Our Lil Trooper [Part 2]

She's awake! Little by little Leyna was gaining back her energy and appetite. The moment she woke up she asked for bread. Her first meal she devoured 3 rolls, 2 go-gurts, some milk and juice. Then not much time for chit chat, immediately back to sleep she went.
She'd wake up for short moments, just enough to eat a bit then pass out again. Meanwhile we were always uplifted by visitors. Our friend from small group dropped by, and later another family from our small group came to deliver us a meal. (Not to mention our church has been arranging dinners to be dropped off to us at home these past few days. Our family here really takes care of us!)

At night Auntie Precious and Uncle Mike came to visit and brought her an awesome electronic Lightning McQueen car that sure got her to smile! Cars has been her faaavorite movie so far
...and this was her less than 5 minutes after the excitement, ready to dose off again...

Finally by 9pm that night Leyna was up and ready to walk around, but not so fun since she was limited while connected to her IV. She watched some Top Shot episodes with daddy in the lounge.

Once she was freed, she could go roam the halls with her doggy and car......and she was happy to get out of the hospital pjs... ...then a full day's worth of energy sped down the halls!

To no surprise, by morning Leyna was back to her usual self. Trying to carry things, running around, hiding, playing with stickers, and being photographer. She was also back to singing and my goodness, was she was screaming louder than I remember she could.

She was doing so well she got discharged in the morning. Farewell hospital!

Since we've been home, Leyna continues to run around the house just as playful as she was before the operation. Sometimes she complains her throat hurts but she refuses to take any pain meds. She's been going several days now without any medicine and without complaining, so she's definitely a tough lil girl! Since she doesn't even notice her wound, I'm constantly having to monitor her that she doesn't climb with her chin or do activities that could risk poking or pulling at her throat. So far so good.

Thanks again to all our visitors, for your the gifts and delicious food deliveries, and especially thanks for the thoughts and prayers sent our way. Praise the Lord everything went so smoothly. We'll continue praying about thyroid nodule and will keep you updated. Many blessings to you all our friends and family both near and far! We are so thankful for you.

Our Lil Trooper [Part 1]

Leyna's surgical adventure began bright n early at 0700 for check in. She had to remain on an empty stomach since the night before, so I was relieved she never asked for milk like she usually does first thing in the morning. They got her outfitted in some hospital gear and id tags, and she was able to enjoy some cartoons while waiting.Then we brought her to prep for general anesthesia. They provided an oral syringe of "giggle juice" to help her stay calm before they would wheel her away from mom n dad to go administer the laughing gas and IV. It's always a challenge to get her to intake any kind of oral medicine (she's never convinced "it taste's like candy!") But after she lost the wrestling match to some tough love, we kept her occupied with the nurse's iphone game and waited for the juice to take effect.

As one doc put it, it would be a similar to being drunk. We thought it was funny when we finally started to notice it take effect on her, so here's a little video of what it looked like...

She was so good-to-go she didn't bother to say bye. At 0830 they wheeled our baby girl (and her doggy) off to the OR. The surgery was estimated to finish at 0945, but they finished at 1015. The mass was larger and deeper than they expected, and to their surprise there was so little bleeding during excision that a drainage tube wouldn't be needed anymore. Yay! Sealed up with some dissolving stitches, dermaglue, and no dressing or bandage, the wound was barely noticeable.

Reuniting with Leyna post-op was my round 2 wrestlin match with her. At first arriving to the PACU was nice. A doc was carrying her and she was peacefully resting her head on his shoulder. They positioned me on her hospital bed to receive her and once they laid her on me, our lil beast went on a rampage to remove the IV from her hand, get out from my arms and out of the hospital bed! Imagine trying to hold still a freshly caught 25lb fish out of the water (at least I imagine that could be just as difficult!) They practically taped up her entire arm and she still managed to get the wrap off. After more re-taping, repositioning, wrestling, and calling "Popsicle stat!"...Leyna suddenly knocked out and started snoring away.

Ah the calm after the storm. They told me sporadic waves of cranky spells and sleeping are normal behavior by a toddler recovering from the anesthesia. The melting popsicle sat in a dish awaiting to be eaten, and doc was on the phone warning the patient ward about the feisty one on the way.

Doggy checkin out her IV and cool "light sticker"

Finally we settled in to her room where we over-nighted. Being in a hospital bed with her like this reminded me of Independence day '09!
Here's a view of her cyst before removal, and the incision site after. It's about 2 inches wide, but is hidden high enough under her chin that it should be hard to notice.
The next several hours were spent watching TV, resting, waiting for her to wake up and being ready to distract her from taking out the IV. (Ultimately letting her layer it with stickers helped!)
It was hard for me to sleep of course, so I was being a nerd killin time taking photos (hey it took many shots to time it just right!)...A lot of sleeping goin on...
Doggy was always ready to push the call button whenever the IV's alarm sounded for adjusting.All peds patients get this ankle bracelet to ensure they don't leave the floor. No alarms sounded this time around, unlike when I set it off while walking her around as a newborn!...stay tuned for Part 2...

Prayers for Leyna

"Dear Jesus, heal my neck!" Leyna recites everyday while touching her throat. She may not understand what exactly she's asking for and why we are walking her through that prayer, but we know that there are two issues we've found necessary to pray to God about.

Firstly, this Thursday morning Leyna is scheduled to undergo a surgery. Ever since Leyna shed her babyfat we've notice a peculiar lump under her chin, and recently we had it checked. Turns out it's a congenital defect (meaning she's had it since birth) called a thyroglossal duct cyst. To save you the trouble of googling what it is, here's a brief explanation. During early development, cells that make up thyroid gland originate up near the base of the tongue and make a journey down the midline of the neck to its final destination on the lower neck. That tube-like path it traveled is supposed to close up and disappear, but in cases where it doesn't do so completely, an open space remains resulting in the cyst. The cyst isn't painful or bothersome to her, but to prevent the possibility of infection later in life, it's best to remove it. The surgery will involve an incision across her throat and removing not just the cyst, but all it's "branches" associated with it's path -- which is a hyoid bone and some tissue at the base of the tongue. The procedure should only take about an hour or so, and we'll be over-nighting in the hospital with her. So please pray for the two surgeons and medical staff involved; for Leyna's comfort, cooperation and quick recovery; and mommy n daddy's energy in the week to follow!

Secondly, in the process of taking ultrasounds in preparation for this surgery, they've also discovered a nodule on her thyroid. This is a completely separate issue and different location from the cyst. Thryoid nodules are commonly found in adults, but it's abnormal to be found in young children and pose a greater concern since the chances of malignancy are much higher. At the moment the ENT specialist says the nodule is 2mm and too small to biopsy. We still have yet to hear a report of her latest ultrasound, which we expect them to address after her surgery. We are thankful the cyst issue is what led to the discovery of the nodule, so we continue to wait and pray for whatever lies ahead.

We'll try to keep you updated on Leyna's progress. As of now, she remains our super energetic firecracker as usual!