Addison's recovery from surgery was much harder than any of us expected. It didn't help that we were told it would be quick - a couple of days max and that most of the other people I talked to said their children's recovery was quick. Goes to show that all people are different and heal differently even if the surgery went well.
The day of the surgery - Wednesday she did well. She ate some of her dinner and went to bed fine. The next morning she played and was having fun. Then sometime later that morning she started whimpering and crying. When I asked her why she said, poop. So I asked her if she was trying to poop and it hurt. She said yes. One of the side effects from the lortab was constipation. So we tried multiple things but at that point she refused to eat or drink anything else and what we tried didn't work. She wouldn't eat Popsicles, ice cream, fruit - you name it we tried it. By the next morning when we talked to the nurse at the ENT about her really bad congestion and her constipation they told us to try a stool softener or a glycerin suppository. They said to force her to drink and use a syringe to shoot liquids down her throat and to only give her the loratab as needed. She didn't seem to need it so we didn't give it to her. The suppository worked but when she woke up from her nap she had a 102.7 fever and still had a lot of gunk coming out of her nose. This was well over 48 hours from the surgery that they told us to watch for. She was inconsolable during this time. So like we were told, we called again. They said to give her the loratab every 4 hours through Saturday and Sunday if needed and to get fluids in her. If we needed we could rotate the loratab and mortin to get the fever down. She wasn't sleeping well at this point either. We were told that she shouldn't have a fever or the gunk coming out of her nose at this point, and she did. I asked about switching her antibiotics since she has been on amoxil a bunch and in the past they have needed to switch but they said no and to ride it out. We kept getting conflicting information as well so it was hard. If they would have just told us that we might expect this, I would have been happier. Instead they said if *this* happens its not a good thing and call right away! Saturday she was the same and the fever seemed slightly less as long as there wasn't any lapse in the medicine. She was cranky as expected and her stomach was still upset. Sunday was a turning point. She had a low grade fever only and was able to poop on her own. We gave her Tylenol instead of lortab after the morning. She ate a little bit more and was up to a half of a cup of milk and a little water so progress. Monday morning she was much better. She ate an actual meal and had 3/4th cup of milk and some water. She didn't need any Tylenol although she still had a low grade fever. She slept until normal time Tuesday morning without waking. It was a hard time for all of us. She was hurting and had a fever and we didn't know what to do. My friend (ENT in KY) told me that kids can have low grade fevers several days after surgery and that was okay so I was relieved at this. Once again, I wish they would have told us this after the surgery.
Once we got to SC (Thursday the 2nd), Addi didn't really have an appetite. She travelled well and didn't fuss. The next couple of days she didn't eat and was fussy and clingy at times. We figured it was because she was around a lot of people she doesn't see often. She can be shy in large groups. Saturday was the pool party at the condo (pictures and posts to come). Sunday night she was up all night. Finally, at 4am I realized that her scab had fallen off and she was in the final stages of recovery. She didn't sleep but a few hours that night and had smelly breath again. It also explained her clingy behavior and her lack of appetite. The next day she was back to normal. So it took a total of two weeks for her to heal completely.
We had a great lake vacation and once I get back to FL I will post pictures (which I didn't take enough of! - I don't have my camera cord otherwise I would go ahead and post some now) and details. We miss our family and friends so much already and had so much fun with everyone. Scott is back in FL, and Addi and I leave in the morning for a trip with my family.
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