We are home!!

Thank you everyone for your prayers for Claire's surgery. She did great, even with the 2 hour delay in her surgery time! That was definitely God taking away her hunger! She hadn't had anything to eat or drink since 9:00 the night before and not once did she ask for something to eat or drink. She did get on a gum kick where that is all she wanted was some gum. I couldn't blame her I'm sure her mouth was dry. The only time she really was upset is when we went into the pre-op holding area. I think she could just sense that something was going to happen. Plus everyone had scrubs on and I think that scared her. Soon after we got to pre-op they brought scrubs for me so I could go into the OR with her. As soon as I put the scrubs on she was a different child. She started laughing and jumping on the bed. I think she thought Ok, my mom is going with me so it will be ok. In the OR, I held her while they put the mask over her mouth and nose. She was asleep almost instantly! I couldn't believe it. They told me that most kids fight the mask. I was back in the pre-op area in less than a minute. Gary couldn't believe that she was asleep already! Her surgery lasted about 3 hours and it took her about an hour to wake up after the surgery. She was snoring when they brought us to her! She would occasionally open her eyes but she wasn't in any hurry to wake up! When she did finally wake up she just sat up and I asked her if she wanted a popsicle and that was it. She didn't fuss at all. She had 3 popsicles in the recovery room! We had precious friends from church that sat with us the entire time. They got there about 10:00 and didn't leave until Claire was in recovery. That was a blessing to us to have that support. We also had our sweet neighbor, Tina, meet our kids after school and bring them to the hospital. It is about a 30-40 minute drive so we appreciated her doing that for us. She also surprised us with balloons and a gift bag full of snacks waiting for us in Claire's hospital room. Thanks, Tina you are the best!

Claire did pretty good last night. There wasn't a whole lot of sleeping but she wasn't too fussy. She refused to sleep in the bed so we ended up sleeping together in the chair. She has to wear a protective pressure dressing over her ear and she didn't seem to mind it until about midnight. At that time, she was done and wanted it off. With the help of pain medicine and more popsicles she was back to sleep around 1:00. We had another round of wanting it off and more popsicle eating from 4:00 to 5:00. We got home around 11:30 and she is already asking to go outside and play basketball! However, we are trying to take a nap before the big kids get home from school! With that said, I need to wrap this up so I can sneak in a nap.

Thanks again for your prayers. We certainly could feel them!
Waiting with Mommy.


Waiting with Daddy.



While we were waiting they brought Claire a bear that had a cochlear implant on it's ear. She had fun playing with it and she kept trying to put it on her ear!



Claire was happy that her "adopted" grandparents were there. These are our friends from church.



Fun distractions while waiting for surgery.


Claire much happier seeing mommy in scrubs too!



Claire feeling safe in Mommy's arms.



Claire right after surgery.



I'm sure she would have woke up sooner if she knew popsicles were waiting!



Up in her room. She was interested in TV. She was watching Finding Nemo. The kids were happy to see her. Hunter kept asking "can I touch her?"


Middle of the night popsicles always bring a smile even if it is 4AM!

Claire enjoying her eggs for breakfast. One step closer to going home!


Claire fell asleep on the long ride home. She was ready to roll once the car stopped!




Update on Marcia. As of last night, she was still in ICU but was breathing on her own. She was supposed to have more tests run today. Her hemoglobin has dropped again. They are trying to figure out why. I'll try to update once we hear how today's tests went.