Helen Watermelon

I found this on the back of one of Helen's school papers - she calls herself Helen Watermelon.

Helen had surgery to repair 2 hernias on January 21.  We had to be at the hospital by 8am.  We drove through a bit of snow during our 1 hour drive to the hospital.  We were called back to prep room where Helen put on her special outfit and got ready for her surgery.  She was very brave and mom just tried to look brave :) 

She got a special little penguin from a friend on her swim team.  She was able to take the penguin with her to the operating room.  She named this penguin Helen Martha Kay Randolph Watermelon.  This made all of the OR staff laugh :)  When she was finished with her surgery - the doctor came out and the first thing he said to me was "Helen made us all smile before her surgery - she had quite the stories to share with us!".  She did great throughout the whole process and the surgery went as expected.  As they wheeled her down for surgery - I found myself asking her for just one more kiss.... just one more kiss..... just one more kiss. She finally asked my "Mom - why do you need so many kisses?" - and I could not answer her without a tear in my eye.

Helen arrived home to a sweet bear and bunch of flowers from Grandma.  That made her day :)  They did not give her any additional pain medicine (which was fine with me).  I gave her a little Motrin before bed and fully expected her to be up throughout the night in pain.  She slept on a mattress in our bedroom.  She slept the ENTIRE night!  No pain, nothing!  I, on the other hand, did not sleep AT ALL!  I kept waking in anticipation that she was in pain or not breathing.  She stayed home from school on Tuesday and then decided on Wednesday that she was feeling much better and so she went to school.  She said she got to sharpen pencils at recess and stamp papers during gym on her first day back!  She loved it!  One of her friends immediately greeted her as we approched the school on Wednesday morning " Helen - I missed you SO much!".  Then as we walked into the classroom - many of her friends offered hugs and greetings.  One little girl said "Helen - I hurt for you during your surgery"