The first thing I want you to do...

...is look at the picture from my last blog post.  Since some of you read my blog through a feed, do this: click on this link to read the blog:  http://oneyoungtwoyoungs.blogspot.com/

Look at the last picture of a puffy Emma.  And now look at this one:

Quite a difference, huh?

On Thursday, Emma had a decent day.  On Wednesday night, she slept relatively well.  She attempted some eggs for breakfast, and they came back up again, along with some mucus that had been hanging out in her throat.  She puked on her beloved Bun, too, which actually didn't upset her.  The sweet nurses in the PICU sent Bun down to the laundry, and he came back up through the hospital's tube system smelling like dryer sheets.  They just don't get any better than the sweet nurses here.

Anyway, Emma was acting very sleepy during the morning, wasn't talking much, and was still shaky from the meds.  She just seemed stuck.  She slept for a little while in the afternoon, which we hoped would make a difference...and I guess it did a little.  She snacked on a few little things but refused to drink anything, so they continued giving her IV fluids for the day.  She talked just a little bit, and her vocal cords sounded stronger.

Fast forward to Friday, and we saw a big difference...although the day didn't start out looking so good.  Emma slept for 11 hours.  You'd think a well-rested child would be a feeling-good child.  Nope, she woke up cranky and stayed that way for quite a few hours.  She got to take a wagon ride to the pediatric floor to see the fish, and she really could have cared less.  She wasn't interested in doing one of the things she loves the most in this world: stickers.  We managed to give her a delicate sponge bath and "wash" her hair to the best of our ability.  I put purple glitter nail polish on her fingers...still not a happy little girl, just kind of blah.  She kept scratching her head behind her ears, and one of the nurses had the wonderful thought to give her a non-narcotic pain med specifically for nerve pain.  At about the same time she got the medication, she ate a good lunch, and voila!  30 minutes later, she was almost completely back to her old self.  She did puzzles, was talking and laughing, and did crafts.  Then she got sleepy...she slept for an hour and 15 minutes, and then something really big happened.

We got moved.

Emma was moved to the post-op floor, which is a step above the PICU but isn't the plain old pediatric floor.  This is something fairly new at the children's hospital, and I'm thankful that it's here.  We still have our own room, which is even tinier than the one in the PICU, but we have our own bathroom!!!  That was the only good thing about the act of moving - Emma was still asleep when they started rolling the bed down the hall.  We got all the way to our room and instead of moving Emma's bed into the room, they moved Emma into a new bed, which of course woke her up.  So then we started all over again with a bad mood, achy neck, and a little bit of hunger.  She was lethargic and quiet until she once again got her meds and a little bit of dinner.  It's a very clear cycle: food and medicine make her happy.  Sleep and sore neck do not.

We are seeing glimpses of our little girl coming back, and she is definitely making progress.  I just hope that she isn't so dependent on the new pain meds that we still have to wait a few days to go home.

It's amazing how a little smile, chuckle, or cutting her eyes at me with a smirk on her face is now so treasured as an incredible blessing.  All of you with children, remember that, please.  I'm not trying to be overly dramatic here, but even a little surgery has made me realize how incredible yet delicate those moments are.