Finally arrived. Ella and I presented ourselves at the John James Day Surgery unit mid morning. Pre admission was quick. The nurse was lovely chatting away while extracting and recording the necessary medical information. We learnt of her terrifying experience of living through the Nepalese earthquake in 2015. Ella changed into her hospital attire and then we sat and waited passing time by watching a movie and reading a book.
Sometime later, we were ushered through to the theatre holding bay where Ella climbed onto a bed and was offered the first of many warmed blankets! Here we meet another fantastic nurse - the anaesthetist assistant. She asked Ella if she had any jewellery on, ears pierced or any other piercing Mum doesn't know about?! Ella looked at me quizzically before the nurse (who had multiple facial piercing and tattoos) continued on about a story of how she got her 2nd piercing in her ears without her mums knowledge and was subsequently grounded for weeks plus she had to let the holes close up!! Again we waited for the theatre to be ready so Ella' continued watching her movie.
Ella was then wheeled into the theatre room bay. Again more waiting but we had the anaesthetist and the surgeon pop in to say hello and provide some reassurance. Finally it was time and Ella walked into the theatre. Once on the table, Ella chose to be put to sleep with the mask (rather than a cannula) while holding my hand. Four breaths later she was gone! I left the theatre for the anxious wait! Thankfully I joined Jase for his lunchtime coffee before heading down to work to pass some more time and then returned to the family waiting area to continue reading my book.
Eventually a nurse appeared just before 3pm to say Ella had been out of surgery for half an hour and was still trying to wake up! I came into recovery to see a very dopey Ella - her eyes half open, arm extended telling me how much she loved me :) She began wiggling around trying to move her foot which unknown to her was in a boot causing herself a bit of pain in the process. They gave her more pain relief which helped.
From here Ella was wheeled into the day surgery recovery area and took another 40mins or so to fully wake up. Eventually she gobbled down some food and was looking much more perky! Soon she got dressed - although we had to cut her long pants at the ankle to get over the boot she was wearing! We were all ready for discharge. Hopping on her crutches about 20m to the upright comfy chairs Ella was overcome by nausea and the colour drained from her face. She managed not to vomit and struggled through with the discharge procedure.
It was close to 6pm as I drove the car as close as I could to the day surgery door and Ella once again struggled on her crutches. The exertion was obvious and she pretty much passed out on the drive home where she went straight to bed and slept for another hour or so.
As for her recovery - Ella bounced back very quickly. We initially thought she would have the remainder of the week off from school but she was very keen to return on Thursday (with some nurofen of course). Her post op follow up is in 2 weeks time so we shall learn more of the recovery pathway then.
