Savi’s Kidney Surgery Day 2012

So…after Ben’s exciting little night/morning~ we headed out to Cook Children’s Hospital for yet another surgery. I cannot tell you how much it meant to me, when my BFF & fellow quad mom, Gen McNulty, surprised me with her airline tickets to Texas for the week/weekend!!!

 

BEST. FRIEND. EVERRRRR! My kids just LOVE their Auntie Gen!

(And a HUGE thanks to her husband, Conor, and all the friends & family who watched the McNulty quads~ YOU made this all possible! Meant the world to me. LOVE you. THANK you.)

 

My sweet baby girl. Such a brave little thang. I was SOOO proud of her. (What else is new?!) It definitely helped having Gen, Joe, Papa & Granna there to distract her. (last time it was TV cameras! lol)

 

Thank you Aunt Ashley, Peggy & Larry for watching the boys. You guys rock and we truly appreciate you.

 

When we arrived to the hospital, we were bumped up to the first surgery of the day~ so things kinda went pretty fast and furious (which is a good thing). We didn’t have to wait around much.

 

The part that always makes me nervous~ is when they take Sav away from me, off to surgery. Will she freak out and start screaming for her Mama to save her??? Or will she be calm?

 

Preop was amazing because Sav was completely relaxed from the “giggle juice”. No tears!!! (from Sav OR Mama! tee hee) Thank you God for another great surgery send-off!

 

Genny and me, in the waiting room.

 

Thank you Rodney & Tempe for coming up to sit with us while we wait! Love you.

 

So, before Sav went off to surgery, I made sure and told Dr. Pinto to remember her first pyeloplasty on the Right side back in 2009~ she had something very uncommon causing the obstruction to her ureter. It is called a crossing vessel~ where her renal artery was anatomically (and incorrectly) positioned on TOP of her ureter (instead of behind the ureter, like it should be). Dr. Pinto had never seen this in a child before Sav.

 

BTW~Joe was nudging me like, “Dude, Suz- umm…he’s a world renown SURGEON…I’m pretty sure he knows what he’s doing…”

 

Which is true… but it has bothered me since I left his doctors office last month. I forgot to remind him of her renal artery. Perhaps it could be the same situation on this LEFT side as well. ARTERIES are serious stuff. One little snip and she could bleed out!

 

I told Pinto: “Don’t go cuttin’ crazy, doc!” lol. (I’m pretty sure Joe wanted to crawl inside a hole from embarrassment! tee hee)

 

Wellllllll…guess what? Ahem…Mama was right. It WAS, in fact, another crossing vessel. Sav’s renal artery was obstructing her left ureter, thankyouverymuch.

 

Poor baby girl was NOT happy in recovery.

 

 

SAV! Put the popsicle down!!! (She threw up several times, sweet honey)

 

Sav got lots of lovin’ & goodies from friends & fam who came by to visit! Thank you SO much: Lacey, Rob, Brooks, Annabel, Liz, Kinley, Maddie, Teryn, Taylor, Ashley, Collin, & Sawyer! Savannah is so loved. What a blessing you are to us.

 

Miss Priss finally resting, but never letting go of those balloons. Girlfriend & her kung-fu grip cracks me up.

 

 

Papa & Granna loving on the princess-sah

 

 

Auntie Liz, Kinley and Maddie~ putting a smile on Savi’s face.

 

 

After an afternoon of nausea and vomiting, homegirl finally got her appetite back for dinner! (Umm..yah, I’d say so!)

 

 

 

I sent Gen home to be with the boys for the night- and to keep them home from school the following day. What an incredible friend! I heard they had MANY “adventures” outside. Auntie Gen is SO fun!

 

 

Sav and I were actually able to get a couple hours of sleep in the hospital. But she was wide awake and ready to start her day at 4am in the morning! (cringe)

 

Not so happy a couple of hours later, eh?… Sav was ready to go home! (me too, muffin!) Oh, if looks could kill…

 

 

 

We finally got our “walkin’ orders” around 6pm and we headed home. Sav was SUPER excited to find her new Barbie convertible waiting for her!

 

 

 

Thank you, Marvin! Sav (and her bros) LOOOOOVE the new ride!

 

 

Bandage change on the first night home. It was pretty massive, eh? Poor thang.

 

 

 

This is what Sav’s scar looks like. (There is somewhat of a hole on the posterior side from the Penrose drain). Now, it will match her RIGHT side! (Not to mention, she has another, even bigger scar, on her lower pubis—like a c/section cut from her reimplantation surgeries). Her battle wounds! Such a fighter!

 

She was actually very proud of her incision and would show every new person who walked in. LOVE that she is proud of what she went through. Little girl is amazing, y’all. I just cannot even begin to explain it. And GOD IS GOOD! So good.

 

Thank you SO much for all of the prayers and well wishes. Seriously. Sav found comfort in knowing that so many people from across the world were praying for her. She would ask about it all the time.

 

Savannah’s prayer the night before her surgery (and I quote):

“Dear God, I love all the people praying for me all across the world.”

I had tears in my eyes.

God bless you guys.