Naomi woke from her surgery pretty well. The surgeon said that she looked really good going into the surgery and that she should likely do well recovering. She is not allowed to take anything by mouth because the digestive tract needs some time to heal. As her white blood count continues to grow, God willing, she will be permitted to start eating. She is no longer getting daily injections, but as long as hospitalized is getting her injectable med through an IV. So that makes my life much easier.

She was not happy about the no food rule but we will get through this phase…. Not without a few tears though, I am sure. But what this means is that we will likely be in the hospital for a while. I have sent Aaron home with my grocery list of things I want him to bring me. He will have to come in under cover of darkness so as to not be stared at as he basically moves me into the hospital.

Our new new room is set up in the opposite direction so it is a nice change. The simple things in life make me happy, like my chair on the opposite side of her bed. Considering how often I move furniture around at home, I was getting really tired of her bed facing the south wall of the hospital. Now I get to look out the window!

She is resting peacefully and does not seem to be in pain. She is still her fiery self. She was witty and sarcastic up until they took her into the OR. While recovering, she has had moments of silliness and laughing and eye rolling at the nurses. She has quite a reputation here because she is more mature than six year olds are supped to be and can give the nurses quite a job. They say they like her zip because it is better than being frail. It is fitting that she has watched the movie BRAVE nine times since being admitted on September 23rd because she is the bravest girl I know. When Aunt Dora was here with her the other night, Dora and she put the movie on in Spanish. She was able to say the lines in English along with the Spanish version – and that is not because she knows Spanish, but because she has watched the movie so many times.

The other children at home are certainly concerned about their sister, but I am so proud of how helpful they are each and every day. We plan to do a lot of FaceTime in the coming days. Naomi wants to see her cats and the guppies. We will probably show her that her bedroom has been undisturbed by her little sisters, too, because I am sure she fears what Caitriona and Niamh might be doing with her things while she is not there. All this to say that while she has experienced more than it seems fair for a six year, she is enduring it as well as anyone could ask and still has her awesome personality.

The calls, texts and emails continue to express your concern. We appreciate each of you. The generosity of blood donors is overwhelming. Last count, I gave the dr the names of over 30 people to the dr and I have a third list to give her tomorrow. Because this surgery was not as extensive as we feared (because the appendix was fine), we did not need as much blood as we thought we might. We are still holding on to the donor lists for future procedures, like a new catheter.

This is evening, she walked to the bathroom by herself.  I gave her a sponge bath and then she was able to put her own clothes back on. She really dislikes the hospital gown. After a few hours of laying down, she sat up on her own and played for a bit. Then, she laid down to read a book.

I think we might both finally sleep a bit tonight. I have gotten about 6 hours of sleep the past 2 nights/3days. She has probably gotten slightly more than that, but not much. We are thankful today went as smoothly as it did. Tonight, she talked about heading to the playroom tomorrow. That would be wonderful. I missed playing with her the past two days.