Surgery

Anastasia was scheduled yesterday for surgery to repair the urinary tract that's been causing so many problems for her recently. We knew it was going to be a long day, so before we left Annie packed her own bag, which included sturred animals, books and a change of clothes. Orlando and I also packed a backpack to keep us occupied during the long wait.

Annie's doctor had a surgery before Annie's which took a little longer than expected, so we were a little late getting started. Still, Annie was very happy to play with Mommy and Daddy. She really didn't understand what was going to happen. Once we got called back, Annie was in her element and was quick to start playing with all the medical equipment.

We got into the pre-op room and almost immediately a "child life specialist" visited us. (Not for nothing, this is the world's greatest job!) She brought a medical kit, a doll for Annie to draw on and a bag full of dinosaurs to play with. The serious part of her job was to get Anastasia comfortable with the mask that would be used to put her to sleep. Didn't really take more than a few stickers and a little strawberry scented oil.



They played on the floor for quite a while, then the hospital gave her the giant bag of dinosaur toys. So, why we don't eat dinosaurs for dinner?



After a while playing on the floor, the nurse came with the sedative and then Annie got a little rocky. The sedative made it possible for them to take her back to the operating room without any drama, and we were sent out to wait for a few hours.

We had time to go get a snack, then watch a movie (The Blindside, very enjoyable), and about 3 hours after they started, it was all over. Surgery went very well, no damage to her bladder, and she was able to come home with us as soon as she'd met her three milestones (drinking 4 oz of juice, walking, and going to the bathroom.) As you'd guess, she looked like this for most of the recovery period.



Finally, at about 9:00, she'd met the milestones and felt well enough for us to leave. We got home, got the jammies on and promptly crashed on the sofa.

Playing Doctor

This has been a rough week for Anastasia. We found out earlier this month that she was going to need surgery to repair the urinary reflux that has been creating problems for her for the last 2 years. After 5 UTIs in 7 months, the doctors decided that we couldn't wait for it to fix itself any longer.

We had a consultation on Tuesday, where we learned that we'd need to have a VCUG scan (an X-ray of her urinary tract) on Wednesday morning, and a follow-up consult with the surgeon on Thursday. Since it required a catheter, the X-ray was less than fun, but Anastasia did great and earned herself a lunch of ice cream and a visit to Mommy's office.

By the time Thursday rolled around, Anastasia was very comfortable with what goes on in a doctor's office. While we were waiting in the exam room, she started to play doctor on Orlando, complete with blood pressure and stethescope.



The outcome: Anastasia will have surgery on Wednesday, which should end the reflux once and for all. Doctor says we can expect a fairly quick recovery and we should be home either Wednesday evening or Thursday morning. The post-operative instructions include no running, jumping or climbing for 2 weeks. Hah, have these doc's ever actually been in a room with a 3 year old?

Slippers

Early in Anastasia's life, her love of books was clearly evident. While most kids would cuddle with a teddy bear or blanket, she snuggled with books.



Now, Anastasia has evolved a bit, but she still insists on holding the book that we read to her each night. Last night, though, she got out of bed before finally falling asleep. When we went to check on her, she looked like this:



She's hugging a book, underneath the dozen or so stuffed animals, but the most important thing we noticed was the addition of her Fancy Nancy slippers (purchased in December for a "Night Before Christmas" pajama party at school). She must have had cold feet, to put the slippers on top of the footy pajamas.



She's starting to take control of her bedtime, even if it is after Orlando or I leave the room.

The Sickness Saga Continues

Anastasia has a talent for getting sick only on the weekends, but I was hoping that my birthday weekend would be full of playing for both of us. Sadly, on Saturday morning, she woke up with a fever so it was off to the ER with us for a urine test hoping against hope that it was just a cold. Four hours later, we learned that she had yet another urinary tract infection.



So this week we spent a lot of time consulting with the urologist to figure out what we need to do to resolve this issue. He consulted with all the doctors in the urology department at Children's Hospital, and they agreed that, since she's averaging 6 weeks between infections, we'll need to do something. The consensus was that she should have surgery soon to repair the valves at the top of her bladder, which are causing her urinary reflux, the ultimate cause of the infections.

It looks like she'll be having surgery on March 24th. It seems to be going very fast. On Tuesday, we're meeting with the surgeon who will explain to us exactly how they'll do the repairs. Orlando and I both have a lot of questions, but I'm sure Anastasia will come through this with flying colors.

Hiding Place

We got a new ottoman for the living room, with a hinged top so we can store things inside (like the blankets that have just been hanging out in the living room for months.)



As soon as we brought it inside, Anastasia opened it and jumped inside. Within seconds, the lid was down and she announced to the world that she was hiding.



Hiding, or pretending to sleep in there, is now a daily occurance. Guess I'll have to find another place to store the blankets.

Sledding at the Capitol

The hill on the west front of the Capitol building has been a favorite sledding hill for ages. After September 11, though, it seems the Capitol grounds were closed to sledding for reasons of national security. We haven't really had good snow for sledding since September 11, so a lot of people didn't know the new rules. We found out when, during the first of the two recent snow storms, people were ushered off the grounds and it was announced on the evening news. I'm not really sure what threat anyone can be sliding down a hill on a saucer sled, but rules are rules, so we were content to believe that we wouldn't be able to sled this year.

We were surprised last Saturday when we the evening news announced that for the President's day weekend only, the Capitol grounds would be open to sledding. So, on our 11th day at home together, I decided that Annie and I would go sledding on Monday. You can't park terribly close to the Capitol, but Annie was a trooper as we dragged our sled (the 28" wok procured by Daddy because all the saucer sleds were sold out in the city.)



She wasn't exactly fearless, preferring to waddle up and down the hill to sliding on the sled. So, I watched her waddle to the bottom, then sledded down to meet her.



After a little while of sledding (and waddling), Anastasia decided that she wanted to build a "baby snowman". So, that's what we did. Then she took a picture of me with him.



Before we left, I made sure to get a picture of Anastasia as proof of our day of sledding on the Hill. Think she looks menacing?

Knocked Out Again

After having four urinary tract infections in 5 months, Anastasia was scheduled for another DMSA scan, which is a scan of her kidneys to make sure that there has been no damage from these infections. We've done this twice before, and since it requires her to lie perfectly still for an extended period of time, she has to be sedated.

First, she was injected with the dye which will show up on the scans as her kidneys process it. Then we had to wait for about 2 hours for the test to begin. She was content to play with the various toys mounted on walls around the hospital.



Last time, Anastasia had an IV sedative, which knocked her out for a rather long time. This time, since we were pretty close to her naptime anyway, we decided with the doctor that we would only give her an oral medication to knock her out. The medication would only last about 90 minutes. It did take her a bit longer to actually fall asleep ... one of these two has been sedated:



When the effects started to wear off, Anastasia woke up just in time to say bye-bye to Daddy before he headed to work. The loopiness was much less pronounced than last time, but she was still a little funny when she found out that she'd be getting ginger ale.



A visit with the urologist confirmed that her kidneys remain unscarred, but we've decided that we have to take action to prevent anymore infections. Anastasia will begin a regimen of antibiotics aimed which should keep the bugs from causing more major problems. But first, I think we'll have a popsicle.