Day 3 Post-op, Friday

I got to the hospital early this morning to swap with Jeremy. The nurse was wanting to stay on top of her pain which I loved to hear even though Haley doesn’t want to take it but finally does. I was told we are going home today but there are certain things we need to do. The Neurosurgeon came in and again gave me the impression he was excited about how well the surgery went. We will see him in a few months when her brain has had a chance to recover. We will do another MRI and discuss then what, if anything, we need to do next.

We had a few visitors from speech, PT, and OT but I told them we did not need a consult. Of course they didn’t like that answer but once I explained my mom is a PT who worked here and we have family friends who are other great resources they gave up and left. I didn’t want to pay for a consult I did not need.

Haley was sleeping so soundly around noon I did not want to wake her up to go home. We finished up all the paperwork, got the medications prescribed, packed up, then I woke her up. She didn’t like it until she heard me say “do you want to go home?”

She didn’t talk much, just a few of the same sentences yelling at me and anyone else. An hour after being discharged she was jabbering away making up for lost time. She was a much happier girl just for being out of the hospital. Her voice is a little different. I can’t really explain it, but she sounds differently then she did before surgery.

We went to my parents house to wait for the other 3 girls to come home from the airport. Haley went from laying on the couch to walking holding my hand to walking on her own. We were all impressed.

Her vision is a little off. In the hospital she seemed to be fine, but then again she wasn’t very cooperative. She was sitting on a stool when Grandpa asked her to look at something on a page. She way she turned her head to look and how close she got to the paper alarmed me. She is dominating her left eye. After a few more observations we played a game. I covered up one eye and had her touch my hand. Then I did the same with the other eye. She seems to see out of each eye but the eyes are not working together. I hope that will come with some more time.

She came home with some different behaviors. I am frequently telling her not to lick and not to hit and poke. I am torn between not wanting her to behave like this to being happy she can exhibit these behaviors.

Her sisters were so excited to see her. Haley was laying on the couch when they all filed in. They stood above her staring at her scar. I could tell their minds were working. One by one they walked away. Little Chef A was the last to walk away. The more she looked at it the worse her expression because. She looked very worried. Then she walked away just fine without asking questions.

When we got home Haley was so excited to be here she didn’t want to go to sleep. Jeremy and I realized how exhausted we were and just wanted her to go to bed and fall asleep!