Butterfly's Surgery: Day 3

Butterfly went into surgery yesterday at 7:30 a.m. We didn't get to reunite with her until about 9:30 p.m. in the Pediatric ICU. The pain of the 14 hours away from Butterfly was eased greatly by your prayers, messages, phone calls and  visits. We continually felt God's hand of comfort throughout the day.

The surgery went very well. Everything looks very neat and clean. Butterfly slept on and off through the night. She has squeezed our hands, cracked smiles and is talking softly. She has a good size NG tube going down her throat which, in addition to her "stomach pain" is her greatest complaint. She is getting Tylenol through an IV and is occasionally needing morphine for her "stomach pain."

Right now, she is watching Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2. They have a nice play room here (which we won't be able to visit quite yet) and DVD library. A therapy dog (a Jack Russell Terrier named Emma) will be visiting our room soon and we are looking forward to that.

Steady Man and I both were able to sleep in Butterfly's ICU room (a technical no-no) and the PICU nurses are top-notch. Butterfly will not be able to eat or drink for the next few days, so we need to take turns leaving the room to eat ourselves. We have WiFi in this room, but we cannot use our cell phones.

She will probably go to the Pediatric Step Down unit for tonight and then the regular Pediatric Unit (where we were the first night) tomorrow night.

For Butterfly to go home, we need her intestines to wake up and her lung function to regain strength (it is stressed by the general anesthesia). She will also need several days of healing, manageable pain levels and parents trained to care for her at home.

As of now, she is requesting no visitors, but we'll let you know if that changes.

Please continue to pray for Butterfly. We have felt your prayers and God's grace to us throughout this time.

Blessings,
Amy and Steady Man