Puddin' pop had her tonsils and adenoids out on the morning of Thursday the 2nd.
I thought two was too young to have this done, but the doctor reassured me that under two is a no-go and over two is fine. Ilsa was two years and one month when she had surgery but that isn't important to anyone but me.
On to the story.
We checked in at 0615 (that's military time for you plebes) and were put in a small room with a crib and two chairs to sit and wait. Ilsa happily watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on my phone and Mark attempted to sleep in the uncomfortable plastic chair. I wanted to sleep as well, but had I fallen asleep, my child would have fallen off of my lap and probably required more surgery. So I stayed awake.
Our first nurse, Alissa, gave us the challenge of talking Ilsa into the gown. We bribed with TV shows and anything else we could think of (except food and drink) until Alissa came back with a strip of Dora the Explorer stickers and asked Ilsa if she could decorate the gown with them. Ilsa didn't want to do that, but she did finally put the gown on and then told her dad where to put the stickers...mostly on himself and her baby doll.
She was quite excited about the "bracelets" they put on her wrist. The first one had her name, which she kept pointing to, and the second one had her allergy to Amoxicillin. Those were interesting for about 5 minutes and helped distract her when the nurse and anesthesiologist brought in her pre-op medication, also known as the amnesia drug. They were smart enough to put it into a plastic syringe because that is what I use at home for medicines with the girls. She would only allow me to do it, but took all of it and made nasty faces while doing so.
They waited a bit to take her back to the O.R., and when Tandy, the nurse, came to whisk her away, she was a tad bit loopy and kept repeating herself or answering questions with unrelated topics. She only cried a tiny bit when Tandy wrapped her up, but as soon as they started down the hall she was quiet. I did well and didn't cry with her, but I kind of wanted to.
Then we sat and waited. Another nurse came and moved us (and the crib) to a new room. Same size and style, different number. Our new attending nurse was Cheryl, who was so great I can't describe her any better than that. She offered us food and drinks, made small talk, and had juice, Popsicles, and applesauce ready before Ilsa came back.
She was taken away at 7:45 and Dr. Howell came to give us report at 8:20, so the entire thing lasted about 30 minutes, which is exactly what he told me at our consultation appointment. He said she did wonderfully, only lost approximately a teaspoon of blood overall, and other having to put the IV in her foot (after failed attempts in both hands), it was totally smooth.
Two nurses walked her back to us, bundled in warm white blankets and handed her to me sound asleep. If I adjusted my position or jostled her at all, her eyes would fly wide open and she'd stare at me for a second before saying, "Mamaaaa" and then going back to sleep. The crusty nose and mouth and pale skin did not scare me as much as seeing her big blue eyes, dilated and practically looking in two different directions. That's not something a mother can forget fast enough.
After 25 or so minutes of holding her, she started to come about and so we tried to get her to try the Popsicle, applesauce, and apple juice. She didn't want the food, but loved the apple juice because there was a straw in it. She had some issues getting the straw into her mouth and when Mark tried to help her she slurred, "NOOOOO, AH DO EEEET!" and then proceeded to poke herself all over the face before finding her mouth, which set us laughing for a few minutes.
When she was mostly awake, another great nurse, Nancy, came in to take out her IV and clean her up a bit so that we could discharge. She had grown attached to her gown by then and didn't want to take those jammies off but Nancy talked her into it by telling her that when she got her own jammies back on, they would go to the toy chest and pick out something special for her to take home. Bribery worked in our favor again, thank goodness. And since Nancy told Ilsa (in little kid words) every step she was going to do to get the tubes and band aids and tape off, she didn't wince or cry one bit.
She refused to go by herself to the toy chest, so Mark took her over and she hated everything in there until they got to a Winnie the Pooh coloring packet. She snatched it up and then pulled out an Alice in Wonderland book for Freya, which Nancy said she could take home to her sister. Thoughtful little sickie!
The car ride home was okay for the first 5 minutes until she threw up all over herself, her blankie, and her baby doll, and then screamed for them when I had to take them away because they were covered in everything that was in her stomach (including blood from the surgery). So 10 minutes of enduring the alternating screaming and crying "owieeeee!" until we finally pulled into our driveway.
I'll spare you the details of trying to get her to eat, having her cry and then pass out. She did have a Popsicle, some juice, and then wanted to watch her Pooh movie and lay in our bed. That was a lot of sleeping for the first day and then again, trying to get her to eat in the evening when she only agreed to a bit of vanilla ice cream which stayed down for 20 minutes before coming back up all over Nana.
Having my mom there was a Godsend since Ilsa really wanted to be with her, and not always us (the mean people who took her to the hospital) which gave us more time to spend with Freya who was feeling needy as well.
Here is a picture of day 2, more Winnie the Pooh and sleeping on Mom's side of the bed:
And here we were last night on day 7, eating blueberry pancakes, drinking juice, and acting 80% better:
Poor little patient. I don't like that this had to happen at her age, but it's better than putting her on a sleep apnea machine and continuing to pick up every bug that comes her way. The big bonus is that she won't remember ANY of it!
