Kara's BIG day!!

Kara has been SO excited for her surgery and to get a "line" just like big brother! Well that day has finally come!

Our wonderful neighbors took care of Allie and Trev while we headed down to the Children's Hospital for Kara's ear surgery. We left around 7 to get to the hospital for check in time at 8:30. Well we ran into a little snag along the way! A semi truck had rolled earlier that morning so we were not going anywhere! We called the hospital and told them what was going on and they said that was fine. We still had plenty of time. We finally arrive at the hospital a little late. Kara has her Rudolph with her and is ready to go!

We get called back to go in for prep and Kara gets to put on a gown (that is WAY to big for her) and socks (which are WAY to small for her!) We ended up getting new socks and Rudolph easily fit into the smaller socks :) Kara was a rock star as they got her height, weight, blood pressure and all that good pre op stuff. She enjoyed sitting in the chair watching tv while we were waiting. Surgery ended up being over an hour late! Kara was getting very hungry and thirsty! We tried to take her mind off of it. I too was very hungry and thirsty as we couldn't really eat either as we were with her the whole time. Finally it was time to head back to the OR. Scott got his has mat suit on and took her back until she fell asleep. She was a rock star throughout everything! SO brave!

My Dad had met us there so we hung out with him there. Surgery took longer than expected so that was nerve wracking. In the cafeteria they had tables set out where they were selling gifts for the uncompensated care fund. We did a little shopping. Ok. Maybe more than a little. But it was close to Christmas and we still needed gifts. PLUS it went to a great cause!

We decided to get something to eat and of course as soon as we sit down to eat our pager goes off! Time to see our baby girl :) We first meet with the surgeon. He said she did great BUT it was a lot more complicated than expected. Instead of one growth in her ear she had SEVERAL all over her ear. He explained this is rare and he has NEVER seen anything like it. As of now he was able to preserve the ear bones and reshape her eardrum but we do not know if this will last. She goes back in 6 months for surgery number 2. They will no more then. He told us we have a long road ahead of us and we are not out of the woods yet. He also told us to decide who was staying over  night with her and that visiting hours are over at 8pm. If there was a child that would have trouble keeping things down it would be her as they had to do so much extra work in her ear.

We then go back to recovery and get our baby girl. She is just waking up and has a big blue bandage on her head and her ear is covered with guaze and bandages. 20 minutes later the nurse tells us we will be going home!?! Um... The surgeon just said she is staying the night... SO it turns out that Kara is handling everything well enough that we get to go! I'm not too sure about this... Kara doesn't care as long as she gets a wheel chair ride :)

So an hour later we are discharged and on our way home! She is a rock star just like her big brother!