Kathy and I took Claire down to Egelston Children’s Hospital early this morning to have whatever was left over from spring break removed from the swollen part of her heel. The doctor said it might be a fish or hermit crab, but since whatever it was had not gone away for a month, it was time to dig in.

Since he might have to work close to the bone, the surgery required that she get knocked out, so that made it serious enough for Dad to be at her bedside.

After getting all set up in the examination room with her hospital gown, bed-on-wheels, and getting everything measured that needed to be measured, the nurse marked the correct foot with an “x”. I asked should we write “not this one” on the other foot, but the nurse did not think that was necessary. Fortunately the doctor came by just before surgery and examined the “x”.

Claire got to drink a shot of something that she reported tasted like bad coca-cola. This helped calm her nerves as they whisked her off to surgery. Going down the hall, she raised both hands over her head and said goodbye to Kathy and I. That was a bit before 11 a.m.

The doctor came in around noon, and said all had gone fine. He had not had to dig too close to the bone, nor did he have to create a very big hole. Using his binocular glasses and spotlight, he saw something “sparkley” and took that out. He also removed some scar tissue and there seemed to be some embedded sand that came with that. No fish or hermit crab. Probably a piece of barnacle or oyster shell. He only had to put in one stitch.

About 12:30, they wheeled a very groggy Claire back into the examination room where Kathy and I waited. Her voice was very quiet, and she started asking questions. Over the next hour she dozed and asked all of these questions 5 to 10 times. Kathy and I would repeat the answers:

1. Where am I? (In the examination room where you started.)

2. Did they do the surgery? (Yes.)

3. Did they take anything out? (Yes. Something sparkley.)

4. What is this wire? (Measures your heart.)

5. What is this tube? (An I.V. for medicine.)

Other comments she said multiple times:

1. My foot hurts. (Yes, you had surgery.)

2. I see my finger twice. (Double vision.)

3. That chart has 3 columns. (It had two.)

4. Can you tilt the bed up?

5. Can you tilt the bed down?

By the time we left at 2 p.m., Claire was in pretty good spirits. She had eaten a cherry popsicle, had a sprite, and had some jello. She should be able to go to swim practice later this week.

Her only regret is that she cannot remember eating the popsicle.