I'm Not Dead Yet!

Yes, we're busy. As a friend said recently, "One is one; two is ten." Two full-time clergy parents, two kids, one an infant and one with special needs, and a substantial commute...makes for a busy family. Livin' the dream! And loving it! Just not writing about it.

 But - today Becca has the easiest surgery ever. Long story short, Becca has had fluid in her ears for a few months now, and last fall actually tested at the moderately-severe hearing impaired level because there was so much fluid, her eardrum couldn't move. We FINALLY got them fixed today. Love the doctor and hospital, hate the wait.

 Details - like I said, the easiest surgery ever. This is her third set of tubes, but the first that was placed without another surgery going on. (Set one was during her hernia repair and sedated ABR, set two also involved removing her adenoids.) Since it's such a simple procedure, she didn't even have to be intubated. She just had to breath the "special air" to make her go to sleep and woke up in recovery a few minutes later. I even convinced them to change out her Mic-Key button while she was still under. One stop shopping.

 You may remember that Becca usually experiences "emergence delirium" when she wakes up from general anesthesia, but, perhaps because they just used gas instead of IV anesthetics (like propyphol - remember that drug?), she woke up just like she normally does in the morning - slowly and groggily (just like her mama!). I FINALLY convinced the nurses and doctors to FORTHELOVEOFALLTHINGSGOODANDHOLY get me back to recovery before she woke up, and that seemed to help - I was the first one she saw when she woke up. I like to think that seeing my face before seeing a stranger (however nice the nurses are), a bunch of medical equipment around and an IV in her arm made her much more comfortable. She looked at me, sighed, and said, "Mama, I feel a widdle bit funny." We hung around for a while while she drank and ate a "widdle bit," and I pumped (pumping at Vandy Children's...that brought back memories!), and then headed out to Pancake Pantry. Easy peasy!

 And when I say, "we," I mean Becca, me and Auntie Ya, one of my bestest friends in the whole wide world and the one I can go for years without talking to (which we've done because we suck at long distance) and pick up right where we left off when we are together (which we've gotten to do because she moved back to Nashville! WOOOHOOO!). John stayed home with Baby James so we didn't have to lug him in there at the buttcrack of dawn and expose him to heaven knows what, so Auntie Ya met us in the holding area pre-op. She was, of course, SUPER helpful (the 2:1 adult:child ratio is MAGIC!) and was super impressed with how chill Becca was with the whole thing. Becca was joking with doctors, complaining that they toys they brought her didn't work, telling everyone about how they were going to "fix my ears 'cause dere's WATER in dem!" - she's so at home at the hospital, which is good and bad - today it was good. When they were wheeling her back to the OR, we heard her yelling at people, "Get outta da way! Watch out!" I'm tellin' you, she runs that place.

 Have I mentioned that Vanderbilt totally stole their current marketing campaign from Becca, who always says, "Dat's MY hospital!" whenever she sees the VCH logo? Today she proved it again! And even though it was a ginormous PITA to wait 2 months+ to get her ears fixed, it was great to do it there and know that she was in such good hands and in her familiar place. We even had some of the same nurses we've had with previous surgeries (yeah, we know the surgical staff - great, right? ;)) and one of them was just astounded at how well she is doing! Seeing medical folks' surprise at her...vivaciousness? is always a good reminder to me of how far she's come, even though it's easy to get frustrated with the ongoing therapies, special ed services, and (ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh) attempted feeding tube weaning. She really is an amazing kid!