We wanted to let everyone know that Gracie's surgery went very, very well. In fact, we waited in triage so much longer than she was in surgery! And then they let her wake up very slowly from the anesthesia so that she wouldn't get upset or disoriented, which I really appreciated. But she was upset and disoriented anyway- ha! Poor kid... it was a long day for all of us what with nerves and stress. And Ramsey and I noted that this was really the first time that Gracie had a normal reaction to the out-patient surgery center, ie she did NOT want to be there. As difficult as it was to see her upset, I was kind of glad to see her being strong, feisty and normal. I tell you, it's odd to have a toddler become overly compliant in a medical setting, so this was actually a welcome change in my mind. So she was intubated without much issue (miracle!!) and they only had to support her jaw a little bit as she was waking up (to help keep her airway open as they extubated). She didn't even need O2. This is all such a relief.... Now I know this all may sound a little scary, but they were being overly cautious and super prepared for anything with her. Thank you PCH!! And thank you to our awesome ENT who Gracie has dubbed "Dr. Giraffe".
By Friday (10/25), Gracie was bouncing off the walls and just her normal, happy self. And here we are, not even a week later, and we have been out and about as her stoma is CLOSED! Yahoo!!!!!!!! There is still some healing to be done, of course, but it did indeed close up by the end of the weekend. Truly amazing! I have seen pictures of other kiddos' scars and it seems to fade and look pretty good in about 4 weeks. So for now, she is rockin' a bandaid on her neck and that's that! If she still has scarring that doesn't fade, the docs recommend waiting for plastic surgery until she is much older- like middle school or high school. But if you're gonna have a scar, this one is pretty bad ass (pardon my French!).
By Friday (10/25), Gracie was bouncing off the walls and just her normal, happy self. And here we are, not even a week later, and we have been out and about as her stoma is CLOSED! Yahoo!!!!!!!! There is still some healing to be done, of course, but it did indeed close up by the end of the weekend. Truly amazing! I have seen pictures of other kiddos' scars and it seems to fade and look pretty good in about 4 weeks. So for now, she is rockin' a bandaid on her neck and that's that! If she still has scarring that doesn't fade, the docs recommend waiting for plastic surgery until she is much older- like middle school or high school. But if you're gonna have a scar, this one is pretty bad ass (pardon my French!).