Suture removal & Patience

This child continues to amaze and impress me along this road. She handled the suture removal yesterday like it was a walk in the park. Her sutures came out and her nose stents got cleaned out too (yay!). She also got some skin glue over top the incision, which is the crusty stuff you see in the picture. And she seriously didn't even cry coming out of the anesthesia. We were there when she woke up - she turned, look at me and then signed for "all done." LOL. She is a trip. I quickly took off her oxygen mask and gave her some juice. Then very shortly after that, she was unhooked, dressed and we were out of recovery! She did have a bit of an issue when I took off her hospital gown - for some crazy reason, she wanted to keep it on. Go figure. LOL.

We took her downstairs to the cafeteria to fill her up - she ate a whole adult-sized yogurt and a Nutri-grain bar. That's our hungry girl! Fortunately this was an easy peasy "surgery" ... just a bit of gas, no intubation and no IV, Praise God! So she was literally ready to go once she woke up. I was happy to let her sleep after the 5:30am wakeup call (4:30am for us!), but she just wanted to get out of there. I don't blame her one bit.

Once we were home, I got her down for a nap - she slept for almost 3 hours! And of course, as soon as my head hit the pillow to take a nap too, the school called because Lovebug wasn't feeling well. LOL. The life of a mom, right? Anywho, here's a really low-quality, grainy iPhone shot of Sunshine in recovery - a little sleeping beauty.

She is still doing really well - tomorrow is one week post surgery. She is definitely more needy than usual and wants to be with me all the time. (That works out well because I need to watch her anyway. LOL.) And I am completely ok with that - happy even, that she trusts me and wants me to comfort her. There are also times when nothing comforts her and she just gets in a funk ... like at lunch today :-) And that's ok too. I prayed and prayed and PRAYED for more patience this time around. And by God's grace, He gave it to me. Things that would typically frustrate me A LOT are no big deal at all. I feel like, in some ways, my heart has been completely transformed for her. I have this super-human bottomless pit of compassion for Sunshine right now, and it feels pretty wonderful. I can't say that I always felt that way, so I am extremely thankful for this answered prayer.

Going through surgery with your child is so very difficult ... even though the physical healing is not happening to YOU, the surgery takes it's toll on you and forces you to stretch in ways you didn't know possible. I have rocked for hours on end, and sung "You Are My Sunshine" so many times that I think I can do it while sleeping too. LOL. And when you throw in a strong-willed child ... well, you can guess it can be even harder. But somehow, we are almost happily getting through this recovery, nose stents and all! Sure, it's stressful and lots of things just aren't getting done (like the dishes and the laundry). But God has softened my heart to work through this - what an amazing thing. He has also given Sunshine the comfort, patience and peace that I so desperately prayed for ... oh He is SO GOOD!

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart,

and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways, acknowledge him,

and he will make straight your paths."

Proverbs 3:6-7