Sarah and the Prayer Shawl

This is Sarah with her prayer shawl. Yes, sadly, she needed some prayers two weeks ago. We found out back in October that Sarah's tubes in her ears had fallen out and that she did have a pretty bad ear infection. A visit to the Ear Nose and Throat doctor, Dr. Vaught, confirmed that yes, both tubes had fallen out and that Sarah couldn't hear very well. He said that Sarah needed to have another set of tubes and that this time he was going to take her adenoids out. So, two Wednesdays ago, we got up very early to head to the Mebane Surgical Center.

Sarah was in great spirits (despite the fact that she did not get her PopTart that morning) until the nice receptionist but a bracelet on her. Yes, this would be the child that picks things up around the house to put on her wrists. She was not having this hospital bracelet at all. She screamed and she screamed. I'm surprised the rest of the people in the waiting room didn't run away. The receptionist tried giving her a Chik-fil-a cow with a free milkshake coupon. She threw that one down. We finally just slipped the bracelet off and miraculously, she stopped crying.

They called Sarah back and she hopped off and walked back to her bed on her own. The nurse asked a few quick questions and told us to undress Sarah and put the hospital gown on her. Well, we thought the bracelet was bad... Kevin worked on her shoes while I pried her dress off of her body and out of her hands. Did you hear the screams? I'm sure the neighbors that live next to the surgical center were awakened by such a scream. She refused to let the kitty-cat gown get with in feet of her. She was not going to have it. The anesthesiologist stopped by and said that it was OK to leave her clothes on and continued to ask us some more questions. Dr. Vaught also stopped by. While all these visitors were talking with us, Sarah had grabbed her socks, shoes, and dress and had proceeded to dress herself. She actually got the shoes on the right feet this time, but the dress was on backwards which was fine with her as long as she wasn't wearing the kitty-cat gown. So, my two year old went off to surgery kicking and screaming as I'm sure you can imagine wearing her clothes- shoes and all.

Kevin and I headed to the waiting room as we heard the wailing get farther and farther away. When it was said and done, the doctor talked with us for a few minutes and then the nurse told us to follow her. We were both listening for the sobs and the crying... and there weren't any- none at all. Another nurse was holding Sarah and she was as calm as could be. I took her and held her and rocked her while the nurse gave us our "take home" directions. She did admit to hearing the screams thirty minutes earlier and was a little worried to have to deal with this patient of hers.

Sarah made it through just fine. She laid around all day on Wednesday and then was a totally different child on Thursday. She heard the garbage truck early Thursday morning, and I could tell she had never heard it before. She also started talking and singing (as this video shows) and hasn't stopped since. Her speech therapist was astounded when she worked with her last Tuesday. She said she'd never seen anything like it.

Sarah is very happy to have her prayer shawl. In fact she sleeps with it every night. I 'm not sure she is the one that needs it. The only way Kevin and I are going to make it through the next 16 years with her is through some major praying.