The Surgery

Wednesday was the day of surgery to have her neck dissection done. It was originally scheduled for 12:30 in the afternoon, which I was pretty worried about. How do you tell a two year old they cannot eat for 12+ hours?! (no food after midnight). However, on Tuesday afternoon they called and said she would then be scheduled for 9:30 A.M. Whew! That we could handle. It takes about 1.5 hours from our house to get to the hospital, so we had to leave by 6:30 to get there by 8:00. We explained to Macyn what was going on, and she kept on saying, "Doctor take out my bump?" The morning after the surgery she exclaimed, "bump all gone!" :) Anyways, here is how the day went.

Macyn had to change out of her clothes and into her "ninja suit"

Macyn with Mommy before surgery

In the meantime, we talked to the anesthesiologist along with the doctor performing the surgery and various nurses. They told us she would be intubated, an IV started, and explained how long the procedure would be. They also had a child life specialist that came in an played with Macyn to make her feel comfortable. She had toys, bubbles, and pictures of what the operating room would look like, and showed her a breathing mask that was first tried onto a bear, and then her. She also showed the beds through pictures. I really think this put Macyn at ease, and not to be scared.

Looking at the different pictures of where she would be

Blowing bubbles and playing with a light up Minnie doll

Shorty after she was content, they brought in a wagon and wheeled her off to surgery. I think this was harder on me than it was on her. I couldn't stop the tears from flowing when they wheeled her off...that was by far the hardest part.

Macyn being wheeled off to surgery. You can see the mass that is going to be removed on her neck.

They took her away from me at 9:30. They started the procedure at 10:02, and it was finished around 11:15. The doctor then came in and spoke with us explaining they removed the mass, along with 5-10 other surround lymph nodes that could have possibly been infected as well. They cut the mass in half and sent part to pathology, and the other half to cultures to get tested. We have an appointment Thursday to get the final results of the mass on her neck. He also said she has a 2"-3" incision on her neck. They also explained that she was waking up from the anesthesia, and we could see her as soon as she's awake. We finally got to see her at 11:45. Seriously, one of the longest 2+ hours of my life!

Macyn and Mommy in the recovery room

After she woke up a little bit, and her pain was being handled, we were brought to our room at the Castle. She pretty much slept and cried the entire day. A couple of times she would sit up and attempt to play with some toys, but she was zoned out most the time.

She wouldn't eat or drink anything, and we were worried we wouldn't be dismissed the following day. She had an IV pumping her with fluids, but she still needed to start having wet diapers and getting nourishment. Well, she started once we tried putting her at 8:30. It seemed she was going to sleep, until she suddenly started asking questions and talking and smiling! We did get her to eat some pudding about 9:30 PM.

First smile after surgery - complete with chocolate pudding!

The night was pretty rough. She was up from 1:00am to 3:00am, and woke up again at 5:30 am. Through the night she was crabby, but in the morning she really started to perk up, and had a few more bites of pudding, and 1 bite of a muffin.

Starting to feel better!

I am happy she was feeling well, I decided we would only give her tylenol to help subdue the pain, and it seemed to be working. To be honest, I didn't think we would be dismissed with how much pain she had the previous day and night before. Its amazing what 24 hours does. We then met with the doctor, gave us instructions, and dismissed us. He also removed the dressing and a drainage band around her incision. I think Macyn was pretty happy to go home - and that she could finally sit on, "Mommy's hopsital bed."

Ready to go home!

She is doing well at home, sometimes acting like a normal 2 year old and other times more tired and a little out of it. We are thankful this recovery has been good so far, and extremely thankful for all the thoughts and prayers. We are still praying they got the entire infection and we will be completely out of the woods soon!