The time had finally come.
(before the surgery)
We have known for a little while that Kalia was going to need ear tubes. She has had more infections in the 18 months she’s been home than my older girls had in their lifetime! (approx. 12) When we had her hearing checked (or attempted to have it checked…she had an ear infection at the time that prevented an accurate test) they told us she had a ton of fluid. She’s always had balance issues & the buildup of fluid could be causing some of that, along with the fluid in her ears affecting her hearing enough to mess up her speech. All of that together told us it was time to put tubes in. (The Dr. told us after the surgery they drained a TON of fluid from the ears, sinuses & even some from the lungs!)
(She did not like her new “pajamas”)
She did ok. Had a hard time leaving her at the door to the surgery room. Any of you who’ve had surgery done on your kids know how hard it is to hand your (screaming) child over to a complete stranger. She was NOT happy with us. The surgery only lasted about 20 minutes and we were back to see her within 40. She was just waking up and was NOT happy with the nurse holding her. I took her and she was not overly happy with me either (the nurses say this is totally normal…not to take it personally (which I didn’t)…they just feel totally disoriented upon waking up (totally understandable)). It took her a good 5 minutes or so to quit screaming, then she slept on my lap for another 30.
Eventually we were able to leave. She was a little groggy at first, but came out of it pretty quickly. We had to make a stop by Wal-mart to pick up some Tylenol and popsicles (they said the popsicles would help her sore throat). She stayed in the car with Dan while I ran in & got everything. I picked up some mac & cheese from the deli (thought it might be soft enough for her to eat…and she LOVES mac & cheese) and some Little Debbie Valentine cakes to munch right then (one of the benefits of surgery is getting to eat things you don’t normally get, right?). She….my girl who loves anything & everything with sugar…refused to eat it. After not eating for over 16 hours at that point. I knew right then that she wasn’t feeling good. Dan & I stopped to get a burger and then headed home. Kalia ended up eating my hamburger & her mac & cheese once she got home. And she didn’t stop eating all day! Surgery doesn’t affect her appetite!
She’s feeling pretty good right now. I’m sure hoping they’re right and ear infections are about to become a thing of the past. And I’m cautiously optimistic that it will do wonders for her balance & speech issues, as well!
(her classmates & teachers from preschool sent her this bear & balloon. Wasn’t that sweet?!)
Glad to hear she did well and your right, it is beyond hard to hand over you baby to someone else, since everyone knows that no one can do better by their kids than mommy :) Glad to see her appetite came back, as she would have withered away if she had waited :) lol
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