Elissas story Part 13 The next few days were horrible, Elissa wasnt improving and every day she seemed to be getting more swollen. The nurses kept telling me it was just due to fluid build up. They also reassured me that she wasnt in a lot of pain as they had her pain under control with morphine. By Thursday August 25th she had swollen so much she no longer looked like my little girl, it was so hard sitting by her incubator not knowing if she would pull through. Around 10.30 the surgeon from Ninewells Hospital and a visiting surgeon from Edinburgh Sick Kids came to see us and the decision was made then that surgery was the only option. So for the next few hours things were hectic, the staff were organising a theatre plus trying to organise a transfer for another baby. At 1.30pm the staff realised the travel incubator to transport Elissa was broken, so I began to panic as any parent would. The mum of the baby being transferred offered to wait so we could use the other incubator but that wasnt an option as transport was already booked. In the end the decision was made to hand ventilate for the 5 minute trip down to theatre. At 2.30pm Elissa was transferred in to the travel incubator and I noticed that all the other parents in the unit (6 sets) left the room to give us a few minutes alone with our gorgeous girlie. I took a photo, I knew it was silly but I wanted one last one just in case. We gave our baby a kiss and told her to get back quickly. The next 3 hours were the longest of our lives but we got news Elissa was on her way back to the NICU and without a stoma. We couldnt believe it, the surgeons were pretty certain she would need one. We had to wait until she was settled back in her incubator before we could go see her but when we did I just sobbed with relief. I had convinced myself she wouldnt be coming back.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 18:27:00 +0000