Bye, bye knot!

First off, I just have to say THANK YOU to everyone that had us in their thoughts and prayers today. I had no idea how very anxious I was about the whole thing and it really calmed me down knowing there were so many people with Lauren on their mind. We are all relieved to have the hardest part, the surgery, behind us and I think she's well on her way to recovering nicely.

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(All sorts of words about how we found out about the knot, the first results, realizing that the first diagnosis probably wasn't right, pictures of the crazy knot, the cat scan, and the final results that led to her surgery today.)

Once again we found ourselves up bright and early headed to Hillcrest with Lauren. As usual, she was her happy bubbly self, singing and laughing all the way there. Checking in was quick and the pre-op was easy since it was exactly the same as the pre-op for her tubes. The main difference was the fact that she can walk now, but she surprised me by staying very close to us and not freaking out about being there again. She calmly went to one of the nurses and waved bye bye to us without any tears.

That's when the weight of all the worrying really hit me. It was terrifying to think about what they were going to have to do to remove that knot. I expected it to feel like the minutes were barely creeping by, but the hour and a half went very quickly. Dr. Guy came out to get us himself and said that it went about as well as it could. The cyst was completely removed, as well as her hyoid bone, which will all be biopsied. There was very little bleeding, a very small incision, so she didn't need a drain, which would have meant she was going to be admitted to the hospital at least overnight.

She wasn't completely awake when we went back and they had just given her some more medicine so she could relax. She was moaning a bit in her sleep but that was much easier to deal with than the ear piercing screams after her tubes and cat scan. It took about an hour before she really started waking up and she stayed drowsy all morning.

I'm still surprised at how small the bandage is and that it doesn't seem to bother her as much as I expected. She's asked us to take the tape off several times, which really just breaks my heart. She was also starving but we were told she was only allowed liquids and pureed food, and the packets of applesauce and smooshed bananas really weren't cutting it. I imagine she'll jump up and down tomorrow when she's allowed a cracker.

We had a very relaxed day and Lauren and I are going to take it easy tomorrow and Sunday, as well. I expect we will watch Pocoyo, Little Einsteins, and Elmo at least 294 more times, but as long as she's calm, I'm happy!

Daddy makes a good footrest.

I'm so thankful that everything went so well and that it's over. Now to focus on all the happy things. New House! (Closing scheduled for Tuesday!) Christmas! A new (to us) car!

Oh, you didn't know we got a different car? Guess I'll have to write about that later. :)