Blood work was her biggest fear and the first poke didn't go well. . . lots of digging for the vein and then hardly any blood once they got it. Lots of tears but Hopey did have a good laugh when she realized that her tears and snot were getting all over mom's face as I hugged her during the procedure! : ) Love her ability to laugh through the worst! So she had to have a second poke, but Hope said that "God was in control of me this time" and so she was able to control her fear, hold really still and it went very well! She'll now tell you that her left arm (second poke) hurt less but gave up more blood than her right (first poke), which really hurt! How precious that God is continuing to teach her about finding her courage and refuge in Him, rather letting fear control her! What I also wanted to mention that is a huge deal, is that today is the first time since Hope's brain injury-induced dystonia/muscle tightness where Hope has actually had blood drawn from the inside of her elbow instead of other various sites! She could never straighten her arms enough for them to use this much preferred site for drawing blood work. So that was a cool thing to praise the Lord after all was said and done. And from that point on, Hope showed off her two bright bandaids to everyone who came by!!! : ) It was all down hill from there for her!
She chose rootbeer flavor for the sleepy gas and even decided to go back with the surgery team by herself, without mom or dad to accompany! Makes us realize both how far God has brought her. . . so much closer to where she was when she had her tonsillectomy which feels like forever ago. . . as well as makes us realize how much she is growing up and changing into a young lady even in spite of this brain injury!
Hope was taken back with the team at about 1:30 pm. It is about a 45 minute surgery, but including her pre-op going to sleep and then her post op recovery room time, we will likely not be reunited with her for 1.5 to 2 hours. Once we are settled on the unit, we will give you an update on the surgery and how she's feeling post op. This waiting time without her with us, is always the worst part of the whole experience! But I am so very thankful that God is with her always, even when I cannot be, and HE IS THE BEST!!!
Thank you so much for your precious prayers and all the wonderful encouraging notes! Hope absolutely loves having me read them all to her and she was so encouraged with a big Hopey-grin on her face the whole time! You are very loved, dear ones!!! : )
Here are some pictures for you. . .
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| Entering the day surgery room to find a very large stack of medical files! Who could those possible belong to?!?! : ) |
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| Hope is giving a funny look to show off her two bandaids from her two pokes for blood work! |
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| Hope having fun and showing me her surprised face at the size of her "little" condensed medical file! I've heard that Hope has 12 volumes of paper charts alone. . . then there is everything on the computer data base as well! |
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| Visiting with Grandma Meese! So thankful that Grandma could come and that she made it just before Hope left for the OR waiting room! |
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| On her way to surgery. . . we thought it was so cute and another praise to see her SIT on the bed the whole way to the OR waiting room! |
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| Such a beautiful sweet grown up girl. . . waiting to talk with the doctors in the OR waiting room. |
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| Last picture before Hope went into surgery. . . after praying with dad, mom and Grandma Meese, she hung out the last few minutes relaxing and drawing courage from holding her daddy's strong loving hand . . . I love this picture! Reminds me so much of how we draw our courage from keeping focused on our Heavenly Father holding us in His hand! |
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