Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Surgery!

We've knwn for quite a while that Mara needed her adenoids out.  Ever since she was little (we're talking newborn) she has had a major snoring problem.  It was pretty humorous actually.  Until this past winter.  We had a few sleep overs at my parent's house where I slept in the same room as the kiddos.  I noticed that not only does she snore so bad she kept me up all night, but she was also having apnea.  She would gurgle and then silence.....and just when I was about to hop out of bed and give her mouth to mouth, she'd gasp and resume snoring.  It was exhausting and anxiety inducing!  I mentioned it to her Pediatrician at her Kindergarten check up.  He referred us to an ENT who got us in very quickly.  
After checking her out he said her tonsils were a 3 on a scale of 0-4 so they needed to be removed.  Since he was certain they needed to come out he didn't stick the tube up Mara's nose to even look at her adenoids.  I thought that was funny/weird since they were the reason for the visit.
So we scheduled the surgery about a month out.  If you asked Mara if she was nervous she would only say no!  She was just super excited to eat popsicles and icecream all day. 
 This was right before we got called back.  She brought her unicorn, named Unicorn.  They even let her take it back to surgery.


 While we waited for what seemed like forever-Mara just stayed snuggled in the bed.  She didn't want to sit up or get out.
 Coming out of the anesthesia was so sad.  She just cried and cried!  She kept sitting half way up and pulling me down on her.  It was comical, but also kinda freaky!  The surgeon told us her tonsils were large, but her adenoids were out of control.  No wonder she had such bad issues!



The first 5 days of recovery were awesome.  The hardest part was keeping her calm.  She wanted to run around and play!  Day 5 hit and everything changed.  That night she woke up hysterical.  The hysteria continued for about 4ish days.  They all just kind of melt together.  It was out of control.  I was warned that week 2 is hardest because the scabs start falling off the tonsils.  That was most definitely the case.
Then one night after the freaking out stopped Sean went into the kids bedroom, he called for me to come quick.  I ran kinda freaking out and he said: "listen.  What do you hear?"  I said: "nothing...why?  Ohh!"  The snoring was finally gone!  Their room was DEAD silent.  It was actually kind of creepy. 
After all is said and done, I'd do it all over again.  But in the thick of recovery, I would have said differently!  Mara seems happier and calmer since the surgery.  I attribute that to finally sleeping restfully!

2 comments:

Angie said...

Surgery on kids is so nerve wracking! Glad it all went well!

Monica said...

I have never seen anyone look so adorable in a hospital bed. What a brave cutie. It's so weird how different people's reactions can be coming out of anesthesia. So sad she was crying :( but glad you all survived the surgery and recovery!