Update on Adenoid and Tube Surgery

So far everything has gone really well. The surgery went great and it all took less time than we were told, which is always nice.

The morning in a nutshell...(a really big one)

Around 6:00am we woke Addi up and changed her diaper so we could get to the hospital by 6:30am. She didn't fuss, but looked very confused as to where we were going so early. Of course we barely made it in time but were there by 6:30 nonetheless. We were taken straight to the surgery center "interview rooms" and they got her vitals, had us sign a bunch of paperwork, and took payment for their chunk of the bill. Thank God we have health insurance! After that we headed over to our room and put Addison in her hospital gown. She was doing well but started getting cranky because she wanted something to eat or drink. We talked to the doctor, several nurses, and the anesthesiologist about everything. Once we answered a million of the same questions we were allowed to walk around a bit. We gave her a little present I had picked up last night, and she played with that until they came by. They gave her some Tylenol with a drying agent (no clue what that is for) and explained the procedure again and what we would expect.

Around 8am we took her to the operating room doors and one of the nurses took her from there. She didn't want her bear, but really wanted to wear a bib she had found in the diaper bag. I guess she thought they were going to feed her. She didn't fuss when we left, surprisingly. They used a mask to put her under, then put in the IV and breathing tube. We headed back to the waiting room, expecting it to be 45minutes when it only lasted 25minutes! The doctor came out and told us that everything went really well. He said that her ears had a lot of thick fluid on them and that her adenoids were really large with swelling and infection. There was a lot of bacteria on them. Behind all of that was a lot of nasty stuff. It turns out that the adenoids are pretty much the same as the tonsils, but in a different location. Anyway, he told us that he was really glad we made the choice to take them out because of how bad they were. He also said the fluid on her ears looked worse than the last time we saw him except that there was air behind some of the fluid on one of them. I forgot to ask what this means and need to ask one of our doctor friends. She just finished a round of antibiotics just over a week ago for an ear infection so having all the gunk still there or formed again stinks. He also said that because of the amount of swelling/infection on the adenoids she would probably be in more pain than usual. So he prescribed loratab instead of Tylenol. She only needs that for a couple of days though. After that she shouldn't need any pain meds. She also has drops for her ears and an antibiotic. He said she would probably snore for a few days but it would go away once the area scabbed over. He removed the adenoids and cauterized the incision (?) so there aren't any stitches there. It will be raw for a couple of days then it will scab over. Over a week or so it will heal. Then the scab will fall off and it will be a little raw again. During the raw periods she will have smelly breath. The whole process should take about 2 weeks. The tubes should be healed pretty quickly as well. This is the second set of tubes so we know what to expect more with them.

After we met with the doctor, we had to wait until they came and got one of us to be with her during recovery. Eventually they came and I went. A nurse was holding her, and she was whimpering. She wasn't really awake yet but when she heard me she called my name and started crying. I held her and we rocked. She still had an IV in her foot (they didn't take it out until we left). She fell asleep on my shoulder occasionally whimpering. When she woke up they gave her some apple juice, and we headed over to the room we were previously in. Scott joined us. She stayed cuddled on my shoulder for a while. Then she wanted Scott. We maneuvered the IV and switched places. A few minutes later she started to cry. Nothing calmed her. They gave her some pain meds and she cried for about 30-40 minutes while it kicked in. Once it kicked in she was fine. She stole Scott's granola bar and ate the entire thing while watching Sesame Street. We checked out. Then we ran to pick up her medicine and some popsicles and headed home. She had a banana, took a nap and woke up asking for some avocado and milk. We couldn't give her the milk but we had avocado on hand.  These two pictures are from before the surgery - too much crankiness and hurting to get pictures after. She is in the same little gown as last time.