Settling In

Yesterday, around noon, we got transferred up to a room on the 3rd floor, as predicted. The room allocation gods were smiling down on us, as we received a private room with -- get this -- a window and a real cot for me to sleep on (as opposed to a fold-out chair).

Not exactly the Four Seasons, but it's a good place for now.

Charlotta was pretty groggy for most of yesterday. She was able to eat and drink a tiny little bit, but spent most of the day dozing in and out of sleep. All of this is very typical after a surgery of her type, and the doctor is very happy with her progress.

Steve brought Jack and Ashley down for a visit last night around dinner time. As said, Charlotta was pretty sleepy, so she didn't get to interact with them very much, but it seemed to put their worries to ease about their sister. I think once they could visualize where she was and see that she was tired, but otherwise OK, it gave them some comfort.

Today's agenda includes a visit from my Mom. (I asked her to bring me some hand cream because I seem to be washing my hands 57 times a day with antibacterial soap -- hospitals always make me want to wash my hands). I hope I'll also get a chance to go outside for a walk when my Mom's here to watch Charlotta.

We're also scheduled for a chest x-ray sometime today. The surgeon had to deflate Charlotta's right lung during the operation because he removed a few of her disks through an incision under her arm. She currently has a chest tube in to drain away any of the extra fluid that collects from that part of the operation. Today's x-ray will tell us if her lung is back to normal function and the chest tube can come out.

I've also just had the physiotherapist pop into our room. Charlotta is sleeping right now, but he's going to come back later and see if we can get her to sit up. This ought to be interesting... He said it's best if kids start moving as soon as they can after this type of operation -- which is a far cry from the way things used to be a few decades ago when kids would be in body casts for months after spine operations. As the surgeon explained to us, the "cast" is now inside her body in the form of the metal rods, so she is able to get up and around a lot quicker. Thank goodness for medical advancements -- three months in a full body cast does not sound fun!