Today, six years ago

Six years ago today I handed my baby girl off to surgery. This was the hardest day of my life. To know that your 7 week old baby was going to be cut into, for a surgery that may not even work. It could maybe just buy her more time. I had never had surgery. Mary was always so healthy too. Nothing big, medically, has ever happened to our family. It didn't seem fair that my new baby had such a tough road ahead of her. How quickly things can change in your life. Just one week before, besides being concerned as to why Anna was still jaundiced, we were just like any other happy family.

It all happened so fast. There were so many tests being done. From blood tests that our pediatrician ordered, to being sent to Children's. Anna was admitted the same day she saw the liver specialists at Childrens for more tests, Dr. Whitington was certain he knew what she had. Just a few day later a biopsy confirmed the doctors suspicions. Biliary Atresia. We were then scheduled for surgery after the weekend. It was nice to be able to go home and spend time with our baby before her operation. Sunday night she was admitted for her surgery the next morning.

That was the longest 7 hours of my life, the time Anna was in the OR. It didn't help that they had a Poud family marathon running the entire time! I swore after that day that Mary would not be allowed to watch that show again! We tried to sleep, but we couldn't. We tried to read, and I just kept reading the same paragraphs over and over because I couldn't concentrate at all. We made phone calls for progress reports to family. We never left the waiting room for fear of not being there when they wanted to give us an update, or when it was time to see her. Too bad they didn't have the pagers then for people waiting for their children to be done in surgery like they do now.

When it came time to see her, I was not prepared at all. She had so many wires coming off of her from everywhere. They had her arms in splints so that she couldn't pull out any wires. I broke down when I saw the bandage at the site where her Kasai was preformed. I didn't expect it to be such a big incision. I felt so fearful for her, I wished I was feeling the pain for her. It wasn't long before Anna got her room and we met her surgeon. We never had the chance to met with the surgeon prior to the surgery. He let us know that everything went as well as expected, but it will have to be a waiting game from here on out.

Anna's recovery went smooth. Anna was released 7 days later. It was so nice to have our baby back home and getting peachy! She would have to endure so much in the time between her Kasai and her transplant. This procedure gave her time to grow and gain weight, so that she was ready when the time came for her to get her new liver. For that, I am thankful.