Tiny infection.

So it appears that the very top of Piper's incision is a little infected. We went to BCCH on Thursday and they looked at it being a little red as a sign of infection. We said it hadn't really gotten any better, nor had it gotten a lot worse, but they figured to deal with it.

They called the surgeon down (the one who did the surgery) and got him to basically, open that tiny bit back up and take a look around. Ummmm... Matt and I were just in the room with him and the cardio nurse, kinda curling our toes in agony.

The surgeon just whipped up his sterile tweezers and just with a tiny little motion, unzipped the very top of Piper's incision, maybe 1/4 inch? bit more? And then, with his trusty and steady tweezers, he started pulling out about 3/4 inch of stitch, which just looks like fishing wire. As it came up, the nurse said "aha! There is the culprit!" and he agreed and quickly snipped it short.

Oh my. I was on bubble-duty (yes, that is just blowing bubbles for Piper to watch- a minor distraction when someone has just picked an infected scab on your chest, no freezing, no nothing), and it mildly worked. Piper was screaming bloody murder. I've kinda blocked it out. That was more than I wanted to deal with, I think. It was maybe only one minute long, but I had never really seen blood coming out of her wound like that, and it did make me a tiny bit woozy.

But both the nurse and the surgeon were so good and fast. In another second, they had wiped up the blood and taped her up real nice and she was back in my arms, all sweaty and shaken. Poor babe. But I really do think that needed to happen. I am sure her having 0 neutrophils wasn't helping her fight that infection (we did get our customary blood withdrawal that day, too... of course). So it was nice to have that taken care of.

They sent us home with a prescription for some antibiotics and off we were. They are the fun kind of antibiotics that have to be given every 6 hours for 7 days straight. Oh joy. Luckily (insert sarcastic tone here), Piper has been waking up every 2-3 hours in the night, kinda a-la-newborn style. Tres not chic.

Anyways, since then, she has actually been sleeping better (I got my first 5 hour stretch since pre-surgery!), so I wonder if her infection was bothering her, or was it something else? We'll never know. But she seems better.

We go back to the hospital on Thursday, just to check in again, and maybe try again for an echo, as this last time did not go well. As in, it did not happen. Piper was livid at the thought of lying still and having a strange woman touch her chest. So yeah. No dice. The cardiologist had a good listen once she was calm and said she didn't need one right away anyways. But we'll see what they think this week.

Piper is wheezing a tiny bit and I don't like it much. It might just be diaphragm stuff or just that her breathing system is still recovering from all the interruptions or who knows. They will fill us in a bit more on that, too.

The surgeon mentioned that that part of the scar might not clean up as nicely as the rest. Hmmm... of course it had to be at the top. But, this is all part of Piper's story now and she'll never know any different. And besides, it is the perfect place for a pendant, one day... I'll try to get a picture soon, but we don't leave it uncovered long, as she soon feels for it and it's still kinda an open wound, no real scab yet.

So pleased with herself that she can climb things now!

Other than that, Piper is getting bigger and better all of the time (actually, she has just now reached her pre-op weight again of 17 ish lbs). She is taking steps on her own between things and people, has tried cow's milk here and there and been fine with it and has pushed through 2 molars (10 teeth total!). Not only that, she is almost 1 year old! I can't even really fathom it. Really. But it is happening.

She is such a big girl now, I've even felt funny sometimes calling her "baby". But she is still such a baby, but just a more mobile and active one.

For some odd reason, and maybe it had something to do with the intensity of surgery, but I feel so strongly that I am falling more and more in love with her every day. Such a strange and powerful and beautiful feeling.