Surgery

This was taken when we arrived home from the hospital

Lillian woke up from sleeping on Friday, May 20th just chipper (like every morning) but little did she know what was in store for her that day. We had to be at the Children's Hospital at 11:30 for her adenoidectomy. They took us back to the prep area almost immediately to get her ready. Her surgery was scheduled for 1:30pm but as soon as we changed her clothes the doctor came in and said he was ahead of schedule and they were going to go ahead and take her back. This was great for me because I was dreading the "waiting" part before they took her back. The doctor informed us that the surgery should only take 20 to 30 mins. It was nice to hear that they were going to give Lillian some gas to calm her before they gave her, her iv. I am personally not a fan of ivs and I knew that if we had to hold her while they put the iv in, that I wouldn't be able to do it. Luckily we didn't have to and it was a relief.

There were 2 major things that I was worried about... they were, the iv and the part where you wake up from the anesthetic drugs. I, myself, have a difficult time with nausea after coming to, so it was only natural to be worried she would experience the same. 

We waited all of 30 mins and then the doctor came in with good news at 12:40pm. He said that her adenoids were HUGE and the surgery went well and it was time for us to see our wee one. Little did I know, that would be about the only good news for the moment. As we were escorted back to where Lillian was, we began to hear her crying. The nurse had her and was trying to rock her and console her when we got there. I was shocked and almost began to sob immediately because Lillian was so swollen that she was almost unrecognizable. Her WHOLE body was swollen but mostly in her face. I had prepared myself for swelling because they told me that she would, but I never thought it would have been that much. Her eyes were almost swollen shut. She couldn't close her mouth because it was so swollen. Her face was sooooo swollen that it was shiney from the tightness of her skin. My heart broke into tiny little pieces. Tears are running down my face as I write this and remember what she looked like. I unfortunately had to hand her to her father to hold her because I could barely keep my composure. She also was Screaming and wailing and that is not like her at all. She was unconsolable and her face was beet red. 

I had to step away a couple of times to keep myself from sobbing in front of her. In the beginning the nurse didn't seem worried about how Lillian looked or acted but it became apparent that she began to worry. They kept giving Lillian pain does after pain dose and nothing was helping. Then she started dry heaving and I couldn't breath! The nurse gave her something for nausea and one last dose of pain meds and finally she relaxed and fell asleep. It was the longest 45 mins of my life! 

We then moved to a recovery room. In about 2 hours her swelling started to look better but the ride wasn't over yet. Lillian had to drink something before they would discharge her. As soon as she woke up, we started trying to get her to drink. She wanted to so bad and would lean in to drink but then would not follow through. We tried apple juice, cranberry juice, water, soda, popsicles and a bottle.... nothing. Lillian would stay awake for about 10 to 15 mins and then sleep. She started crying again and it was obvious she was in pain, so they gave her some tylenol. She also started dry heaving again but her iv had clotted up and we were unable to give her anything else for nausea. The iv came out and the tylenol kicked in and we could finally see the sweet essence known as Lillian. She began playing with her book and became more lively. It was now about 4pm. Remember we arrived at the hospital at 11:30 that morning. One of the nurses wanted to take her and walk around with her, so Lee and I went out to talk to my parents. 

When Lee and I returned, we found Lillian at the nurse's front desk surrounded by 7 - 9 nurses. They were all trying to think of ways to get her to drink or even eat something! She of course is a little ham and was loving all the attention. We even tried water in a syringe and put it in her mouth but it just ended up on one of our shirts. We knew she wanted to drink and eat because she attempted to eat a gerber puff but would not swallow it. Then Lillian actually wanted to walk, so we let her strut her stuff all over the recovery floor making lots of new friends. By 5:20, we tried to get Lillian to eat again and VIOLA she ate a gerber puff and washed it down with some water! WOOO! The nurse was watching and we got the ok to leave! Music to our tired ears.

We left the hospital at 5:30pm. The 1 to 2 hour stay turned into 6 hours! The recovery so far has been a bumpy ride but she is steadily getting better. We won't see the results from the surgery until she is healed which is estimated to be 10 to 14 days. The doctor told us that the tube they had in her lungs to help her breath during surgery had some secretions on it meaning she was getting a cold. She definitely has something going on, so now it is antibiotic time.

Lillian is improving day by day and I am glad the worst part is over! She is such a trooper and this Momma is happy that she will not remember any of this later. I know that many other children have to go through much worse and it could have been worse for Lillian..... this is what I tell myself so that I can keep prospective on everything. But it sure was scary!

Thanks for reading this crazy long blog post but I just wanted to share our experience. The surgery is worth it and soon we will see the benefits! Until then I will soak up all the extra love time she is giving out!