Little Surgery, Big Girl

Taelyn waits for her surgery

After careful consideration with a doctor, we decided to have Taelyn's birthmark removed, and the procedure was yesterday.  It was a really long day, but Taelyn was a champ.  We got to the hospital at 6:30am, checked in to Taelyn's room in the paediatric ward, and waited and waited and waited.  She finally went in to surgery at 10am.  I got to go in with her to start until she was sedated.  The anaesthesiologist was fantastic (brought in specifically to work with young children) and played some balloon blowing games with her until she fell asleep.  She also got to bring her blankie with her on the operating table to feel comfortable.

The surgery was only an hour long, and then Taelyn was brought back to her room to "wake up" a bit from the anaesthesia.  Once she got some lunch, she was bouncing all around the ward.  She had such a blast going from room to room, playing with the other kids, meeting up in the playroom from time to time, and then taking a break to watch Disney Junior from her bed.

Post-surgery picture

After meeting back up with surgeon at the end of the day, we were finally released at 4:30pm to go home.  To celebrate a fantastic day, our whole family went to our school to watch the MS theatre production of Beauty and the Beast.  The girls absolutely loved the performance.  Taelyn was pretty calm and lay in Justin's lap most of the time, but Kaelia was a little chatterbox.  She found the quietest moments in the play to  say something loud enough for everyone around to hear: "They want to kill the beast!" "He's a human!" "He said spider!" etc.  She was a riot.

For the next week or so, Taelyn will have some bandages on her forehead, and then her stitches will be removed and the scar-healing process begins.  The doctor says it should take about 6-8 months before it looks like a normal, small scar, but it shouldn't be too noticeable.  Taelyn is certainly okay with the decision and looks back on the day fondly as she remembers all the fun she had in the paediatric ward.