We are at E's bedside right now. She is still asleep. It took one hour and 15 minutes from the time we heard that she was done to the time we got to come to her bedside. They had a hard time getting her leg to stop bleeding when the cath was done and that is why it took so long for us to be allowed to come to her bedside, but it has stopped now. The doctors gave her a bit extra sedation because Dr. P wanted her to stay still for at least 30 more minutes to make sure the bleeding stayed stopped.
The catheter was inserted into a vein/artery in her leg near her groin. They have put a pressure bandage on her leg with a clear bubble on it so that we can monitor the insertion site. The nurse was telling us that there was a lot of bruising. But she let me see it and it isn't as bad as the picture she painted in my head. But, as you know, bruises always look worse after the first day as they get better than they do on the first day.
We have ordered E some chicken nuggets, french fries and strawberries. The nurses say the kids are very hungry when they wake up. She really hasn't eaten in nearly 24 hours, except for the breakfast that we had at nearly midnight.
I want to recognize our wonderful child life specialist Miss. T. She was so awesome in so many ways: helping to prepare E for the procedure so that she wasn't the least bit anxious and helping to advocate for us and E (making sure E got the IV after she was asleep, talking to the nurses to make sure we were at the bedside before she woke up, and offering to check on E when it was taking too long for us to get called to E's bedside). You are awesome!
Thank you to all of our friends and family for your support today! The nurses have already told us that we can go home at 9pm.
J&T
