Madee's Surgery

At the beginning of December, Madee had her adenoids removed and tubes put in her ears. 

The surgery was a very long time in coming. Right before her first birthday, she got several ear infections. We finally met with an ENT and he wanted to go ahead and do tubes. Her infections seemed to be slowing down so we decided to wait. As she got older, we became concerned about her breathing. She was a very obvious mouth breather and had started snoring at night. So we took her to a different ENT. He tried to do an X-ray of her face but she wouldn't cooperate (and I was pregnant with Boston and couldn't hold her) but he could tell her adenoids were large. They tested her hearing and there was so much fluid in her ears, she failed the hearing test. This ENT put her on a nasal spray to help decrease the fluid in her ears and we would reevaluate in six months. I was just about to have Boston, so we we opted to try the medication and wait on the surgery. We were also supposed to watch her for signs of sleep apnea. 

After the six months, we met with her ENT again. The nasal spray had decreased the fluid but was still an issue. We were also pretty sure she did have sleep apnea. She was a terrible sleeper and snored like an (adorable) old man. We decided to do the surgery and scheduled it for the first week in November. 

The day before the surgery, Madee threw up. After she vomited, she seemed fine. I called her ENT and they said they would still go head as planned. The next morning, we got to the hospital very early and got her all checked in. While we were waiting, Madee threw up again (in my hand, hooray for me!). She has a tendency to throw up if she gets really hungry so we weren't sure if that's all it was. She hadn't been able to eat since midnight the night before. The doctors still decided to proceed as scheduled because, aside from acting lethargic, she seemed okay. 

It was really stressful. I thought for sure after she threw up they wouldn't want to do the surgery, but they assured us it was fine. The hardest part was handing her off to the nurses and going to wait. We had only been waiting a few minutes in the waiting room, when  the doctor and nurses came and found us. They had Madee with them. Apparently, when they got her on the operating table, and tried to put the mask on her, she started vomiting again. They decided, then, that (as the anesthesiologist put it) it was a sure sign, they should postpone the procedure. So we went home.

As soon as we got home, Madee was completely fine. She had a normal appetite and was her regular happy  self. The whole thing was really bizzare. 

So we rescheduled for the following month. I was really worried her nausea was just caused by hunger and she would just throw up again, but the second time around she did great. They got us in much earlier and so I don't think she had a chance to feel too hungry. She loved playing in the waiting room and they gave her a doll  and lots of attention. 

She even made a friend.

This time she was eager to go with the doctors because they had light up toys. Waiting was still the hardest part but everything went really well.

This picture makes my heart hurt. The doctor said her adenoid pad was really big, which made me glad we had it taken care of.

She had a hard time for the first couple hours afterwards. She couldn't understand why everything hurt and why she was so tired. Eventually they gave her a blanket (that she still sleeps with) and a popsicle and took her out to the car in a wagon, and she felt better about things. 

When we got home she seemed a little tired, but other than that her normal happy self. We kept her on Motrin and liquid Lorotab and I'm sure that helped. She hated the Lorotab though... it was a wrestling match every time she had to take it.

She didn't have a hard time until evening came. Her ears would hurt (which I guess was caused by the adenoids, not the tubes). She cried and whined during the night for about a week. It was really sad.

I realize this is picture is poor quality but I snuck in and took a picture of Tim comforting Madee one night. He's the best.

After a long night of ear pain, she would wake up super grumpy....but obviously I took this picture to document her impressive bed head.

After a week or so she was back to her normal, healthy, happy self.

Her snoring stopped and she slept much more soundly and she hasn't had an ear infection since.

We sure love that tiny girl, and we're so glad to have all that behind us.

I realize that having ear tubes put in and adenoids removed is a minor, routine surgery, but it just being there at Primary Children's Hospital made me extremely grateful to have healthy kids!