Our Spunky Little Firecracker- Day 1 post-op

Brooke's surgery was nothing short of miraculous. While it took a little longer than we were expecting (she had an excess of scar tissue from her first surgery in China), she came out of that surgery rip, roarin', and READY to go. We had been forewarned by the anesthesiologist that she would be very "out of it and asleep" until at least the morning after surgery. They also prepared us for her ventilator (breathing tube) to come out the next morning.

Ha. NOT so for our little Cai Wei. Girl was ready to have that tube OUT, and literally 5 minutes after being wheeled from the operating room to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), our sweet girl was EXTUBATED!!! Woohoo no ventilator!! She also was fairly awake, but they did give her more medicine to try to help her sleep for awhile.

Well. Our first night was anything but quiet. Brooke woke up around one and was pitching a rip roaring fit that she wanted "HER JUICE" and she was bound and determined that she was going to get it!!! Meredith and Shyla were spending the night in her room, and had to literally hold her down to keep her from trying to roll/jump/crawl off the bed to get her juice. Because of the surgery, Brooke was not allowed to have anything to drink for a good while after coming out of the OR. Finally around 3 AM, the nurse decided she could have a TINY bit of juice with some ice chips...that did not cut it for our little princess. Girl was MADDER than a hornet and she let everyone know it! She would shake that cup to get every last drop...and boy oh boy...if you tried to help her with the juice, beware! You would be hit with a resounding "CAI WEI DOOOOOO" and find your hand pushed away from her beloved sippy cup :) In fact, for the rest of the day, all the doctors and nurses would come in saying "I heard we have a feisty one in here...she caused quite the commotion last night, didn't she?" Oh my.

We did have some great news though, as they were able to remove her catheter and her IV lines...because they CLEARED her to drink liquids! Woohoo!!! She can't wait to have the rest of her tubes/lines/cords removed!!! (and by that I mean...she is physically trying to remove them herself!)

Finally (FINALLY) she wore herself out from all that craziness during the night, and decided that it would be a great idea to sleep all.day.long. She even slept through a visit from the OSU football team that came to see her!!! I'm thinking that tonight is going to be rough....

She did wake up for a little while in the afternoon and was so happy. The doctors said that she is looking pretty good right now, but they are still watching her chest tube output very closely. They also wanted to see how her body would respond to fat in the diet...so our sweet girl got to eat some ice cream!!! She was so excited :)

We got to see her surgeons again...you almost just feel a sense of wonder when you think of what they just did to your child's heart. It's beyond imaginable. We are forever thankful to our wonderful surgeons, and for the way that they have let God use their gifts for His glory and good!!

10 minutes after surgery...Mom is about to lose it :)

Watching the team of doctors wheel our baby to recovery. The man in the white coat is our surgeon. We are so, so blessed to have had him do Brooke's surgery. 

Please continue to pray for no infection, for Brooke to NOT pull out anymore wires and to have peace and patience, and a very low amount of pain today. Also pray that her chest tubes will drain accordingly...those determine our "get-outta-the-hospital" record :)

We will update more tomorrow...thank you all so much for your prayers. We couldn't not be walking this path without any of you, and we appreciate your love and support so, SO much more than you could ever know.

Hugs from the Toerings!