That time again
Monday morning - kids fighting, breakfast being eaten by 1 out of 3 kids, packed lunch creation... still in progress, shopping list being devised, shoes needing to be located, radio blaring and then the phone rings. Who can that be?
"Hello Mrs Simcott, Sally would like to operate on Phoebe this coming Wednesday. Can you come in at 1pm today for her pre-op assessment?" Boy did that stop me in my tracks.
We decided not to tell Phoebe until the morning of the planned surgery. Having no real concept of time it seemed pointless to tell her any sooner. Plus it has been 6 months since her last surgery and I was not too sure how much Phoebe could remember of past surgeries anyway. As Seal put her in the car at 7.15am (still in her PJ's) she said "Daddy,where we going?' Seal told her where and that there would be toys. She seemed very happy with the explanation. If Phoebe has any negative memory of her times in hospital it was not in evidence on Wednesday. At 2.75years old Phoebe handled it all beautifully. She went into the operating theatre with Seal (we even got a chuckle out of her about Daddy's silly surgical outfit), she breathed the strawberry gas, she went to sleep. Phoebe woke up 3.5 hours later with upper and lower skin grafts to both eyes, some z-plasty, some scar revision (where it had healed very thickly), new nostrils, and two satelites (one on her hand and one on her leg) removed and resculptured eye brows. Not bad going. The anaesthetist gives magic drugs which make Phoebe's 'resurfacing' very slow and for the next 6-7 hours she was groggy and slept on and off while wrapped in our arms. As we have been such 'regulars' to the hsopital we were permitted to take Phoebe home that night. She slept thanks to Paracetomol and Coedine but it was fitful, but better than any hospital sleep - so we were pleased about that. Thurday morning Phoebe woke up and realised she was temporarily blind - scary. She sat on my knee all day and kept reaching up to make sure it was indeed Mummy's knee she was on. A tiny gap appeared in her in her right eye which enabled Phoebe to see a bit of her world by lunchtime. The next day (Friday) was much the same Phoebe was very tearful and if we missed the next paracetomol dossage it was obvious she was in pain. Luckily she did not want to do much than sit on my knee, with such limited vision just walking to the kitchen is fraught with danger.
Saturday has been 'interesting'. I took Phoebe back to hospital to get her right eye lid checked out. The graft looks very black to me, but I have been assured there is signs of 'pinkness' and so will have to wait until Tuesday when the dressings come off and can assess things further. Phoebe has her whole forehead in bandages. She believes it is the banadges which are preventing her from seeing. She has been briliant at not touching her face. Seal told her after surgery not to touch and she solemly replied "I won't Daddy. I promise" Heart breaking in itself. Anyway, today Phoebe has even more vision in her right eye and there are signs of reduced swelling in the left eye too. Phoebe was nearly back to her normal self but her limited vision is getting even more dangerous as she tries to walk down the decking steps or negociate the patio with all it's bikes, scooters, cars and discarded rackets. Phoebe hardly gets into any scrapes she is a careful girl and heeds warnings too, but she has had more bangs to the head in the last 3 days than in her whole life time, or so it feels. These have not all been due to her vision impairment. I was wrapping a blanket round her legs to take Phoebe for a walk when my hand banged into her face and my heart sank, followed by some serious tears from Phoebe. Anyway tomorrow is one more day further from surgery and hopefully we will have two seeing eyes and and even happier little Phee.bee.dee.bee.
"Hello Mrs Simcott, Sally would like to operate on Phoebe this coming Wednesday. Can you come in at 1pm today for her pre-op assessment?" Boy did that stop me in my tracks.
We decided not to tell Phoebe until the morning of the planned surgery. Having no real concept of time it seemed pointless to tell her any sooner. Plus it has been 6 months since her last surgery and I was not too sure how much Phoebe could remember of past surgeries anyway. As Seal put her in the car at 7.15am (still in her PJ's) she said "Daddy,where we going?' Seal told her where and that there would be toys. She seemed very happy with the explanation. If Phoebe has any negative memory of her times in hospital it was not in evidence on Wednesday. At 2.75years old Phoebe handled it all beautifully. She went into the operating theatre with Seal (we even got a chuckle out of her about Daddy's silly surgical outfit), she breathed the strawberry gas, she went to sleep. Phoebe woke up 3.5 hours later with upper and lower skin grafts to both eyes, some z-plasty, some scar revision (where it had healed very thickly), new nostrils, and two satelites (one on her hand and one on her leg) removed and resculptured eye brows. Not bad going. The anaesthetist gives magic drugs which make Phoebe's 'resurfacing' very slow and for the next 6-7 hours she was groggy and slept on and off while wrapped in our arms. As we have been such 'regulars' to the hsopital we were permitted to take Phoebe home that night. She slept thanks to Paracetomol and Coedine but it was fitful, but better than any hospital sleep - so we were pleased about that. Thurday morning Phoebe woke up and realised she was temporarily blind - scary. She sat on my knee all day and kept reaching up to make sure it was indeed Mummy's knee she was on. A tiny gap appeared in her in her right eye which enabled Phoebe to see a bit of her world by lunchtime. The next day (Friday) was much the same Phoebe was very tearful and if we missed the next paracetomol dossage it was obvious she was in pain. Luckily she did not want to do much than sit on my knee, with such limited vision just walking to the kitchen is fraught with danger.
Saturday has been 'interesting'. I took Phoebe back to hospital to get her right eye lid checked out. The graft looks very black to me, but I have been assured there is signs of 'pinkness' and so will have to wait until Tuesday when the dressings come off and can assess things further. Phoebe has her whole forehead in bandages. She believes it is the banadges which are preventing her from seeing. She has been briliant at not touching her face. Seal told her after surgery not to touch and she solemly replied "I won't Daddy. I promise" Heart breaking in itself. Anyway, today Phoebe has even more vision in her right eye and there are signs of reduced swelling in the left eye too. Phoebe was nearly back to her normal self but her limited vision is getting even more dangerous as she tries to walk down the decking steps or negociate the patio with all it's bikes, scooters, cars and discarded rackets. Phoebe hardly gets into any scrapes she is a careful girl and heeds warnings too, but she has had more bangs to the head in the last 3 days than in her whole life time, or so it feels. These have not all been due to her vision impairment. I was wrapping a blanket round her legs to take Phoebe for a walk when my hand banged into her face and my heart sank, followed by some serious tears from Phoebe. Anyway tomorrow is one more day further from surgery and hopefully we will have two seeing eyes and and even happier little Phee.bee.dee.bee.
posted by Laura @ 1:56 AM
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