Its been a while. Surgery + so much more

In the midst of all the chaos and happenings the blog entries died down. I sincerely apologize.

Malia went in for surgery, and it went seamlessly! It took about 3.5 hours, and time went by very slowly. We had a great group of family who were able to make it up, and it made all the difference. The day before surgery, we all drove up to Seattle and made a fun adventure out of it to hopefully take away some of the anticipation that must have been racing through Malia’s brain.

We started with lunch in town, drove up to Seattle before traffic would start to become a problem. Dropped our bags off at the hotel and then walked to this little outdoor shopping center near the University. We had a great dinner and, of course, made our way to the ice cream shop for dessert. We walked (skipped and hopped) back to the hotel while eating our ice cream cones- the weather was honestly perfect. Warm and sunny with a slight breeze. We ended our night by snuggling into the plush beds & squishy pillows while playing the girls’ favorite game…. Toca Boca :)

It was an early morning on the day of surgery, but it went surprisingly well. There was not a single complaint, and there were way more smiles and laughs than I would have expected for that time of the morning and that day in general.

At the hospital, we went back with Mei to get changed down to her gown and me in a ‘bunny suite’ - there were no pictures taken of this, but man, we should have!

Nick and Nakaia gave all the love, hugs, and kisses possible and then headed back to the waiting room. Dad and Julie were there with donuts & ducks (ducks will be mentioned more in a minute :) )

I was able to get in a few more special minutes back with Malia in the pre-op area for about an hour. We had every team and every doctor thinkable come in to review the steps, make both her and I feel comfortable, and set up with a plan. Mei got to design her anesthesia mask with stickers from Child Life, and then just a little bit of the nervousness kicked in for her. That was ok, and she handled it with a tough face and brave little attitude. The doctors gave her some ‘happy juice’ to ease the nerves and make her comfortable before taking her in. I will say- she was smiling, laughing, and playing Toca Boca while they wheeled her off, and I think she was rather content :) It went much, much better than I thought it would.

BACK - IT - UP . Going back to the ducks!!

When we all went up for the first round of testing at Seattle Children’s, the girls found little resin ducks hidden throughout the rooms, halls, and waiting areas. It truly made the end of a long 2 day testing trip seem more fun and happy. It brought them smiles and excitement while they hunted around to see how many they could find. SO. This time, my Dad and Julie brought up rubber ducks for Nakaia to hide while Mei was in surgery. They roamed around the hospital and found so many excellent places to hide them. Some in plain sight and some a little more tough to spot. Nakaia even got the joy of seeing a little girl with her mom find 1, then 2, then 3 of her hidden ducks. The little girl was so happy, her mom came over to Nakaia to ask if she was the one who had hidden them. When Nakaia said “yes." The mom of the little girl thanked her and told her that she loved them so much she wouldn’t even let her mom hold them. *talk about a feel-good moment