Elaina's surgery

We had a second surgery to cram in before we moved.  (More on that later) So about a month ago it was Elaina's turn to have her tonsils removed.

Her tonsils were so large that they were affecting her breathing and sleep.  They touched in the back of her throat and you could rarely see her uvula.  She had a tiny opening to breath through and add to that her enormous adenoids; she really had to work hard to breath at times.  She snored like an old man and the doctor feared that she was not getting a deep enough sleep to be fully rested.  We decided that they need to come on out and I was really concerned after Emmett's surgery ordeal. 

Elaina did great; although, she wasn't really happy about the no breakfast idea.  She asked us on the way to the surgery center if she could eat after it was over.  When we told her yes she was ok with the idea.  We got her checked in and the they showed us to our little curtain area.  It was a small area but she did great with it.  They gave her some stickers and a coloring book plus she had our phones so she was set.  We got her dressed and she wanted to try her hat on. 

The doctor was running a little behind, but it wasn't really a bad wait.  Before long they gave her the goofy juice medicine and thankfully this time it relaxed our child.  She got really giggly and silly.  She made a few videos with our phones and played games.  It wasn't long before they came to get her for surgery.  She wanted to take her unicorn with her and they said it was ok.  They wheeled her bed out and Trey and I headed to waiting room. 

Trey decided to run and get us some lunch so we wouldn't have to eat in front of Elaina later.  It wasn't long after he got back that they doctor came out and said that the surgery went great and that he did go ahead and remove the adenoids as well since they too were extra large. 

A few minutes later they came and got us to go sit with Elaina.  We were in another little curtain area, but she did fine.  They told us that we could get some tylenol if she needed it so we slowly started talking to Elaina to wake her up so she could.  When she woke up they asked her what she wanted to drink and as soon as the nurse offered Dr Pepper she knew what she wanted.  She thought it was awesome that she could drink Dr Pepper and I really think that helped her want to drink.

They brought her a little DVD player and a list of movies and she choose Monster's University.  She wanted me to sit with her so I crawled up in bed with her and we watched the movie.  She didn't really like having the IV but hers was secured better than Emmett's was and she tolerated it much better. 

After a few hours we were able to leave and she was not really happy that I told her sh couldn't have a PB & J sandwich.  When we got home she settled for some jello and Chicken and Stars soup.  We went and got her some Popsicle and ice cream.  He favorites during recovery were the fudge bar Popsicles ans chicken and stars soup.  

I was really concerned about her recovery.  She can be a little dramatic at times so I was afraid that would be the norm through her recovery.  But I couldn't have been more wrong.  She stopped snoring that night and slept wonderful.  We did have a few issues the first few morning with her cyring her mouth hurt and fighting us on taking her meds, but that didn't last more than a few minutes each morning.  By the fourth or so day she didn't even cry in the mornings.

We had the hardest time trying to keep her eating her soft foods.  She had the surgery on Friday and on sunday she ate some cake at a friends birthday party.  By Wednesday she tried pizza at another friends birthday party and said that it didn't bother her.  After that she really started eating what ever she wanted; we would just remind her to chew everything really well. 

I am thankful that she had a fast recovery and is now sleeping and breathing much better.  I just wish we would have realized how her tonsils were affecting her and had them removed sooner.