Alivia's Surgery

This has been quite the busy month. First big thing that happened was Alivia's tonsil and adenoidectomy. From March until June of this year she had strep throat five times so it was decided that the best thing to do was to remove the tonsils and adenoids.

Her check in was at 11:15 am. She couldn't eat or drink anything after 10 am.

This is her and I at check in. See the bunny? That's Angel Bunny, the same "lovie" I took with me when I had my tonsils out. Not going to lie, this mommy might have cried a little bit when Alivia asked to take her along. Knowing that a piece of my mommy was going in with her.

12:05 pm we were in a room, she was getting her pre-surgical vitals and such done. During this time it was just her dad and myself (and her of course!)

She was such a rock-star in this room. Never even batted an eye or acted scared at anything. SO proud.

12:15 pm - gowned up and ready for the next step. The nurse warned us that there would be a lot of waiting and a lot of talking. We would be meeting the anesthesiologist, surgeon and a child life specialist.

During the boring doctor talk, Alivia got to watch cartoons and take silly pictures with me and her daddy.

1 pm - mask decorating. At this point we met the child life specialist. A child life specialist is a person trained to deal with pediatric patients. They help the kids to understand what is going to happen and make sure they don't have any questions or concerns about things. Basically helping make them as comfortable as possible. The child life specialist helped her to decorate her air mask and coated the inside with a smelly chap stick so it smelled good for her.

Once the mask was ready, we got to go get Frances, Stevie and Adler and then wait some more. As soon as they were ready, she would head back with the team for her surgery.

at 1:45-ish she was rolled back to the OR and by 2 pm she was in surgery. At that point, Jimmy and Frances had to go grab something for Adler to eat, she was getting cranky (well, we all were to be honest!) They kindly grabbed me something as well. I sent Stephen off to get some food for himself as well and I waited. The whole time I waited I repeated this verse in the waiting room:

Before everyone could even get back to the waiting area, Dr Robison came out to let me know how surgery went. He said that her tonsils were definitely inflamed and enlarged. It was a good decision to take them out. Also said that everything else went well. Someone would come get us as soon as she started waking from the anesthesia. 

We were back in the recovery room with her by 3 pm and she was miserable. First going back, it was just Jimmy and I again. She was coughing up blood when I first saw it. I almost cried. All I could do was sit there and stroke her head. Eventually, the nurse was able to get some meds in her (both iv and orally) and got the pain under control and also had some humidified air going.  Her dad got to hold the water and juice cups and I got to hold the popsicle. We took turns helping her out. I fed her the popsicle while he gave her drinks. 

Me helping her with the popsicle. 

By the time we left the hospital at 4 pm, she was eating her own popsicle, had already eaten one full one and another half and was working on the second half. That's almost two before discharge! I was impressed. 

Post-operation Recovery

Alivia spent her first two nights at dad's house then came to my house. Not going to lie, that first week was freaking rough. We were up every three hours for pain meds but it seemed to be working. 

As we approached Friday, I thought we should start stretching it out between doses, to get her ready to go back to school. The discharge nurse seemed to indicate that she would return to school the week after. (Spoiler alert: that so did not happen) 

The first night of that was a disaster. Before she was even due for her 3 hr med, she was up crying in pain. She was hunched over the toilet saying she was going to throw up. All she was doing was spitting, when I finally convinced her that it was just excess saliva, she calmed down a bit but still didn't want to leave the bathroom. I turned on the shower full blast hot to get it steamy, got her a popsicle and rocked with her in the bathroom for a half hour. Finally I was able to get her onto the couch and resting but three hours later, same thing, slightly less intense. I got about six broken hours of sleep. 

The days are honestly all starting to blend together. Lets just say that both households are now dealing with a lack of sleep and are just freaking ready for the healing to begin and for our poor baby to be out of pain. Frances has threatened to run away if we have to have another surgery in the household and I think I will join her. ;)

Tonight was her first night back with me after four nights. She is starting to act a bit more like herself again. She was rocking out awhile today to Katy Perry's Fight Song last night (after which she complained her throat hurt lol). Then she picked up a book to read. The whole household went to bed late, so her last dose of pain medication was at 10ish, and she slept until almost 8 am when she was a little upset about her sore throat. A dose of ibuprofen and a little time and she was back to playing. 

We are working with her on how to balance not overworking her throat just yet. She will return to school next week, just pray that things go well.