I am attempting to write this post from the recovery room at the hospital. I think I have a WiFi connection.
Pillows of Hope has been a success!!! Today we brought 70 pillow pets to the Childrens hospital and the response was wonderful! 50 went upstairs to the kids who have been admitted and staying here while they fight their illnesses and recover from surgeries. The other 20 we brought with us into the surgical unit and passed a few of them out to kids who were having surgery today. Emily gave out the first one, a puppy, to a 4 week old little boy who was having hernia surgery. While he might not be old enough to fully appreciate what we were doing, his mom and dad were comforted buy our gift and our experience with Emily's previous surgeries. It was so nice to be able to help someone who had never experienced what we have come to feel is our normal...a day in the surgical wing with your child.
Emily went into surgery today at about 2:30, Jason went in with her to the OR. She is old enough now to understand what being here at the hospital means and when she was brought into the OR she covered her mouth...she knew the anesthesia mask was coming. "I don't want anything on my mouth" she said. I'm glad Jason was there, that would have broken my heart. This was Surgery #19 for our sweet little girl. She's a pro at this, but that doesn't mean its fun or not scary.
While she was in surgery we gave another pillow pet to a little boy and his face lit up like a christmas tree! His mom was in tears and I tried to comfort her telling her a little about Emily. This was her sons first surgery and she was scared. I'm not sure what he was here for, but I hope I was able to give him and his parents a little comfort and Hope that everything was going to be ok.
Emmy is now in recovery sleeping off the anesthesia, lying on daddy's lap. Dr. Zaidman said it was difficult but he was able to remove about 70% of the calcium scar. I haven't been able to see what her eye looks like yet,but she is wearing a "bandaid contact lens" while it heals. In other good news, her corneas look great and her eye pressure is normal! We are hoping for a complication free recovery which would mean the calcium doesn't come back and this procedure doesn't trigger any problems with her cornea.
Thank you to everyone who has kept Emily in their thoughts today and who have so generously helped us make Pillows of Hope a success!
More updates and pictures will be posted soon!
