Life post-op

I realize I'm WAY over due for a Q&A post, but some questions lately have been on this subject so here's a little about how our days look now that we are home...

First off, we still begin the day with medicines for Emma and Micah, breakfast all around, bathing, getting dressed, and the day generally turns to playing, then lunch, naps, more playing, dinner, bedtime routine including pj's, brushing teeth, medicines, and bed.  It's not all that different from before.

A few things that are different definitely are wrapped around the fact that Emma just had major surgery.  

One of those is that her body is already working so hard to recover from surgery that she doesn't have as much ability to recover from any other illnesses.  Micah has had a clear runny nose for over a week and is getting some new teeth- which is likely the culprit.  Regardless, though we're not quarantining him from the other kids, we are keeping him away from direct contact with Emma.  (plus, he likes to lay on top of her.. OUCH!)  We're washing our hands a lot or using germ-X between handling him and Emma.  We're requiring Kristopher to wash his hands a lot more especially if he wants to play with Emma.  We're picking up the toys Emma prefers when she's not playing with them and putting them out of reach of our littlest man so they aren't shared too much.  Basically we're trying our hardest to keep any germs that are already inside the house away from Emma.

Along those same lines, we're also keeping Emma in the house.  No, not completely literally. But close.  Outside we're in a bad mosquito season so a walk around the block isn't even much of an option, but the screened in porch (which a cat fell through and ruined in 3 places while I was gone... weird!) might be somewhere we can take her to get a little fresh air and sunshine without mosquitoes or lots of people.  We won't be taking any trips to the mall, stores, events, or even church or school for a few weeks.  Emma's been through too much to catch something now and have to fight that off too.

And, again, we're also not inviting anyone in.  Not because we don't like them or because we want to keep Emma to ourselves, but because exposure to more people is just more risk of catching something-- even if they seem healthy at the time. 

With Brianna we were cautious for about 2 weeks after we got home with her and that felt fine and appropriate.  By that time she was about 5 weeks post-op and she was healed up enough that she could overcome a small cold without it being life-threatening.  With Emma since she was such a short time in the hospital, it will likely be more like a month before we are back to normal activity-- 5 weeks post-op.  Her wound is still weeping blood and everything is still very fresh.  She needs time to get healed up and on top of things health-wise before being exposed to anything else. 

Other than the health/germ side of things, there are a few other ways that we're doing things a little differently.  First off, Emma can't be picked up under her arms for a few weeks.  Her sternum has been cut apart and tied back together with steel wires.  OW.  So picking her up under her arms would put a lot of pressure both on her sternum and on her incision.  We have to pick her up by her head/neck and her back/bottom.  A little more difficult with a 5 yr old than a tiny baby but thankfully she doesn't weigh that much.  She also can't be submerged in water.  There's a glue that's holding the incision closed and though it won't hurt if it gets damp then dried, it can't be washed with water or submerged.  In fact, on the bottom of the incision the glue came off when they pulled off the tape holding in the pacemaker wires and we have to keep a close eye on that part to make sure it heals appropriately and doesn't get infected.

Emma also is covered in bruises.  Not just the obvious ones from the chest incision, but little ones all over from other lines and procedures.  She has a very bruised lower-chest area where the pacemaker wires had stitches holding them in.  Her neck has scabs and bruises from her central line being stitched on as well.  One hand had the arterial line stitched in to it (all these were stitched in so they couldn't just slip or be easily tugged out) and is bruised.  Another area there was an IV.  With such a bruised up little kid, it's not just her chest that we have to be careful with.  it's her arms, neck, chest, belly...

This coming Wednesday Kristopher will start school and the Tuesday of the next week Micah and Brianna will start as well.  It's going to be difficult to continue to watch how much interaction Emma has with other people (especially kids) when we have to go get the other kids from school, but we will just continue to pray God's protection on her and that He will create a boundary for germs around her so that she (and the other kids too!) won't have to deal with any illnesses while she recuperates.  I'd love to hear any preventative measures we can take here at home to make sure that the kids that will inevitably be exposed to 'stuff' at school aren't catching it themselves or bringing it home to Emma.  I think we'll do some Vitamin C for the other kids and of course lots of hand-washing, germ-X, and probably clothes-changes as well.  Any other ideas?

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Brianna decided to eat her yogurt with her hands last night.  Then she showed me what a chipmunk does!

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Emma's scrapes, slices, and bruises- day 6 post-op