Tonsils

Back in November when Rob was in Ohio for work, Julie had a fever that reached 105 one night, and basically freaked me out. Got it down pretty quick with some lavender oil, since she hated taking medicine and would throw it up. She was actually sleeping on my bed since Rob was gone, and I slept on the couch because she was breathing so loud. Called Rob in the middle of the night and we did a three way call to a nurse through our insurance. I took her into her pediatricians in the morning and I mentioned her large tonsil, it was pretty much touching her hangy ball. So with her high fever and no other symptoms, he wanted us to see an ear, nose, and throat doctor. We left not realizing that he was going to call and make an appointment for us that day. Got home, and barely was in the door when Rob called saying that the doctor was trying to get a hold of me and that he had scheduled an appointment with Dr. Blotter for 1:45, but to be there at 1:30, which was like 5 minutes from when I got home. I hurried and dropped Melanie off at my Mom's and headed for the office. Our doctor actually talked directly with Dr. Blotter, because Thursday's he was not in the office, he was doing surgery's. So, he was so kind to make a special visit with us that day. Julie had a asymmetrical tonsil, which means one side was larger than the other. He gave us an antibiotic in case it was an infection on one side, and we made another appointment in 10 days. She still had the huge tonsil and so he suggested it would be best to get her tonsils removed but that it was up to us. We decided to get it done and also to have her left nostril cautorized as well, since she has nose bleeds all the time on that side.

So, we were hoping to get her tonsils out during Christmas break so that Rob would be home to help, but no openings. We scheduled it for the first part of February and then rescheduled for January 30. 

Julie helped me make some popsicles a few days before, she loved sticking those sticks in the holes.

Here she is enjoying one of the popsicles after they were frozen for a while. She liked them.

I called the hospital the day before her surgery for the time we were supposed to be there, and 6:30a.m. it was. Bright(dark) and early. We basically woke Julie up and dressed her and off we went, since she couldn't eat or drink anything after midnight it worked out well.

Side note: the last three days she has been really doing well using the potty, number 1 and number 2, and I was so hoping that the surgery wouldn't set her back.

While we got her checked in she colored and used her tablet and just watched what was going on around her.

We got Julie dressed in her hospital gown and then right before they weighted her I really needed to go to the bathroom and so I took Julie with me because she hadn't gone that morning either yet. She peed and we went back and finished getting ready.

I don't think she knew what was going on, she knew her tonsils were in her mouth and she would cover her mouth when we told her what they were going to do. She just kept saying, "Mom, I want to go home", I am glad they let her take her blanket and Pooh Bear with her into surgery. We walked her to the doors to the operating area and then the anesthesiologist took her the rest of the way and she went with him just fine. I think it was because she was holding onto her blanket that she didn't flip out and not want to go. 

The whole process was rather quick, the doctor came in before the anesthesiologist to explain things and the he came back probably 20-25 minutes later. He came in and said, "I don't do this very often, but I took a picture of Julie's tonsils" He showed them to us and I was shocked, I was expecting one to be a lot bigger than the other, but they were the same size and a little more than an inch long. I don't know how those fit in her throat. 

He said everything went well and she would be back when she started to stir and wake up. It was about 5 minutes or so later when I hear this moaning/crying noise. It was Julie, it was kind of hard to see her like that. Poor kid, not knowing what just happened to her and feeling crappy.

I am glad Rob held her, because I was holding back tears, so sad to see her like this. She would come in and out of it. Being awake for a second or two. And we were home by 9:30 -10:00. We came home to the City digging a hole in the road by our house, because a pipe had broke, got some water in pitchers before they shut off the water. My mom came over and watched Melanie for us since she was still asleep.

Melanie had fun playing with whatever she wanted, there was a few times that Julie would wake up and see something Melanie was playing with and she would perk up and wanted to go take it away. One time she even got off the couch, walked a few steps and then went back and fell asleep.

She was only awake for a few minutes at a time. She didn't eat or drink anything that first day, just slept basically, I turned on a movie for her at one point and she told me, "Mom, I can't stay awake", haha, silly girl. I told her that she didn't need to stay awake and that her body was tired and wanted to sleep and that was okay, and that she didn't have to watch the movie. She was asleep within a few seconds after that. She woke up at one point, I think when we were trying to give her some medicine and she was crying and said, "I feel different, put my tonsils back in, I don't like this".

Grandma and Grandpa Taylor came by that evening and brought her a Frozen book, she was not in a happy mood then, but later enjoyed having me read the book to her. She did a lot of laying on the couch watching "Daniel Tigers Neighborhood", that is her favorite right now. It is a really cute show, it has the characters from Mr. Rogers in cartoon form. 5 days later and she still is watching the same 19 episodes over and over.

