The day starts with the surgery being moved from 9 to 12. This isn't a problem except Bella didn't eat on Tuesday because of her bone marrow test and she can eat today till after her surgery. This is extremely difficult. Everything she sees she wants to eat. It very hard to say no to water and food. So we try to entertain her by playing, seeing the trains and doing whatever works. One of the things that we find entertains her is letting her paint everyone's nails. The only nail polish we have is red so by the time she has finished with us, we all look like we are bleeding. Finally at 10:30 they come to take her to surgery. She must first go to pre-op so that they can check her vitals and we can sign the consent forms. She has been awake since 4 so she falls asleep for a bit in the room. All the doctors come in to talk to us. Just to again go over the plan. She has to have another platelet transfusion even though her numbers are good they are not good enough for surgery. This is done while we wait. Finally it's time to take her back. No one is allowed to go back with her. This is hard cuz she is just so young and does not understand what is going on. Luckily they have people on staff called child life specialists that are there for the kids. They try to make it fun for her as they set out to go look for more stickers. The surgery itself takes about 1.5 hours and then she must recover in the post op for at least 30 mins. So we head to the cafeteria to try and eat a bit while we are waiting. We head to the waiting room around 12:45. We know the doctors will be coming out to talk to us as soon as they have finished. First the port surgeon comes out. She did great. The port has been placed with no complications. She is still in surgery receiving her first round of chemo and getting the LP- lumbar puncture. A while later the other doctor joins us. All has gone well. We hope to have results back on her LP later this evening. He will come talk with us later when he gets them. A short while later they take us in to see her. She is already awake and very disoriented. Crying and screaming for us. She is flushed and very sweaty. I go straight to her and love on her. Then daddy gets a turn. They bring in a rocking chair that we are able to use and she immediately falls asleep in his arms. This is probably the most difficult thing I have done yet. I want to be the one to comfort her and hold her. She looks so sad but I know that Leo also needs to hold her and be able to comfort her. They come in to do the X-ray to confirm the port is placed correctly and no issues have arisen. She immediately falls back asleep. Her pulse and heart rate are high so we must stay a while longer in recovery. When its time, we take her upstairs in the bed and surprisingly she sleeps through it. She wakes around 4 famished. She eats everything in site and we are glad. Then then give her 2 rounds of chemo. One through her iv and the other is oral. We are just glad that things have gone well and we have finally started the long road to recovery. Side effects at this point are minimal so we settle in for the evening praying yet again for some rest.
"He gives power to the weak
and strength to the powerless.
Even youths will become weak and tired,
and young men will fall in exhaustion.
But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint."~Isaiah 40:29-31
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