Chemo Port Surgery is Done!

Today Stella had her port inserted at Children's Hospital Oakland.  It was a short surgery and she did very well.  We checked into the hospital at 9 a.m. and her surgery began shortly before 10:30 .  The surgery lasted about an hour and we were out of the hospital and heading home by 1:00 p.m.  The port is under her skin and there appears to be only a slight bump.  It is pretty small.  She seems a bit uncomfortable from the surgery and does not want to lift her right arm.  She is otherwise doing great. 

We made this trip to Oakland a little mommy/Stella getaway.  Stella is such a girl and loves to go shopping, so on our drive down yesterday we stopped at the outlet stores in Vacaville and looked around.  At the Cole Haan store she insisted on trying on some (not so cute) pink heels and walking around the entire store.  It was pretty adorable watching her try to walk around in her heels.  She made me put on a matching pair, and we just had to have our picture taken.  :-)

We feel very lucky to have had so many friends in the bay area offer to let us stay with them if necessary.  I cannot express how much we have appreciated those offers.  Last night we stayed with my sweet friends Moira and Daniel, who live super close to the hospital and have an awesome two-year old daughter named Evie.  Stella and Evie quickly became BFFs and they played for hours.  They were ridiculously cute together.  Stella was sad to leave Moira, Daniel and Evie this morning - and she was especially bummed once she realized she was leaving to head to the hospital.



Overall, I would call this a successful trip.  It felt a bit weird to be back at Children's Hospital after our long, difficult ordeal in July, but everyone at the hospital has been terrific to us.  Stella was also treated by a few of the same doctors and nurses during this quick visit and they all remembered her, which was nice.  The thing I was most nervous about (other than the surgery itself) was the fasting this morning.  Her surgery was not scheduled until 10:30 a.m. and she was not allowed to eat after midnight and could only drink clear fluids until 6 a.m.  Stella did great though, which was a huge relief.  I got up several times in the middle of the night to give her milk and apple juice and she did not complain too much about food this morning.  Thank goodness. . .  I will never forget being in the ICU on July 8 (the day before her brain surgery) waiting for her to get an MRI that was not scheduled until noon.  She was starving and they would not let her eat anything before the MRI.  She literally kept screaming "Apple Jacks! Cookies! Ice Cream!  Cereal!  Banana!" at me for hours and then tried to search the garbage cans for food.  It was one of the biggest melt downs ever and I am now always a bit stressed when she has to fast . . .  there is no reasoning with a two-year old!!!!