Yasmin's operation

So Yasmin had her operation 7:30am Wednesday morning which meant we had to get up for 2am so we could be in Manchester in time! Turns out we got there at 5:30am so we were way early! Better to be early than late though! So we went to the hospital once we'd met Yasmin's mum and her daidy and Yasmin of course! Once we got there, Nolan and Yasmin's mum had to go for her first appointment which was just to give her eye drops to swell her eye which would make operating easier, and to give her the magic cream for when she had her drip. Yasmin HATES eye drops, it's one of those things were there is absolutely nothing we can do to get her to take them (yes we've even tried bribery by buying her lots of toys, sweets etc) When the word "drops" gets mentioned she runs and hides and begs you "no drops now no Kimmi?" It's horrible, but I'll get to that in a minute.

So, Ceri and Nolan were getting Yasmin in her gown and everything and since it was parents only I was waiting in the parents waiting room, nerve wracking! So before her operation, Ceri brought her to see us, and bless her, she was in her little gown and hospital "bracelet" whimpering her little heart out. I know she's not even my daughter but gosh my heart was in my mouth! So they took her down and apparently she had a little cry and whimper but before she could have noticed anything they'd given her the drip and of course that magic cream is amazing stuff and she didn't feel anything! So we had a two hour wait while they did the operation (removed her cataracts and inserted an artificial lens into her eye) and of course she had to be in recovery for a good 30 minutes. So Nolan and Ceri were called to come and get her and her daidy and I waited in the parents room. Longest 30 minutes ever! Eventually Ceri came and called us in but warned us she was quite hysterical. I walked in and I've never even seen her like she was, shaking and crying hysterically, of course she had a patch over her eye and she was trying to claw at it to get if off but we had to restrain her because the light would hurt her eye straight away. And the nurses kept on trying to take her blood pressure and examine her etc but she was still in a state, it got me really angry when they were trying to grab her hand and things, I know it's their job but she was in no state to be grabbed and mauled, all she was doing was cuddling into us and crying!! I researched her hysteria and it turned out to be quite normal and called "post operative delirium". It's the whole idea of strangers, and being away from their family and comfort zone. But she doesn't seem affected now by it, she takes most things in her stride, she's a very brave little girl.

So anyway, this carried on for about 2 hours, at one point she was even crying "Kimmi, I want Kimmi, I want to go down to Kimmi" which made my heart ache so much, bless her. But she eventually calmed down, and I sat with her and held her hand while she was lying down with her eyes closed (she didn't want to open them because apparently all patients see after their operation for a few hours is a bright red light, which child wouldn't find that scary?) And I just talked to her about silly things like "what's your favourite colour...what's your favourite toy?" but it took her mind off it so can't complain, lol. After she had stopped crying, she was good as gold, whimpering a few times because of the pain in her eye but we quickly took her mind off it by taking her to the play room or offering her something to eat.

So that was day one, we left that day about 8pm and arrived the next day about 8am...when she was supposed to have her drops :/ she was not having it, not sitting still, not agreeing to lie back, nothing. And of course, she needed the drops to stop infection and to clean the eye etc so there was nothing left to do but hold her down and put them in. Sounds so cruel, but I've been reading online and a lot of parents have to resort to this, someone wrote "imagine your child was in hospital for an infection or lost the sight in their eye, how much worse would you feel?" and it's so true! The good thing is that she's gets over them five minutes after, we make a game out of it, she won't open her eyes straight after them, so we say "let's wait for Yasmin to open her eyes, hope she doesn't shout BOO when she open's them, that'll scare us!!" and of course she scares us, lol.

Here's a few pictures of the brave girlie...



Paisley cuddling Yasmin after her eye drops!







This picture of her in the playroom brings a lump in my throat, how she had been through so much that day and could still smile and play!



So, she has to have the drops 3 times in the morning and night, one type of drop every 4 hours and another type of drop every 2 hours. That's for two weeks along with keeping the eye patch on! Poor girl, but she has the drops then it's forgotten about, and she doesn't seem too bothered about the patch! And she's got the other eye being done in a few weeks too! I've been talking to her about it and basically preparing her for it! Not looking forward to it, which I imagine her mum and Nolan are dreading even more, but she has to have her cataracts removed before it starts affecting her school and things. So proud of her though xXx