48 Hours Later
Who knew 24 hours after the surgery would be the worst part of the ordeal? Tuesday night (two days before surgery), I think due to nerves, Munchkin had slept really poorly – therefore, mom had slept really poorly. Wednesday was not a great night either. Throw in massive amounts of stress (the fact that it was totally irrational just didn’t matter) and you have a great formula for getting sick. Adrenaline got me through the surgery, but once home, I came down from the high and felt terrible. My legs felt like I had run a million miles, my back felt like I had gotten kicked by a horse, and I was freezing! Of course, I had a fever. I made it through getting Munchkin to bed and then crashed on the couch.
Meanwhile, Sunita has done pretty well so far, except for the almost constant whining. During the first night she woke up at midnight for her pain meds and then slept until 6:00 for her next dose. So all in all it was a really good night. The next day she definitely did not want to eat or drink like she should. She also didn’t want to take her pain meds because they taste bad. So, Husband and I have been forcing her to do things for two days, which isn’t fun – but very necessary. Thankfully she seems to be doing pretty well. She has been up and around a little and is sleeping quite a bit. She even went on a short bike ride today. Still, the recovery is a bear. And her breath does smell like roadkill. All things considered, we are glad we decided to do it. Her breathing is already significantly better.
Oh, and not to state the obvious or anything, but developing a phlegmy cough around the time you have your tonsils out does wonders for increasing the pain level…
Filed under Home life | Comment (0)Hello Hospital, Goodbye Tonsils!
Here is Munchkin in pre-op. This picture vividly captures her emotional state. We went into pre-op about 8:00.
She played and was a total goof.
She practiced with her “grape” smelling mask and watched some Cinderella. She went into the operating room around 9:15, and the time went by quickly.
She came out of the OR about an hour later. She was much more subdued and wanted her mom. She sat on my lap and watched cartoons for a couple hours. Our doctor keeps young patients at least three hours post-op to be sure all is well. She had six Pedialyte ice pops and eventually soaked right through her diaper onto my sweatshirt and pants. She ended up doing that twice yesterday, which is actually a good problem to have, since not drinking is one of the biggest challenges with kids. Patients end up dehydrated and back in the hospital. Today (day after) she is much more reluctant to eat or drink, so you can be praying for more soakings, or at least more drinking.
Here she is at home with her pink (boy) elephant and blue (she has now decided it is also a boy) elephant. She is sucking on a sucker and watching cartoons. I anticipate this will be what she looks like for the next couple days. I’m hoping she will start to eat and drink more again. She hasn’t gone potty all day and I’m a little worried she isn’t getting enough fluid. I’ll be forcing the liquids after she wakes up from her nap. On the positive side of things, already she is obviously breathing better (and hopefully that will translate into sleeping better). After today, she will continue to heal and hopefully begin to eat and drink normally. In about 4 to 9 days the scabs will fall off and she (like all tonsillectomy patients) runs a risk of bleeding at that time, and it will also increase the pain again. After that, we should be home free. So hopefully we have about 2 weeks of progressive healing. Hopefully.
Filed under Home life | Comments (3)Curious Sunita
Well, today was the seemingly long-awaited tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy for the munchkin. This morning we got up and out of the house by 6:30 to make it to hospital by 7:30. Sunita was a little nervous on the way and protested going a bit, but without tears.
When we got to the hospital she was greeted by a very nice nurse and got a “girl baby elephant” (blue) that matched her “boy baby elephant” (pink) that she got at Jared’s surgery last summer.
After that she did amazing. She was so curious about everything, as always. We believe in full disclosure, so Sunita had been well prepped for just about everything that happened. When the anesthesiologist came in, she said she didn’t think Sunita needed the “magic meds”, (a.k.a. Versed) to help her relax before getting the gas mask. The nurse later came in and made the same assessment.
Although I was counting on sleepy, sweetie, crazy (drugged) Sunita, I had no such luck. She was incredible. She asked the staff their names and then referred to them as such. She astounded the doctors and nurses. After everybody had gone through their spiels and were standing around just about ready to take her to the operating room, Sunita said, “I’m ready to go now.” And she was. Alert, awake, and rolled away from us, quite OK with it all.
When the doctors came out after the surgery they said her tonsils and adenoids all but hopped out of her mouth and everything went great. When Sunita woke up she cried a bit, but overall it couldn’t have gone better. The drive home was actually the worst part. It’s an hour drive home and she was a bit nauseous and felt bad enough to be whiny for most of the ride. Honestly, I expect by tomorrow she will be about 90% normal, with occasional bouts of fits.
[ Note from Jared: Amy and Sunita are both down for the night (hopefully the whole night!) but Amy asked that I get this posted for all of you who are waiting on an update. Pics to follow in another post... On a personal note, thank you all so much for the prayers. Today was about as good as it could have been. I went into Sunita's room after she'd fallen asleep and her breathing was already much less labored than before. ]
Filed under Home life | Comment (1)I’m Not Naked
My daughter was getting in the tub last night when she told her Dad, “I’m not naked”, which she most assuredly was. Her Dad questioned her and she replied “I’m wearing brown”.
