Tonsils

For a few months Zoey has been snoring horribly.  Like, wake me up in the next room, horrible.  I took some audio and showed it to my pediatrician and he said it was quite impressive and referred me to an ENT specialist at PCMC.  We picked Dr. Grimmer from recommendations.  We had our consult the end of March and he said they were large and asked about sleep apnea.  I realized there were many times during her nap, ever since she was a baby, I'd notice she was holding her breath and I'd shake her back a little and she'd breathe.  He recommended a sleep study or a T&A.  I figured if it was inevitable anyway, let's just get it over with before we brave potty training and a new baby.

They got us scheduled for April 16, which was perfect because it was the only week in April that was convenient for me.  Such a busy month...Since she is under 3 they told us she'd have to spend the night for observation.  With the ultrasound and then her tonsillectomy the following week, I was a nervous wreck.  I felt strangely calm for the surgery and only felt horrible after I had to send her off with some strangers and hope everything went ok.

There were lots of tender mercies that day.  She couldn't eat after midnight but since she's not a big breakfast eater anyway, I was super worried about drinking.  She has to have her apple juice first thing in the morning.  She couldn't have any after 6:30 a.m. as we had an 8:00 a.m. arrival time and 9:30 a.m. surgery.  I was planning on waking her up at 6:15 a.m. to get her to drink but at 5:30 a.m. she randomly wakes up and asks for apple juice.  I hated having to get up earlier than expected (because I couldn't go back to sleep) but it was such a blessing because she drank almost her full cup and fell back asleep until it was time to get dressed and leave and never asked for juice ONCE.  If you know how crazy in the morning she is about her juice, you would know this was an absolute miracle.

She asked for a snack as we pulled up to the hospital but as we got into the waiting areas with all the toys she got so distracted she didn't even care.  When we went back with the nurse  and got her in her gown, she did find a snack in the diaper bag and I had to yank it away before she ate it but was pretty distracted again.  We took her to pre-op and she played with the kitchen and pretended to eat the play food (break my heart, the kid is starving...) and played with the doctor's kit.

The anesthesiologist we had is one of two who doesn't like to give kids Versed to calm them before surgery so they brought in a child/life nurse who gave her a cloth doll and let her color on it and showed her the mask and let her smell all the gas smells.  She also found a Frozen ball (which Zoey wouldn't let go of) and got an iPad with Frozen on it to let her watch after she said goodbye to us.

The kid was incredible.  She usually HATES doctors but we'd talked about it before and we'd ask her if she was going to the hospital, doctor's office, have surgery, etc. and she'd go, "YEAAAAA!!!!"  We told her that her throat would hurt and she'd get to eat lots of Popsicles and ice cream and she was so excited.  Crazy...She even let them look in her ears, opened her mouth for the doc, did blood pressure, weight, etc. all without crying or seeming too nervous.  The child/life nurse said she did great when she left us and the only time she cried was when they put the mask on, she did not like that.  That made me cry.

The surgery was about 30 minutes and everything went well.  We got to go back into recovery and see her and she was clinging to a sippy of apple juice with one tear rolling down her cheek.  I held her in the chair and she snuggled and slept.  It was busy back in recovery!  But man, is my kid ANGRY when she wakes up from anesthesia.  She didn't cry too much but wouldn't drink and just slept.  They moved us into our post-op room I'd be staying in with her (it was like 10x10 - sooo small) and she was pretty clingy.  I was hard to even get away to go potty.  She ate a bunch of Popsicles and watched a bunch of shows while she slept and recovered.  They were nice and brought in a full-sized bed for her so I could sleep with her at night since she likes to snuggle with me when she doesn't feel good.  She eventually HATED the IV in her foot and the O2 monitor on her toe, even after we wrapped Baby Margaret's (her stuffed tiger) foot too, and since she was doing so well they took them out.  They even came in and told us that she was doing so well we could go home that night and not stay the night.  We opted to stay anyway just as a precaution.

Her Wela and Papa and Grandpa came and visited her and we all went up to the play room.  She had a fun time playing tea party and dancing and painting.  PCMC is amazing.  Once everyone left we got ready for bed and she scarfed down her Top Ramen and some mac and cheese.  She got really whiny as we got into bed and she ended up puking on my arm and the bed.  So we got the bed changed and all ready again.  It was nice to not be home and have to clean up the puke itself but that was the only plus to staying.  Our white noise machine batteries died and someone's monitor beeped the WHOLE night.  Plus, the night nurse would not leave Zoey alone.  She came in every 45-60 min. to try and slip her O2 monitor back on and Zoey would scream and kick and then wake her up for her meds and it was just a mess.  Finally at 3 a.m. I told her to LEAVE US ALONE and I'd put on the monitor when she was in a deep enough sleep.  I woke up 4 a.m. to pee AGAIN and slipped it on.  She left it on until about 7.  It was just so unnerving to wake up constantly with someone standing over you.  The resident came in at 6:30 a.m., right after I'd fallen back asleep, and said we can leave whenever.  We had to be out by 9:45 a.m. at the latest and Dallin was supposed to be there at 8:30 a.m.

I got up around 8 a.m. (Zoey was still sleeping) and got ready since my friend who works there was going to stop by and say hello.  It was fun to catch up with her for a minute.  I ordered Zoey some breakfast, that I ended up eating, and she was pretty sad when she woke up and said she was all done.  I think she needed meds and they didn't give her any.  They gave us medicine discharge instructions (the wrong ones) and tried to give me someone's breast milk they had pumped.  They had us confused with the room next door.  Finally we were gone!   She cried the whole way home and I thought she was going to puke.  We threw some medicine in her and she did try to puke (probably cause of the empty tummy) and passed out on me for about an hour.  She woke up a whole new person and ate a bunch of Popsicles and had a ton of energy.

That's how it's been since.  Mornings are really hard.  I think she's dry, in pain and hungry and then we get some Tylenol or Motrin in her and she perks right up and does great the rest of the day.  Looking at her, you'd have no idea she'd just had a really painful surgery.  It's been a lot better than I anticipated but I just feel so bad for her.  One thing for sure is that kid is tough as nails.  She's had a rough few nights as I think the scabs have been falling off or jarring loose.  We've spent a lot of time snuggling and watching shows (Frozen at least 3 times...) and I'm just so glad it's over with.