Mariah's Second Surgery

Mariah had yet another surgery this past week at Riley. It was an out-patient surgery and we once again are thrilled with Mariah's urologist,  Dr. Rink. 

The past few weeks here at our house have been a little crazy. Please understand that we are fully aware that we "asked" for this. But it doesn't make it any easier. I had two kids to the doctor on Monday for coughing and wheezing. Kyle had trumpet lessons, then Ben has physical therapy twice.  

I struggled to get my normal daily things completed. Along with all of these appointments I had to home school my older four kids. Then at some point laundry, grocery shopping, three meals a day for seven people, ironing, taxes, bills, housework, then finally pack for our trip. 

My parents came down to watch the other four kids on Wednesday. My mom came to the rescue! She helped with supper clean-up and folding countless loads of laundry that evening. Jeremy took the older three kids to church and Ben and Mariah stayed home with me. They have both been sick.

I got us packed and resolved the scheduling issue with Riley. They originally told us we had to be there for 9am! Well, that meant Jeremy getting home from church at 9pm then leaving by 2am. The scheduling department at Riley did not realize she had surgery and a procedure. That finally got resolved and we needed to be at the hospital by 11:30. We got a couple of hours of sleep and were up at 4am and left by 5am.

Mariah immediately knew where we were when we got her out of the van in the parking garage. She began to cry. It really broke my heart. This place was not a happy place for her the last time. Obviously, she remembered. Excuse her hair, we just rode for six hours in the car.

Here she is waiting to go back for her pre-op work-up. 

We knew she was upset. If you remember my previous posts about her hospital stay you'll remember the trouble I had mentioned about her blood pressure. Well, that was just the beginning. Here we are trying to get a decent blood pressure reading.

We really tried. We encouraged her that it was fine. She was not fooled.

Then the Child Life Specialist came in to try to help. Here she was helping Mariah decorate her gas mask with stickers.

It was enjoyable but Mariah still knew something was wrong.

Our nurse mentioned Mariah's blood pressure being high. We have heard that many times. Next thing we knew, the anesthesiologist was there speaking to us about Mariah's blood pressure. Then a nurse practitioner came. Then Dr. Rink came. We looked up and there were three doctors, a nurse practitioner, and our RN standing in a very small room with very concerned looks on their faces.

Mariah's blood pressure kept creeping up. Dr. Rink and the anesthesiologist decided it was not safe to operate with her blood pressure that high. He got on the phone and consulted with the endocrinologist dealing with Mariah and then called a nephrologist. Her highest reading was 177/102. 

After much concern and time passed, Jeremy and I were able to play with her and they got an acceptable blood pressure. However, we were told that it was never at the suggested reading for a two year old. They allowed one of us to take her to the operating room. I begged Jeremy to go. I just couldn't do it. I have been strong for so much of this. I didn't want to see her put to sleep again. We already watched that twice before. She wasn't exactly sure what was happening here. But she didn't cry and that was the goal. I did though.

She was only  in the operating room for about an hour and a half. The doctors were kind enough to allow us to the recovery room before she woke. We requested that but didn't expect them to allow. She looked so much better than after her previous surgery.

We were not allowed to touch her. So we stood by her bed and waited for her to wake.

Then she woke up and was a little upset.

I tried to calm her down with a few princess stickers.

We took her from recovery to day surgery again. Not really sure why but we did what they said. After there for a little while we took her down to nuclear studies where they were able to complete the test. Everyone thinks she is so adorable. Of course, we do too. She left with her arms full of goodies. She had a pillow, a blanket, two rubber ducks, tons of stickers, a small toy, and a nice new sippy cup full of juice. They just kept bringing her things.

The test was over and we could leave that area but had to go to the doctor's office in the connecting building to speak with Dr. Rink.

We were the only ones in the waiting room. This waiting area served four practices. We were the only ones.

While waiting, we saw another little girl come out from the exam area. I glanced at her and she was about 6 or 7 years old and was Chinese. She looked at Mariah and gasped. I heard her say this to her mom, "Mommy, look! She could be my sister!" I just smiled. I believe she was also an adoptee.

We saw the doctor and he made it abundantly clear to us that we have to pursue this hypertension with Mariah. He told us that she was one blood pressure away from being admitted without surgery just to manage her blood pressure. Because Mariah's disease is with her adrenal glands, it is not unheard of for these kiddos to have hypertension. Your adrenals and kidneys help regulate blood pressure. 

It was a scary experience. I am glad we were in very good hands. I love the concern and degree of caring that they show towards Mariah. The good news is we do not have to go back to see them for a few more years. The surgery was mostly successful. 

She was happy to leave! And yes, there is a sticker on my coat. Whatever made her happy!

It took her all of about 7 minutes to fall asleep in the car.

We came home to a delicious ham dinner, my ironing completely done and some sewing completed. Have I mentioned how awesome my mom is? My dad and Jeremy also replaced our garbage disposal! Yeah, my dad is pretty awesome too!

As I think of all we have going on, my adoption friend, Brooke, recently wrote about an expression that we often hear. People often say that "God will not give you more than you can handle." To be honest, actually He does. God gives us stress in our lives to see how we will handle it. He wants us to fully rely on Him, not ourselves. If we could go through life handling everything on our own then we would never truly need Him. Thank you Brooke for writing about this and being an encouragement to me. Your friendship is precious to me.

This week will be super busy as well. Ben has physical therapy twice. I will take all five kids (by myself) to Columbus since Ben has an appointment with his pulmonologist. Mariah has speech therapy and three of us have dentist appointments on Friday. I'm sure we have to take Mariah to the pediatrician to look into this blood pressure issue. And I have to teach four grades of school. 

I love my kids and would do anything for them. I am thankful for a husband that does everything he can to help with some of the doctor appointments. This is just a season in our lives. I realize it will pass. For that I am grateful. However, I do covet your prayers as it is difficult to make this all happen without any family close by to help. I am tired and worn.



Isaiah 40:31  But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary;  and they shall walk, and not faint.