The day has come, and whew, has it been a stressful one! We had to be at Duke this morning to check in by 8:15 as Grace's laser surgery was scheduled for 10:15. Around 9:15 they called us in the back to a small room for the nurses to prep Grace. Here they checked her temperature and other vital signs and we had to change her into a hospital gown. She still hasn't gotten away from 20 lbs. yet. Today she was 20lbs. 11 oz. when they weighed her. Here's a picture of her pre-surgery, as you can tell she was really apprehensive about her surroundings and what was about to go down.
I wanted to take a picture of her arm before she had the treatment so we stripped her back down so I could get a "before" shot. This image is hard to see much of the area as the room was so bright but you can tell where the texture of her skin is different.
Today's laser procedure was much different than previous treatments she'd had. Before we went right into the doctors office and the only spots that were lasered were the ulcerated areas. All of this was done while she was wake and sat in my lap. Now, because of Grace's age she had to have general anesthesia during the treatment. Before she was young enough that I could just hold her and she didn't fight back (much) but now she's just too old and mobile to sit still for it. This treament would help break up some of the vessels, as well as soften some of the scaring that she got from the previous ulcers. This laser treatment is sort of the same as the laser she had on her ulcers, yet different too. Its a lighter laser and instead of just doing the laser in certain spots (like the ulcerated spots) the entire hemangioma will be treated.
From the prep room we then took Grace to the operating room. The hardest part of the day was watching them put Grace to sleep. She was already freaking out about what was going on. She knew she was in a place that she didn't like and that they were probably going to do something that would hurt her. As soon as I laid her on the bed she wasn't having it. It took 4 people to hold her down to put the small gas mask over her face. She was fighting them with all of her might. That's when I completely lost it. It was the worst feeling watching your child fight and then basically lay there with no response, even thought I knew she was just sleeping. Having to walk away from her was just as hard. My Mom was with me and we then went back into the waiting room to meet Big Daddy and the waiting game began. That was around 9:50.
About 10:25, Dad asked us what time we had come back out to the waiting room and just as Mom was telling him the lady was coming out get us to take us to the recovery room. Grace was still sleeping when we got back there but in just a few short minutes she began to wake up. As she was coming to you could tell that she was disoriented and that her arm (from the IV) and her shoulder were bothering her. She kept moving her shoulder like it was irritating and she wanted to pull out her IV. She was mad with the world when she woke up. The doctors say all children wake up different. Some groggy, some mad/mean, some sick. If it was me you could 95% guarantee that I'd be one of the sick ones, so I was hoping that Grace didn't inherit that. She woke up more mad/upset than anything. Once we finally got the IV out & she was able to have some juice things were looking up. We were in the recovery room for all of probably 20 mintues before we were able to get her dressed and begin heading home!
Grace in recovery...
Dr. Bellet was pleased with the way Grace's arm looked after surgery. It definitely has dark pink/purple splotches (bruising) all over. It was really red and irritated looking too right after the surgery but that aspect of it has seemed to go away after a while. Now we have to keep the treated area moist with Vaseline until the bruising has resolved. They say that can take anywhere from 10-14 days. We made it through surgery! Some of the side effects aren't too good, so now we're praying for no scabbing, no infection, and no blistering.
There's one last photo that I took once we got home and Grace had gotten some lunch in her.
Healing/Improvement will contine for 2-3 months following this treatment. Dr. Bellet scheduled us for another round of laser (same type) for May 12th. She says it takes up with 2/3 times to see the result she's looking for.
Thanks everyone for your thoughts, prayers, texts, facebook messages and posts, etc! It's comforting to know we have so many friends and family that love our baby girl (and us) so much! Love to you all!
