Temporarily Happy

Tehilla woke up in a great mood. She was talking, being silly and playful. She was playing with her balloon, and then played with her two Hello Kitty activity books (thank you, Cena!), colored pictures (thank you, Deena) and played with princess stickers (thank you, Michal!). She was in the best of moods...

Until the doctors came to put in two new IVs and remove her central line. She screamed until her voice went hoarse and tried her best to kick the doctors.

Now she is back to being unresponsive and down. We kicked everyone out, put her in my lap and are trying to get her back to where she was.

She was just given the all clear to eat pasta, her absolute favorite. Ron went to go get her some pasta and hopefully that will draw her out of this trauma. 

Sleeping Superhero

Last night was uneventful. Thank g-d! She woke up a few times, but slept very decently.

Awhile back, I applied to an organization called Tiny Superheroes. They make capes for kids with chronic severe health conditions and make capes for their super sidekick siblings.

We received our capes after Tehilla's last surgery, nearly a year and a half ago. She likes to play with it every now and then and I brought it with us to the hospital. Last night I took it out and she asked me to cover her with it.

So, here is my most incredible superhero princess heart warrior, sleeping soundly 3 days after open heart surgery.

Eating and Relaxing

We have been working very hard to keep Tehilla's spirits up, both by kicking PICU personal out but also by distracting her with many of her favorite things. Every now and then, when a nurse has to check things or change something, she withdraws into her self again. The more we work with her, the easier it is getting for her to come out of these episodes.

After she slept on my lap for awhile, we moved her back to her bed. She was calm and relaxed. I began to ask her if she wanted something to eat. Finally, I offered her cottage cheese, which she loves. She said yes to that, and when I brought it for her, she was so happy that she ate quite a lot of it. I had to finally take it away, so she wouldn't throw up.

It's great that she finally ate something. Now she is watching and relaxing and will probably fall asleep soon. Here is to a hopefully uneventful night!

Snuggles

The best form of therapy: snuggles! Tehilla needed a bath and a change of sheets, so afterwards we put her in my lap.

She fell instantly to sleep after taking this picture. We both needed this snuggle.

Bubble Therapy

We have started a new trend. It's called Bubble Therapy and it works on adults and children alike.

To continue cheering up Tehilla, we used bubbles from Eleanor (Thank you!) And from a clown and started blowing bubbles at each other.  First I would blow the bubbles then Tehilla would take a turn.

Not only did it bring the brightest smile to her face, but it is a physical therapy for her lungs.

We blew bubbles until the room was filled and started flowing out into the hall. The doctors couldn't help smiling and coming to join in the fun. And they were happy to see her working out her lungs.

Attack on Happiness

In possibly the biggest attempt known to mankind, we just attacked happiness head on. As soon as Tehilla awoke, we started talking very soothingly and upbeat.

When any nurse or doctor started to come in the room, in our nicest tone we said, "Hi Dr. So-and-so. We don't want anyone in our room right now. We are scared. Oh, you just need that paper? Okay!  Bbye!"

Everyone took the hint well and backed out of the room. Either that or they think I'm crazy and wanted to get away.

We then started bringing in tons of stuff. First was the awesome yellow and pink flamingo flip-flops (Thank you, Rita!). Tehilla was really happy about those. But it was the colorful slinky from Eleanor that made Tehilla talk. She said, "Whoa! Look at this!" She started making eye contact and talking a little bit.

Then we took out the big bag of pipe cleaners and pompoms that Grandma sent and made some fuzzy animals. That had Tehilla even smile and ask for a Hello Kitty one. The doctors and nurses peaked in and were overjoyed to see her looking more attentive and happy.

She also loved the Minnie Mouse balloon from Kalanit and requested Ron buy her pink ice cream. She actually had two tiny spoons! 

So the "Make Tehilla Happy" campaign is well underway and is making progress.

Depressed

The neurologist came to examine Tehilla and gave the all clear. She is fine and does not need any tests at this point. This was a one off unexplainable event and there isn't any reason to suspect that she will have another seizure.

On the other side of things, the psychological trauma of the surgery has taken its toll on Tehilla. For the past 48 hours, she had been poked and prodded, hurt and held down. She is now sad and uninterested in everything. She won't play or talk. She won't look anyone in the eye and she just drifts in and out of sleep.

A musical therapist was brought in to help, but she wouldn't participate and ended up falling asleep. He will be back tomorrow.

For now, she is sleeping but when she wakes up, she will be showered in all those goodies that everyone sent.