UCLA

Well we made it back from UCLA, it was a long hard few days. We took Jenn in on the morning of the 22nd, we had to leave at 5 to make sure we were there by 8 since her surgery was scheduled for 10:30. She was totally trusting that God had the whole thing under control and wasn't worried. I, on the other hand, was a bit more worried, I know that God was allowing me to fret a bit. The surgery went well, her throat had closed up to about 1/4 of its original size and they were able to stretch it to about 1/2 its original size which the doctor felt would make all the difference in the world for her. They also told us that sometimes they have to do these surgeries multiple times since the scar tissue keeps reoccurring. UHHH, lets hope not. She did have some sort of allergic reaction to one of the medications so they kept her another day. She got to go home today, a little bruised but happy to be leaving the hospital. There is always so much to deal with when we are there, all hospitals are subject to human error, we had to deal with some this time as always, but we did have some great nurses too. I did manage to get some great picts of some of the surrounding areas to paint and sketched a very unflattering picture of Jenn with a rag over her eyes trying to bring down the temperature on her hot, flushed face. Jen said, how come when I go into the hospital you guys go into vacation mode! LOL we laughed, not understanding what she was talking about as we walked to a nearby restaurant to get dinner and talk. Well, maybe its the feeling that someone is taking good care of her and I can just relax, so shoot me.

When they were admitting her, the anesthesiologist was going to put in the IV, I warned him that she was a hard stick but he was confident he could do it. 15 trys later, Jennifer was a bruised, bloody mess, he kept apologizing and had to go get a pediatric doctor to do it. Her veins just kept rolling, or blowing when he would try and stick her! She never complained although I told him I wouldn't have been so nice. She has a high tolerance for pain but that was ridiculous! After surgery,that first night she was in a "monitored room" which was people on machines that the nurses needed to watch closely. It ended up being a room full of old men and she was the only female. She told me that next morning all they talked about was penis and testicles all night, she wanted out, she had had enough of that! She is so modest and hospitals are so blunt and matter of fact. We laughed as did her doctor when he had her moved to a room with a women. We thought our problems were over but this women was really miserable and had Jennifer calling for the nurse all night ( they had taken her call button away from her) and would scream and tell Jennifer to help her, using lots of expletives and slang. When I arrived this morning I found Jennifer on her phone trying to call the operator to get the doctor since the nurses weren't responding to the call button anymore! Poor Jenn, needless to say she tried hard to do what she could but was glad to be able to go home. LOL (Just a note about the pictures, the first is a playhouse across the street from the hospital we wanted to try and go to but didn't get to, the next is called Green's Castle in Pasadena, going to be on tour June 3 it is so beautiful and huge, the next is a giant flower that was growing in the courtyard eating area of the hospital, the flowers were huge, anyone know what it is? the last is Jenn, being admitted, some of the abuse on her left arm is already exposed by the bandages her kept putting on with those giant cotton balls!)