Surgery Day

We woke up bright and early at 5:15am and headed out to the hospital. In the waiting room, Papa put a patch on Catherine's hand to numb it so the IV wouldn't hurt later.

Catherine brought Little Lamb with her for company.

Then we were brought to a place to put on the hospital gown. But Catherine got to keep her own pyjama bottoms on.

Catherine in her hospital gown waiting for the doctor. Everyone was quite amused when she told them it wouldn't hurt her much because she's STOIC.

The hospital issues a "passport" for Catherine. She gets a stamp for checking in, another for putting on her gown, and will get more for every stage of the day.

Only one parent is allowed into the operation room and she chose Papa. Here he is, all set to go in. He was allowed to stay with her until she was asleep and then came back out to wait with Mama. About 40 minutes later (seemed MUCH longer), the surgery was over. Another half hour later, Catherine started to wake up. The nurses and doctors said she qualified as Child of the Year because she didn't cry once and didn't rub her eyes at all. She said it hurt, though, so they gave her some pain medication and put a damp cloth over her eyes before wheeling her into the sunny recovery room. As you can see, the blinds were closed, but it was still pretty bright.

She slept for a while more and finally woke up enough to have a popsicle. We ditched the facecloth and pulled out the Dora shades!

Another hour of observation and that was it! Off we went with a wheelchair to take Catherine to the car and home!