As a bit of background information- Tori was born with an umbilical hernia. Basically, she had a hole in the lining of her stomach that let her intestines poke out a bit. This is what it looked like when she was about 2 months old.
The crazy thing is, it has never bothered her. And as she has gotten older and more active, it has shrunk considerably. This is what it has looked like for the past year or so.
But, even though it has looked much better, she has still had a hole about the size of a finger tip. For now, it really isn't a problem, but as she gets older it could end up causing some major issues. So, while we we nervous about proceeding, we felt like it would be a good time to get her hernia all fixed up. Her surgery was set for today!
Our morning started extremely early- we had to be at Riley Hospital for Children (where I use to work and the best children's hospital ever!) by 5:45 am. Once there we got Tori all checked in. Some of the first things they did were weigh her and take her blood pressure- she seemed a bit nervous!
But once they let her put on her "orange pajamas" she was all smiles!
Daddy and Garrett hung out in the hall a bit to pass the time. I love that they are both making the same face!!!
Maggie (the Child Life Specialist) came in to visit with Tori and let her decorate her anesthesia mask with stickers. Tori also got to put some bubble gum chap stick inside to help the funny air smell better. Then they practiced taking good deep breaths! Maggie was so awesome with Tori!!!
While we were waiting to meet all of her surgical/anesthesia team- Tori had a grand time playing!
This is Tori with her nurse Ray. Holy cow-he was so amazing and wonderful with Tori! It started when he let her play with his phone. We chatted with Ray for a few minutes while he got to know Tori, then we kissed her goodbye, and the two of them went off down the hall like the oldest of friends!
Tori's surgery went great! Dr. Billmire (her surgeon) was done and back up to talk with us a little over an hour after the surgery started. Tori was ready for Daddy about 20 minutes later, and Garrett and I joined them about 15 minutes after that- all of this went much quicker than anticipated. Here is Tori shortly after waking up with her new cup and puppy pillow!
The nurses watched Tori for a bit to make sure she was doing okay after the anesthesia. The only issue that popped up was a little bit of leakage from her surgery site- which they assured us is pretty normal. Tori was a little sad that she couldn't take her orange pajamas home. But she did get to take her cup, pillow, some fun farm animal toys, and a whole stack of stickers! After a final goodbye from Ray (seriously, he was so fantastic), we got all loaded up in our Riley red wagon, and we were good to go home!!!
I am so glad that we had Tori at Riley- her surgery really couldn't have gone any smoother!!!
When we got home, Tori was so surprised and excited to find a new princess castle for Grandma and Grandpa Allen waiting for her!!!
Here is a picture after her surgery- it looked much prettier when we left the hospital. But I had to change her bandage and I think I went a bit overboard on the tape- that's going to be fun to get off!
We can take the bandage off in a few days- it will be interesting to see what her belly button looks like now! Our new task- to try and make Tori slow down (we'll see about that) for the next couple of weeks so she can heal!!!
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