Accident Update

It just occurred to me that there might be a few of you out there wondering how things turned out for Olivia in regards to her surgery. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be deliberately mysterious.

Last Tuesday, we arrived at the hospital at 6:00am to a waiting room full of people who weren't well and those tasked with accompanying them to their outpatient surgeries. It wasn't a happy place.

Within the hour, Olivia had been processed through admissions and assigned a makeshift room in the back where we changed her into her hospital gown. The anaesthesiologist came in first to take a thorough history. He was fun, talked directly to Olivia and made every effort to explain the smallest details to her. He was masterful at managing her expectations so that her fear factor (and by extension, mine) was eliminated.

Next, Liv's nurse came in with whacks of paperwork designed to check and balance. For instance, one consent form described the surgery. After reading it, I said that I thought the description was wrong and we agreed to wait for the doctor to clarify before I signed it. Turns out, the description was for an entirely different procedure and the doctor seemed grateful we'd found the error.

Speaking of the doctor, he was wonderful. Being technologically savvy and keenly understanding a parent's anxiety, he had the presence of mind to photograph the inside of Olivia's hand before and after the nerve repair through a magnification loop. Thus, when we met with him in recovery, he was able to show us the extent of the damage and the repair. I know that may sound gross to some but for me, seeing a picture of Liv's nerve reattached and stripped of a neuroma that had formed, gave me enormous comfort. He was not able to save the artery, which apparently is not a big deal since the thumb has two other blood supplies. She wouldn't miss it. He also did some minor work to one of her tendons which was nicked in the accident.

Liv woke up and the last vestiges of fear that I harboured slipped away. We have commented time and time again that her handling of the trauma of the last couple of weeks has been amazing.

This Friday, she will have her cast removed and since dissolvable stitches were used, we probably won't have to see the doctor again. He told us before her surgery that by the time we boarded our plane for New Zealand, Olivia's accident would be nothing but a faded memory.

I believe him now.