Ella's Story: Recovering after surgery.

Earlier today Ella underwent surgery to remove her adenoids and tonsils, in addition to having her throat and airway examined, to determine the amount of damage done to her swallowing, breathing and speech mechanisms from the stroke.

I went up to the hospital to see her at around 8:30, just as it was starting to get dark. 

 Exiting the lifts on Level 3, they had some nice Christmas decorations up.

 After making my way through the corridors and into the ward, I found Ella's room after a minute or two wandering around. Quietly walking in, I saw her cuddled up with Baba on her bed, watching Beauty and the Beast on her little DVD player, while Emily was sitting on a lounge, trying to download some games and applications for Ella's new ipad.

 She was still quite groggy and out of it due to the anesthetic and medications for the surgery, but she turned her head to look at me when I said hello. She mumbled something along the lines of 'Hi Rowy...you came to see me', (neither Emily or I were quite sure) then went back to watching the movie. I think she was actually doing better than expected considering the amount of time she was under a general anesthetic, and the procedures she had done.

 The nurses were busy sorting out Ella's medications for the night.

She was still in some pain from the surgery, crying and saying her tummy hurt, which was upsetting to see. But after doing some of the meds and helping her stand up for a minute for a hug, Emily softly sang a lullaby while she stroked Ella's hair, and she soon nodded off to sleep for the night.

 With Ella slumbering peacefully, Baba and Emily gave her some water through the tube. Since she was going to be staying the night, Emily gave her some tips on the best method of giving her the bolus feeds of water.

 One of the nurses came in to put the rails on Ella's bed up, leaving her looking very small in the big bed and big room.

 After bringing in some more syringes and a doing a final check of the monitors and IV drip levels, Ella's nurse was happy to leave her to sleep.

 With Baba prepared for her overnight stay and the nurse sitting by her door, Emily took a couple of photos of Ella on her phone and said goodnight, and we both quietly slipped out of the room, hoping tomorrow would be a brighter day.