Well, mama's been talking about it. Libby's been trying to talk me OUT of it. "No, my foat (throat) not need to get fixed. My foat all better mama, I pomise." Unfortuantely, nothing was going to fix that girl's throat permanently except for a little tonsil and adenoid removal. Bilateral combined tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy in med speak.
We've checked out library books about going to the hospital. We've played with our goodie bag of surgical hats and masks. We've visited the hospital during the Family Resource Center's open house and had our face painted. I've tried to make sure Libby was as prepared as an almost-three-year-old could be.
Monday morning (aka surgery morning) arrived a little sooner than I expected. Libby, Grammy, and I were settled into a pre-op room well before our normal wake-up time. Libby was changed into hospital jammies and distracted with bubbles and toys while she was prepped for OR. Vital signs, name bands and allergy bracelets, talks with anesthesia and the surgeon, signing of papers, mama's donning of scrubs, screen watching for OR 3 to light up yellow signaling it's readiness. Hugs and kisses and snuggles and tears and laughter.
They doped Libby up with a little Versed before heading back to OR. Thank you Mr. Anesthesia guy for that. Funniest thing I have ever seen! It didn't take long before Libby was sitting slumped over in my lap, head on Sandy-dog's, her muscles as relaxed as if she were asleep. I thought she was until I heard a belly full of giggles erupt from my lap. There she was, HUGE grin on her face, laughing about nothing in particular.
(Well, sometimes she had a reason. Kind of. Like when she gasped in pleasure, threw her pointer fingered arm up in the air and yelled "Yook, a piece of fuzz!" No fuzz to be found, but the unexpectedness of it made Grammy and I hilarious with giggles...which made Libby start laughing all over again.)
I got to take her back to the OR and stay with her until she was asleep before camping out in the waiting room. It wasn't long before we ushered into PACU, where Libby was raising hell combating TWO nurses who had dared to put a sat probe on her little finger. We managed to placate her with Popsicles and snuggles. Before you knew it, we were heading up to her 6th floor hospital room. (There is usually not an overnight stay associated with an uncomplicated T&A, but her doctor insisted due to her young age and her extremely petite size.)
Now, I'm not gonna tell you that you should wish that your child EVER has to stay the night in a hospital. What I am going to tell you is that if they are in the hospital you should wish you get to stay at Amplatz Children's. Nice, new, BIG rooms. A bed for parents. Your own personal computer. A flat screen TV pre-loaded with kid (and some parent) friendly movies. A wall of windows. A patient-controlled, color changing LED light. Playrooms, scheduled activities, a library, a toy closet for toys that can come to your room. A complimentary blanket (that Libby loves, much to my chagrin, as it bears a big U of M logo on it...grr! Go Fighting Sioux!) and notebook. And an absolutely wonderful staff (yeah, I know I work there, but I can still say it!)
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| And an awesome view of the city! |
We had an uneventful stay. Libby was mostly content confined within the walls of her hospital room...watching lots of movies, playing with her new Rapunzel doll, eating lots and lots and lots of ice cream. Snuggling until she was almost asleep, then sitting bolt upright and getting busy for fear she might succumb to dreamland. Taking walks through the hallways, pretending she was a puppy on an IV tubing leash...my baby was VERY possessive of her IV and the "bracelet" they put over it. She was a pretty happy girl as long as they weren't trying to take her vital signs or bringing her antibiotics or pain meds. Then the screaming monster came out and stuck around until she knew how displeased she was. And her mama was (mostly) just a mama and not a nurse, letting the IV beep and the monitor unnecessarily alarm until one of her two awesome nurses came to take care of it.
She slept most of the night, waking only to rip off the sat probe her mama snuck in (per doctor's orders!) as soon as she'd fallen asleep, yelling "I not want this bandaid on!" Regardless, Tuesday morning started promptly at 5 am when she woke up and decided it was time to go home. Good thing the surgeon agreed with her, as long as she promised to drink lots, take her medicine, and fill up on ice cream. (She agreed, but we are struggling with one part of that...you can guess which one.) We were packed up and home by noon.
Now we're just going to work on convalescing. Please tell me, how are you supposed to keep a 2 year old from being active?! I've got some ideas up my sleeve, I'm just not sure how they're going to work.
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| This little guy helps. She can sit forever petting her little flower puppy from Uncle En. |
love always, Kendra
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