Wake-Up Brenna

We checked in this morning at 5:45 at Le Bonheur. Brenna was ready to go. Dad and Mom, (me) on the other hand were a little bleary eyed. I know I'm supposed to lie down and sleep in peace, but I think I looked at the clock every half hour. I finally got up at 4:45 and took a shower. As it turns out, it was a good thing I couldn't sleep because David had set his alarm on his phone for the wrong day.

Anyway, we got checked in and went right up to a room on the same-day surgery floor. The nurse came in and took blood and vitals, etc. By 7:00am they took us back to the "Bunny" room. It's the room where the patients get to pick out a new toy of their choice and then after surgery they can have it. We proceed through the bunny room and into the surgery waiting area. As soon as we got there, Dr. Boop met us. He told us that they had an emergency and he was going to have to operate on a boy and we'd have to be delayed. He was very kind and of course, we understood. If ours was an emergency, we'd want to have priority too. So, we went back to the room and waited........and waited........and waited some more. Brenna was pretty entertaining at first. Mamaw was there and some dear friends from Cleveland. Also, the music minister from East Win came. She was singing and dancing for a while, but then she got frustrated with the waiting and was bummed out. Finally, at about 11:15am, they called us back again. She got to pick out a second toy in the bunny room and then we went in and Dr. Boop showed us the picture of her brain. The anesthesiologist met with us and said they could possibly take out her loose tooth during surgery. Brenna was very happy about that.

Finally, we had to let her go. She took her stuffed dog and horse with her and practically skipped down the hall to surgery. As upbeat as she was, my heart was heavy watching her go. I'm familiar with that feeling because we've done it a few times, but it doesn't get any easier. It's that horrible, helpless feeling that makes you almost nauseous when they close the door behind her.

So, we went back to the room to wait......and wait.........and then we went down to eat lunch and then we waited........and waited some more. Of course they called every hour. They had said the surgery could take up to 3 or 4 hours, but it only took about an hour and a half. But then of course they had to close her up and then she went to recovery. They took her to the PICU for a while because her oxygen levels were low. But she didn't have to stay there. Finally at about 5:00pm, they called and said that they were going to take her up to a room on the EMU (epilepsy monitoring unit) and we could go up and wait for her. It was so good to finally see her be wheeled into the room where we could finally be with her and touch her. She was totally out of it, though. It took them about an hour to hook the wires up to the monitoring system that were coming out of her head. Each electrode that's on/in her brain has 16 or more hair-like wires that are twisted inside of one bigger wire. She has countless wires coming out of her head. It blows my mind. They put the electrodes in several different locations on the top and bottom of her brain and even inside where the tumor bed is. Her head is wrapped up in a turban style bandage. She's responded a little when we asked her to squeeze our hands or wiggle her toes, but she's still sleeping very soundly. One of the other doctors who was in the surgery came in and kind of made me a little nervous because he's concerned about her not waking up yet. But, Dr. Clarke - her epileptologist, who was also in the surgery, called the room and talked to David. He said that he thinks she's just in real need of some rest. He didn't want us to be overly concerned. That's easier said than done, but I trust him.
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So, we're waiting for her to wake up and hoping she does soon. She's snoring pretty well right now. I hope she gets the rest she needs to recover and then wakes up when she's ready - which is hopefully within the next hour or so. If she doesn't wake up by 9:00pm, they'll probably do a CT scan to check for bleeding. We're hopeful it won't come to that.

Oh, and, they did remove her loose tooth, so she will be getting a visit from the tooth fairy tonight. (If the tooth fairy remembers and can get herself out of bed.)