The Details

Last year when we learned about our health insurance changes, and we found out that we'd be paying more should we have to go to the hospital, I remember telling Mike, "It will be fine. We will just have to make sure that absolutely nothing goes wrong."

I love eating my words. :)

Grace was hospitalized on Tuesday morning, set to have an emergency bronchoscopy to remove the peanut pieces that she had aspirated, which were giving her a lung infection. They gave her a lovely blue gown (that made everyone think she was a boy), some more x-rays, an IV with steroids and antibiotics, oxygen, and blood tests. She was so angry at having her personal space invaded so much. Adam was a trooper, waiting the whole time with us. After the tests, Grace (exhausted) fell asleep for approximately 2.5 seconds before she had to wake up. Poor girl.



After meeting with the pediatric surgeons/specialists, they were able to make a slot for her in the OR. They got her into the operating room at 2:20, and after 2 hours, removed this (don't look if you gross out easily):


Yeah, it's kinda gross that surgeon brought it to us. But kinda cool, too. And, no, I'm NOT going to scrapbook it, like the woman in the OR waiting room suggested. Ewwww. SO hope she was kidding.

The surgeon came and talked to us afterward (he was amazing, BTW). He told us that her body had built a HUGE mass around the 3 peanut pieces to "protect" itself when they were aspirated, and when he initially looked at it thought the mass was a tumor. He didn't know how he was going to tell a 2-year-old's mom that her daughter had a lung tumor. He said that he was going to end the procedure and talk to an oncologist, but decided to go ahead and scrape it for a biopsy. He did, and in the center he found the nuts! So, so thankful that he "happened" to biopsy it, and the problem was taken care of.

I was able to go back into the recovery room with her, and seeing her under anesthesia with breathing tubes will NOT make the list of 'greatest moments in my life'. It was awful seeing her like that. The anesthesiologist was concerned because she still hadn't woken up after an hour, and then he asked if she had been sleeping well at home. Ummm... no. He told me she was probably just enjoying her first real 'rest' for a week and a half. She woke up a little while later, coughing and hoarse, but after several breathing treatments, doing okay.


We had a really, really rough night. She was in pain from the breathing tubes, hungry, extremely thirsty, completely sick of the IV, oxygen monitor, and oxygen mask, and the hourly nurse checks didn't help things. She is a very determined and stubborn little thing, and by about 9:00, she was determined that no one or no thing would touch her, and begin trying to rip everything out. So she was immobilized with lots of tape.


At 2:00 in the morning, she gave up on fighting, and began screaming that her neck had an 'ow' and I begged the nurses for some juice for her and some pain meds. After 3 juice boxes, 2 Popsicle's, and some Motrin, she was the happiest girl ever, and completely charmed everyone. However, after the 'yummies' and attention wore off, she was completely done with her bed, so I ended up holding her the rest of the night.

By morning, her doctor's were amazed at how well she was doing: she had a 99-100% oxygen saturation, was coughing everything out, and keeping fluids down. They let her eat lunch, and she wolfed down a large bowl of spaghetti-os, pudding, chicken nuggets, fries, and cake (healthy... notsomuch). When her surgeon learned that she had eaten (and kept) everything down, he okay-ed her going home, which I guess rarely happens so soon.

We're home and catching up on sleep and caring for Grace and cleaning up after the 'boys night' Adam and Mike had last night (which apparently involved Gatorade and playing Xbox until 3 am). I am so, so thankful that she is doing so well. It was such a testimony to us to see Heavenly Father's hand in our lives during this, as things worked out so well, and she recovered so quickly. So thankful that Mike's boss gave him the time off work, and that Adam was so good at the hospital (we couldn't find a sitter). Thank you all for your calls, thoughts, and prayers.

We are so blessed.