Yesterday was Erin’s ear tube replacement and tonsil/adnoid removal surgery at Children’s.  Since we have 5 other kids at home and this was most likely going to be an overnight stay, I did my best to make things as smooth for Dee as possible (that’s a lot of kids for one person to deal with!)  we have an amazing group of friends and family in our lives. We say this a lot but times like this it really shows.  Thank you Melanie, Chris & Tyler, Debbie and Anna & Bill for watching our boys and to Erika and Casey for helping transport the baby.  

Erin and I checked in and met with the surgeon and she got prepped and ready to go.  The surgery itself only took about 30 minutes and he came to report that it went smoothly. Her tonsils were big, almost touching and her adnoids were 100% blocking.  So, I feel good that we made the right decision to move forward w the surgery.  While she was in recovery, they were getting her room ready.  The hospital was super full so we ended up in an observation room.  It was soooo small.  Erin came in upset and just wanted to be held.  Poor kiddo, no idea why her throats was so sore.  I held her while,she slept awhile.  When she got up she was ready to eat.  She shocked all the nurses by putting down an entire lunch!

When dinner came around they had found us a real room up in the new wing in the cancer ward.  The new building is amazing and we truly moved up to five star accommodations.  The lights changed colors, the tv had netflix type movies and games to play and a private bathroom, too.  Better than a lot of hotels I have stayed at.  She was eating Popsicles and drinking juice like a champ.  Perfect patient.

We got a visit from our friend, Allie, who was a dear and brought me some dinner (I was starving!) and we chatted while Erin watched movies.  Visiting hours ended and I tried to get Erin ready for bed.  We called and said goodnight to Mama Dee and the brothers and got all tucked in.  Wishing I could say she went right to bed but she really didn’t settle down to sleep until 10:30.  I knew she would have vitals checked and pain meds given throughout the night and wasn’t counting on a good night’s sleep.  It was far worse than I thought,  poor Erin was miserable and ended up crying and moaning in pain a lot of the night.  At one point I sat up in a chair holding her while she slept, but apparently me sleeping in a chair holding her was against the rules (I could do that as long as I didn’t fall asleep) so I got her back in bed and got a couple more hours of sleep.

Morning finally came and we had hoped that she would eat breakfast and we would be discharged but Erin had other plans.  She refused her meds and anything to eat or drink.  That was not the plan!  It was clear that pain was the issue for her so we had to bring out the big guns and give her some oxycodone.  That helped immensely.  After it kicked in, she drank a smoothie and perked up.  She drove a cozy coupe around the room and took a shower and the nurses said it was time to go home.

What a trooper this little girl has been.  She has moments of tears and pain, but we are doing our best to stay ahead of it and make her recovery as easy as possible.  Fingers crossed day 3 is easier than day 2.  Always heartbreaking to see your baby in pain.