Sadie's Story ~ Part 4

Saturday. It was a bittersweet day. Mom & Dad were leaving today. They had to get home to help take care of our other kiddos. It was hard for them to leave. They had been on this incredible roller coaster with us the entire time. Seeing Sadie at her absolute worst and watching her fight like heck to get better every second. It's amazing to me how such a little person can bring so many people (who don't even know eachother) together. That morning they took out her chest tube. She no longer had any drainage coming form her around her lung. Next, out came the ART line (arterial IV). They used this IV to take blood and give her blood transfusions as needed. The only tubes left were the IV in her left hand and the IV in her foot. She had these for pain medication only. The next step to being released from the hospital was to remove these tubes and control her pain with oral medication.

When Mom & Dad arrived at the hospital that Saturday morning Craig & I decided to go down to the cafeteria to grab some breakfast. While we were gone my dad got a cup of coffee and brought it into the room. At this point little Sadie hadn't been able to drink or eat anything since Tuesday night at 10. When she saw my dad's cup of coffee she leaped across her crib and tried to grab it. They couldn't belive how fast she moved. Tubes and all! =) When Craig & I got back to the room we asked the nurse if Sadie could start drinking liquids. After speaking to her surgical team they gave her the okay to eat and drink. Her first liquid was apple juice. She couldn't get enough! Next came the graham crackers. We still laugh about this. She sat in her crib with the graham cracker held tightly in her little hand. Chewing on it like a little squirrel. (pictures soon to follow) Closely guarding it just in case anyone tried to take it away from her. That wasn't going to happen. After an hour of watching her to make sure she could keep the apple juice and crackers down, she was allowed to have whatever she wanted. Candy, chips, fruit. You name it. The cafeteria was hers!

Craig's parents came up on Saturday afternoon. I think that it was driving them crazy being so far away from her during the whole ordeal. When they arrived she was doing pretty well. Just the 2 IVs in. Her color still looked pretty good. Craig's dad was amazed at how fast she was healing. We all were. I couldn't believe that just a couple of days ago she was lying in PICU hooked up to a breathing maching. Now she was sitting on my lap watching cartoons and eating fruit snacks. Amazing!!

Sunday morning we got the word that she was going to be released. My Aunt Kathy & Uncle Joe were on thier way up to see her. When they arrived we started packing up her things. I signed her release papers and met with the last few doctors. Her follow up instructions were over the counter ibprophen every 8 hours and an oral pain perscription every 4 hours. This girl just had major surgery and this was all of the medication that she would be sent home on. Amazing!! We would follow up with our surgeon in two weeks, her pediation when we got home, her cardiologist at age 3, and her pulmonolgist, also when we got home. I was overwhelmed to think that we wouldn't have any nurses in case she had trouble breathing. No alarms if her heart rate went crazy. She was fine though. None of these issues had come up in the last couple of days. Craig's dad tried to talk the nurses out of releasing her. He told them that she wasn't ready to go home. She hadn't had enough time to heal. Part of me agreed with him. But we were ready. Physically. Emotionally. We were ready to go home.

Around noon we were walking out of the doors of Children's Mercy Hospital and loading everything back into the car for the 3 hour car ride home. On the way home I couldn't help but think about how blessed we are. So many people prayed for us. So many people took time out of thier day to care. People I don't even know. People I will probably never meet. If you are reading this blog I just want to say thank you. Thank you for thinking of us. Thank you for praying for us. I hope Sadie's story has touched your life some how some way. Throughout this experience our family has been reminded of a few things. God is good. Prayer works. Miracles happen. Sadie is proof.