From surgery to PICU

After a sleepless night* at home, we headed off to the hospital without a hitch.

*Grace sleepwalked as expected due to her anxiety. Patrick’s Monday PT appointment from his recent surgery left him in too much pain to sleep comfortably. I was feeling under the weather and distracted by Patrick’s inability to sleep.

Grace did great during pre-op thanks to Despicable Me 2 (and the minions) and a great medical team. Every person we’ve interacted with here has been knowledgeable, compassionate, and accommodating.

view from the family lounge

Her surgery went right as scheduled time-wise. The surgeon did find and patch an additional hole in her heart. This was surprising since the anesthesia team said her heart murmur was so faint, most physicians wouldn’t have caught it. We spent the time having coffee with a friend who works on campus and trying to rest. Keyword: trying.

To whoever designed the family lounge, the it’s great to look at. Crappy to actually use. Hospitals should totally let families choose the furniture when they design these places.

By lunch time we were all settled in the PICU. The next few hours were long. Grace was extremely groggy but every time she seemed conscious, she cried about her pain level. They maxed her out on meds which made her too sleepy and her breathing would slow. On top of all that, Patrick and I were exhausted and feeling yucky.

We had a mostly uneventful night and all woke in much better shape this morning. The accommodations weren’t too shabby for a PICU rom. As I type, we’re packing up to move out to a regular peds floor.