After a day and a half of not eating or drinking I kept threatening her that we would have to take her back to the hospital if she wouldn't drink anything. Didn't work. The nurse from the hospital called about lunchtime the day after her surgery and asked how she was doing. I explained that she was eating or drinking anything and she was shocked she wasn't eating popsicles either. She told me to also give her IBuprofin the next time I gave her her pain medicine, and to rotate that every 6-8 hours, and that should help her be comfortable enough to eat. So we did that about 1:30 when she woke up and I think she slept again after, and all of a sudden at around 3:30, she woke up and I was sitting right there on the couch and she came over to me and gave me a hug, and told me she was feeling better, then she got off the couch and started playing and talking. It was kind of crazy, but so nice to see her up and about. She just kept talking, I don't know if it was that her voice sounded different to her, because it did, but it was so very nice.

Her happy face she gave me.

She was drinking and eating now, and every time I asked if she wanted a popsicle, she would say, "I will when I am better", silly girl, they are for before you are better. She still has yet to eat one, but before I left to get a few things at the store Rob asked if she wanted some ice cream, she said when I am better, but Rob scooped some anyway and offered her some and she ate it and had a couple bowls while I was gone. Adding that Ibuprofin sure did the trick. She wanted pancakes, so I made her pancakes, and she had some eggs. The first night she slept good, only waking up once and the second night, she had slept so much the last two days that she wasn't tired when it was time to go to sleep. She watched a video and I finally told Rob I was going to bed at about 12:00. He was watching a movie so he stayed up with Julie, and apparently Julie didn't fall asleep until 1:00.

As long as we kept her pain meds of a good schedule she was fine and happy. She was very huggy and talkative. We have also noticed that she is a lot more sensitive or emotional. I was eating a piece of toast and she asked if she could have toast, I told her not yet, since it could scratch her throat, she just tipped her head down and ran into the other room crying softly. She can tell when I am not happy, even the slightest. She will look at me and say, "Mom, are you smiling" or she will give me a hug. She will do something that she shouldn't have and say, "I am sorry", just so many little things that were not there before. I might get a little angry with her and before I even realize it I notice that she went and hid under her blanket and I go in and ask her to tell me what is wrong. 

Day 5, 6, and 7 have been more painful for her. We were warned that this would happen and it has, I think 7 has been the worst so far, just keeps holding her blanket up to her mouth and saying, "It hurts".

 Holding blanket to her mouth, at least she is pain free when she sleeps.

 Slept until about 10:00 on about Day 7, was hurting when she woke up. Then it takes her awhile to eat anything. She really is not a breakfast person. Some days she could care less about eating in the morning.

Even with medicine she is still hurting and doesn't even eat very well, or she will stop after a few bites because it hurts. Okay, we have now been threw day 8 and even with her medicine her throat still hurts. She can eat some things but other things she will start to eat and then stop after a bite or two and start crying because her throat hurts. Crackers, Ice Cream are fine, but frozen fruit, apple, tomatoes, are some of the foods that were not good. Weird, although I think towards bedtime she is doing better. She did a lot of laying around on the couch and when she was hurting she just wanted me to stay right by her, which I couldn't do all the time. 
We got netflix and she is still watching Daniel Tigers Neighborhood, but has also discovered Calliou, and Handy Manny which is her favorite right now. It helps when she is in pain to get her mind on something else. Now to break her of that habit. It is not an all day thing anymore, but still more than I would like. She likes to watch a little bit right before she goes to bed.
They said 7-10 days of recovery and that is no joke. Hopefully after the next two days, she will be better. She keeps telling me she is glad she got her tonsils out. She says that she can talk better now.
Day 10 was the turning point where she didn't need much medicine. Day 12 was her no medicine day and she woke up from a good nights sleep and came in so excited, "Mom, my throat doesn't hurt anymore". Yay, sweetie, no medicine at all and eating most foods. The foods that made her throat hurt today were Bananas, which is strange. She wouldn't even try apples or tomatoes since she remembered they hurt her throat. She asked for eggs this morning for breakfast and she was able to eat them(gave her pain before) and asked for spaghetti and eggs for dinner. She ate a bunch for dinner, she had eggs, spaghetti noodles, baked potatoes(which at first she complained that her throat hurt but then finished the potatoes), cottage cheese, she has had a lot of grains today. Oh, another thing that hurt her throat were frozen grapes.

 But yeah, we are in the clear, she has done great today and grateful to have this behind us. Her voice is still a little nasaly sounding since her nose is still a little plugged, but she is doing great.