Back in November, I asked our pediatrician what could be done about my Emma's breathing. She has had a runny nose since the day she was born, and snores and labors to breathe while she sleeps (to the point that she wakes herself up at night - and ME!). After getting x-rays of her nasal cavity and a referral to an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor, we decided to have Emma's adenoids removed and put in some ear tubes (she gets a lot of ear infections because of the high amount of fluid in her head).
We could have also removed her tonsils - they are pretty enlarged, but not obstructing her breathing. We decided to wait until she is older for that procedure to avoid her needing to stay in the hospital.
So on Friday we checked into the surgery center at 6 a.m. I know you must be thinking, "wow, that's so early" but we only had to get up an extra 30 minutes early. Emma doesn't sleep, remember? Also, it didn't really matter what time check in was going to be - I was awake. I had a difficult time sleeping for days prior to this; I was so nervous for Emma to be put under anesthesia even though an adenoidectomy is an extremely minor procedure.
She was rolling with things just fine until she had to change into the hospital gown. She was wearing her favorite princess footie pajamas, so naturally a hospital gown was not nearly as appealing. We finally wrestled her into the gown and once she calmed down, she noticed the gown had tigers on it. Emma has been telling us for WEEKS that she is a tiger - ask her to growl the next time you see her, you won't be disappointed.
Gown crisis overcome, Emma the Tiger is happily playing with stickers and coloring, when the anesthesiologist (I spelled that correctly the FIRST time, FYI!) comes in and runs us down the procedure . . . at this point, I start to lose it. No tears, but my eyes were the size of SUV tires and I was petting Emma so vigorously I'm surprised she didn't get a bald spot.
Shortly after the ENT doctor checked in with us, Emma was wheeled off on 'her adventure' and we were escorted back to the waiting room. I was too nervous to sit, so I started watching the news program that was playing. Not TWO MINUTES into the longest wait of my life, they start showing a story about a girl who is brain dead following a tonsillectomy. Somehow I had managed to not hear about this tragic story at all, even though it had been all over the news for days. When I looked at Paul with a face of horror, he just put his hand over his eyes, and whispered, "Seriously? Just 20 more minutes . . . " Apparently he had been actively keeping this story from me for a while because . . . well, because he knows me.
Em's surgery goes fine - the doctor told us that everything went well, no complications, and by removing the adenoids she now has 75% more airway to breathe through.
A short time later they escort us to the recovery "room" (a small, curtained portion of a room with 12 other beds). The escort was unnecessary, though, because we could hear Emma WAILING down the hallways. She was coming out of the anesthesia and was confused and angry. A nurse was attempting to hold her to calm her down. I swooped in and grabbed Emma, who thrashed first against me then Paul, to no avail. After 10 minutes of this intenseness (not a word), they gave her some Demerol to calm her down. Whoa.
She calmed down, her heart rate came down, and she slept hard for almost 30 minutes on top of me. I wasn't complaining - I wasn't about to let her go.
Once she came to enough, we bundled her up and headed home around 8:00.
It was weird to see Emma so lethargic. She slept or rested without moving for almost 3 hours. My little tiger even 'purred' in her sleep:
this is NOTHING compared to what it used to sound like, by the way.
By noon, she was coming around: eating a little, playing with her toys. By 3:00 she was BACK. She kept asking for pizza - loudly and insistently. So when Paul got home, we took our little tiger out for pizza to celebrate her successful procedure.
So happy she can breathe (even though she is going to have dragon breath for a couple weeks).
So happy it's over for my little tiger.
