Esther's Surgery

On February 11th, Esther had surgery to correct her VUR. She had a surgery done in July (that I wrote about in this post). After dealing with this for five years we were so hopeful that the surgery in July would fix things. In October we found out that the procedure fixed one side and made the other worse. That was hard to find out, but after getting over the initial sadness, I felt at peace about Esther having this second surgery. 

I had read and talked with Drs often about this surgery as we've discussed treatment for Esther over the years. I had heard it was really rough with a hard recovery. So I was preparing myself and Esther for that. Esther had been praying for months that her surgery "wouldn't hurt at all". I had hoped that that would be the case but I had no faith in it happening, I tried to tell her that sometimes Heavenly Father lets us feel pain to help us grow but that he will always send us comfort. 

The day of the surgery finally came around and Esther was nervous leading up to it but very happy once Leland and I got to the hospital with her. We promised her a bunk bed after the surgery so that helped ease some of her anxiety. Before the surgery they had this cute car that Esther loved and a fun playroom to play in while we waited. Esther was having so much fun. 

After her first surgery Esther woke up so groggy and grumpy and sad. This time she was super sleepy but never upset. I was so grateful for that. She drank two slushies and ate right away. Usually we are bugging the nurses to discharge us while at the hospital. This time, the nurse was trying to let us go right away and I had to ask to stay a bit longer to make sure she was okay. She was and she had a little bit of pain at first, but never complained, slept great, and by the next morning was acting totally back to normal. I was amazed! 

She loves her bunk-bed and we were so blessed with many kind friends and ward members bringing food and gifts over for Esther. 

This recover has been so much easier than her first one. She is 9 days past surgery and her only complaint is that she is itching to get back to all her wild activities which she isn't allowed to do until two to three weeks past surgery. When I was talking to her about what a miracle it was that she recovered so easily when the Dr's had told me that she would be in a lot of pain for a few days she said "I guess the Dr's didn't know about all the people praying for me." She is the best, she has taught me that I need to have the pure faith of a little child. 💓

She has a follow up in 6 weeks, so we aren't out of the woods yet, but  I am so hopeful that everything is all corrected and after that we won't have to visit the hospital for a long time!