Tessa Lou Lou's surgery day...

Tessa had surgery today. She has a condition called Reflux. When urine empties into your bladder there are flaps, one on each side of your bladder, that close once the urine has emptied into your bladder. Tessa's flaps don't close which causes urine to run back up the tubes to her kidneys. This causes infections and can ultimately cause kidney damage. Tessa was diagnosed with this condition 3 years ago. Ultimately we have been waiting to see if she would outgrow it or whether it would correct itself, as in some cases it does. When she had her yearly tests in September the Dr finally said that it was time to correct it.

There were two options for surgery, one option ensures only a 75-80% success, the other option ensures 97% but is more invasive. We decided that if we were going to do it we were going to do option 2 in order to give her the best chance of success.

The first procedure she had done today is called a Cystoscopy, they go in with a scope, that has a lens and a light, inserted into the bladder through the urethra to look for abnormalities. They did this on the right side because that side wasn't as bad. They then correct the abnormalities that they find, which is not too major (they don't really know how bad it will be until they are in there).

The other procedure she had done today is called a Ureteral reimplant where they repair the backward flow of urine from the bladder to the kidney. They did this on her left side. She has a small incision just above her pubic bone.

We opted not to give Tessa much information about what was going to happen today because she already has such awful anxiety that we knew she would have a come apart. We told her (yesterday) that we had to go to the hospital for more tests and that they would put her to sleep like they do for the tests she has had before. She was actually pretty ok with it. We asked that she be given Versaid today to help her relax before they took her back to surgery because normally when she has testing done I go in with her. Since I wouldn't be able to go in with her this time we knew that would upset her (she has had really bad seperation anxiety the last little while - not even wanting to sleep over at her BFF's house because she will "miss us too much" - not sure if this is a result of all the stress in our lives the past year or moving from our house to my sister's to recently moving to an apartment...).

The surgery was almost 2 hours long and everything went fine. She was very weepy & agitated coming out of the anesthesia so they gave her something to help calm her down and we were in Post op for quite a while since she was asleep. We left our apartment at 5:45 AM this morning for surgery and got back home around 12:00 noon.

Once we got home and started on her pain medication she seemed to be doing ok except that she kept saying she was sick to her stomach and was going to throw up. Then she started itching and she was all over the place...playing or walking around one minute and then crying and complaining of pain the next. I expected this, it's common after anesthesia. At around 8:30 PM after her 3rd dose of pain meds (1/2 dose); she finally threw up so we called the Dr. and got something for nausea. She had only slept about 1/2 hour in the 8 1/2 hours we had been home today so the pain meds most likely need to be changed to something different. I will have to call the Dr. tomorrow and discuss it with him.

Here are some pictures of her big day...

Being goofy in the first room we were in while she had vitals taken and changed into "hospital" jammies.

The child advocate (not sure if that is the correct term) explaining to Tessa about the gas mask, the IV, the pulse ox, etc. Tessa got bored with this after a few minutes but she did get to pick out Watermelon smell for her gas mask and said she wanted to be wheeled to surgery in a wagon, not a wheelchair...LOL

Recovery room with her dog "Snowy". She was NOT happy and just wanted to go home! At this point she still did not really understand that she had had surgery. She was very groggy and agitated, they gave her meds to calm her down and she was just starting to fall back to sleep.

On our way home. This was while I was at the Pharmacy Kiosk getting her medication filled.

Just got home & settled onto mommy's bed. She is checking out the gas mask that they let her keep (she had asked if she could have it when she met with the child advocate lady).

Finally crashed at about 9 PM after puking up her pain meds!

We spent most of the afternoon watching her movies, counting the change in her piggy banks, playing with her beads and rocks and having her tell me over and over again "I wish I didn't have to have surgery, this is the worst day ever"! When we first got home today, when she was finally awake enough to understand, I explained that the pain she was having (she kept saying it hurt) was the incision. I explained that she had an owie where the Dr. did surgery to fix the problems so she won't have infections anymore. It's pretty difficult for a 6 year old to understand the whole "bladder infection" thing let alone the surgery that was done.

As she got weepy a little while later she said "I wish you didn't sign me up for surgery"! I almost laughed out loud...LOL! She has voiced that a few times today but I keep trying to explain that it will help so she won't get infections anymore.

Anywhoooo....all in all she is doing well and I hope her recovery continues to go well. I hope she will get lots of rest tonight and that the nausea meds will help her so she can still take her medicine for pain.

It's a scary thing to have your child (or any family member, etc) go under anesthesia. I am so thankful and feel very blessed that everything went well. I know she will rebound well, she is resiliant and amazing!

Holidays...

Still a few lbs under goal weight and almost 2 years post WLS!!! This amazes me since I have not been eating well or taking care of myself nearly as well as I should!

Wow I am behind on blogging, just like everything else these days! I didn't even attempt to get Christmas cards out this year...just. wasn't. happening!

Quick updates...
We finally moved into an apartment almost 2 weeks ago. We went from our "white trash" house to a "ghetto" (but very affordable) apartment...LOL! We lived with my sister & her hubby for 3 1/2 months...we can't thank them enough for helping us in our time of need!

Tyler & Colton both moved back from SG last weekend. Tyler had been working down there and Colton had been attending Tuacahn High School. It was harder on all of us than any of us thought it would be & my mom has had some health problems over the past few months, so we decided to bring Colton home. We struggled with him not being able to finish the school year at Tuacahn because he really liked it there, was doing well and had made great friends. We looked at other options as far as living arrangements that would allow him to finish the year down there but we ultimately decided that it's just ALOT for anyone to take on so we brought him home. Our apartment is not in the boundries for the school he last attended up here but yesterday I was able to obtain a permit for him to go back to school there for the remainder of the year. We had looked at other charter school options also but most wouldn't take a new student mid year. Colton is not especially thrilled about going back to his old school but at this point it's the best option we have.

As always it seems that so many things are "up in the air"...like juggling 20 balls at once. We can't ever seem to get even one issue resolved before another pops up. Last weekend as I was still unpacking, trying to get things put away, putting up the Christmas tree and babysitting my nephews & neice...I was THIS CLOSE to a breakdown! That happened at the same time that my brother, my dad and Rio's parents stopped by! It wasn't so much all the people that were there, it was me being OVERWHELMED with everything I needed to get done! My mental psyche has really taken some big hits this past 12-18 months with everything that has gone on & I constantly marvel at my ability to get through each day...LOL!

The apartment we rented is a 2 bdroom, 2 bath...we didn't realize the boys would be moving home at the time we rented it. So...the boys are "sharing" Tessa's room, with only 1 twin bed, the other sleeps on the couch. Tessa sleeps with us, which she has pretty much done for years anyway haha! It's a little crowded but we are all very rarely home at the same time so it's working ok so far.

The holidays have never been as difficult for me as they are this year. We are broke, we just moved, it's 2 days before Christmas and I am still not sure how we will purchase gifts for the kids! We are up to our foreheads in debt, we lost our house, our 2 oldest haven't quite figured out what they are doing in life, this list goes on and on....BUT...at the same time there are so many things to be thankful for and I work hard to remind myself of that everyday!

We are healthy, we have a roof over our head, food on our table and clothes on our back. We have loving family & friends who are always there for us. I have THE BEST husband in the world...he is so amazing that there are not words to describe him. I would be lost without him!

So...Happy Holidays to all...I hope you are faring well in these tough times. Love ya!