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Iris\u2019 surgery was scheduled for 6:30am which meant we had to leave the house at 4:45am. Naturally we just let Iris ride to the hospital in her jammies. \ud83d\ude42 Arriving at the Mott’s Children’s Hospital was reverse culture shock in the best way as we experienced the beautiful facility totally designed to meet the medical needs of children. Needless to say it was a far cry from small cinder block buildings with paint chipping and blood spattered walls in Papua New Guinea. Iris happily played in the amazing waiting area filled with toys as Tom and I tried our best to remain calm as we waited to hear Iris\u2019 name called.<\/p>\n
Every step of the pre-op stuff was handled so well by the hospital staff and because of all the cool \u201ckid stuff\u201d around the hospital is was easy to talk to Iris about what we were doing and treat it as a \u201cbig, special adventure.\u201d While the nurses buzzed around her marking her face for surgery, taking vitals, etc. she just sat and played.<\/p>\n Next Iris got to change into her \u201cpretty new dress\u201d ;D and Mommy got to dress up like a big \u201csilly snow man\u201d to prepare for the part where Iris would \u201ctake a nap on the very special bed.\u201d Oh gracious! I was such a bundle of emotional nerves! They had let me give Iris some preemptive meds one of which was a muscle relaxant. The nurse warned me to watch her closely because it tends to hit all of a sudden. She wasn\u2019t kidding!<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a>In a manner of seconds Iris went from sitting up playing to unable to hold herself up and started acting totally whacky! If I hadn\u2019t been so stressed I would have been cracking up! It really was funny! She \u201cfell\u201d back with my hand behind her and could hardly keep her eyes open while she just giggled and grinned at me. With her beloved \u201cpiggy\u201d on her chest we started our walk back to the operating room while I tried to control myself emotionally. As I helped the anesthesiologists put the \u201cvery special pink mask\u201d on her little face I saw panic in her eyes and knew she was trying so hard to fight it but just couldn\u2019t. Thankfully it only took half a minute of this before she was gone into deep dreamy land and I saw all the skin around her eyes fall slack so I could see the inner red around them. They let me give her a kiss and told me I had to leave then. As much as I was trusting the Lord and I knew she was in good hands and many people where praying, I\u2019m not gonna lie: it was terribly hard. I met Tom again in the waiting room puffy and red from crying and had to excuse myself to the restroom to just let it all out for a few minutes. Crying is crucial in times like these and it really helps!<\/p>\n<\/a>I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that we were given a special pager to receive updates with. That was awesome! They sent us one message that said, \u201cStarted, doing great.\u201d As much as I loved getting this message I definitely wanted more of them! \ud83d\ude42 I tried to look at a magazine to distract myself but it totally did not work! The time crawled!<\/p>\n