Saturday, February 20, 2010

Our brave little girl

Yesterday was the big day. Our daughter had her tonsils and adenoids removed. Quick note; adenoids have nothing to do with old Domino's Pizza ads, just in case you are like me and had no idea what they are. To be honest, I'm still not sure what they are, but I know where they are and that they slowly disappear as you get older anyway. So, if you are reading this, you probably don't have them any more. And that is your science tip of the day, boys and girls.

Anyway, it was a big day, but she was pretty good. She didn't cry at all during the morning, but she was disappointed she could only play two games of Wii bowling before we left. I think the tour we had of the operating room helped out a lot. She did ask if she was going to be asleep through the whole thing pretty much every chance she had. I can't count how many times she asked, but I don't blame her, I'd do the same thing.

We also got to see her nice and loopy after they gave her some 'happy juice.' I have no idea what it was, but she found it funny how dizzy she was after drinking it. She tried to get up many times and we had to keep her on the bed. We didn't need her getting her arm in a cast on the same day, though that might be a cheaper way to do that.

After she was wheeled into the OR, Jenn and I had about an hour to kill in the waiting area. I was surprised to see that Jenn didn't cry, I expected some tears. Maybe we were all al little calmed down by the OR visit. We spent the hour watching the Tiger Woods apology, then we had a quick snack in the cafeteria and watched some Olympic curling on TV. I still don't understand curling, but it always reminds me of watching the Olympics in the middle of the night when our son was a baby. That was the first time I'd ever heard of curling.

The fun started when we got to see her in the recovery room. She was not happy. Not that I blame her, she'd been drugged and couldn't remember anything from the last hour and there were holes inside her throat. Who wouldn't be pissed off? It took a while for her to calm down, which we were told was normal, then we moved into another room to have her rest and try to drink water. That was the big thing. She had to drink water in order for her to be discharged. The nurses wanted to make sure she could swallow and keep it down so we didn't end up back in the ER with a dehydrated little girl. At this point she was asking to go home almost constantly, but the nurse was great at getting her to understand what she needed to do before we could leave. The next thing I knew she was drinking the water and asking if she had enough. Finally she had enough and we got to go home.

We left at the perfect time where we could go straight to the kid's school to get our son and go home. The next hard part was the medicine. The doctor told us to make sure we stay on top of the pain. If her throat got too sore she would stop drinking then we'd be back at the hospital getting her an IV to get fluids into her. She hates the medicine, and I don't blame her. I didn't try it, but it smells gross. But it works. She finally took it all (I never realized how long it could take to drink one teaspoon) and she was sleeping 10 minutes later. I need some stuff like that some nights.

While she slept Jenn took our son to buy more Popsicles and ice cream, and I watched The Fugitive for the 100th time.

The nurses told us that today will be the worst day for her. I hope that's not true since I'm at work, but we'll see how it goes. I'm just glad the surgery over. Let's all hope for less strep throat in our house. Please. 

5 comments:

Dreamybee said...

I hope she's feeling better soon. I wouldn't have thought about the pain meds and dehydration, but I can see where that could be a vicious cycle. Best wishes for a strep-free 2010!

Mike said...

Dreamybee: thanks! We didn't think of that either. Based on what they said, it sounds like it happens often.

Cookie said...

I'm so glad it went well and thank goodness the meds work. I hope today is an easy day for all of you.

Mike said...

Cookie: Thanks. It wasn't too bad. It should get better as the week goes on.

Florinda said...

I'm glad she made it through the procedure so well and hope the recovery is smooth. Thanks for the report - and hope this does mean the end of the strep throats at your house!