, but she didn't need it I guess. He gave us a prescription for pain medications, but said OTC would probably be sufficient. We never filled the meds, and alternated tylenol and ibuprofen and she did great. She slept a lot on the way home, but that was expected after anesthesia.
I stayed home with her the next day to snuggle her and make sure she was going to be okay. She did great! I'm very relieved that it is over, and I don't have to worry about it any more. There is no possibility that it would grow larger, or cause any problems because it's gone!
So, Elaina's surgery on July 5th, 2016, and we closed on our new home July 6th, 2016. CrAzY emotional week for the Cuevas Family!
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