The Longest Surgery Ever!!

So many have asked and we have been so busy with school starting, I failed to update my blog! Paislee had her long awaited ear surgery July 16. We only expected a 4 hour surgery, instead it lasted 7 hours total. We should have know our morning was not going to start off very well. We were staying in Nashville at a hotel and at 7:30 we received a phone call from Vanderbilt saying that our doctor had a cancellation and we could come in two hours early. We hurried and got ready and were glad we were staying in Nashville and not driving from home. We get to Vanderbilt Childrens and get called back. They get Paislee's stats and get her ready in pre op and we wait and wait and wait. We go through the drill and meet everyone but the doctor. We then see the doctor and think finally....but he goes to another patient. It is now lunch time and we are getting close to the time when our surgery was originally scheduled. Paislee is getting antsy in the hospital gown. The ENT comes out 20 minutes later from a tonsilectomy to meet with us. We talk to him and they had called the wrong patient to come in early. He knew that he couldnt fit us in the little timespan that he had from his cancellation so there was miscommunication. So we are finally headed to surgery. They had already given Paislee her "happy juice" to relax her to go into anesthesia.The doctor told us it would take the afternoon and we were told they would call us halfway during surgery. Two hours go by and we receive a phone call that Paislee is doing well and that she was still in surgery. So we expect they are halfway through. We then wait and wait and two more hours go by. We now expect to go into recovery soon. We get another phone call. The nurse says that Paislee is doing well and she is still in surgery. We then ask how much longer do they think and they reply with maybe another hour and a half. Rick and I just looked at each other. We knew then that this would not be good. Our four hour surgery has now turned into six hours. This was longer than open heart surgery! Finally at 7:00, the doctor comes to the waiting room and finds Rick and I. Usually they bring you back to a consult room and they talk to you there, so we saw him and we gave each other a look. Our doctor then told us all the things he had done in the past hours. Paislee had her ear drum reconstructed again, she had her hearing bones replaced with titanium implants, and had holes drilled in her mastoid bone to allow more airflow. The doctor said that there was so many diseased cells and scar tissue buildup that it was amazing that she could hear anything. He understood why she would cry when a doctor would look at her ear. He said he did everything he could think of to do while he was in there. Wow! Who would have ever thought. All of this and Paislee never complained of pain. The doctor did some of the procedures laser and then Paislee has an incision behind her ear where he had to go in and drill. Again, we are lucky to have such wonderful doctors at Vanderbilt. Paislee was on pain meds, but she is doing very well now. He ear is filled with antibiotic ointments and packing and that will dissolve within the coming weeks, but she is a trooper! I am so so proud of her. We hope and pray that this is the last ear surgery and that this will correct her problems. We go back at the end of the month to see if we made any progress though we were told it would be 4 months before we notice a difference. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!