Bye Bye Tinsils

(Lucy is so cute...she keeps asking about Caitlin's "Tinsils")

Caitlin had her tonsils taken out Monday (5 days ago).  She has been grinding her teeth at nighttime for a while now.  When I took her to the dentist, I thought it was a teeth problem.  Turns out it is a sign of sleep apnea.  Basically, Caitlin's tonsils were so big that when she went to sleep, her tonsils were blocking oxygen.  She was basically in "distress" and grinding her teeth.  This wasn't the only sign of sleep apnea.  She fit almost every category.  We took her to her ENT and he said the tonsils were very big.  He said in 90% of sleep apnea cases, he requires an overnight sleep study to see how many times she stops breathing at night to decide if getting her tonsils out is a solution.  However, because of the size and the teeth damage, he didn't even want to waste time with a sleep study because he said he was positive it was sleep apnea and they needed to come out.  Rob and I really thought about it and researched it and knew it had to be done, no matter how much I didn't want to.  They were able to schedule the surgery a week and a half later so it was a crazy week of dr appointments, blood draws, etc.

The day she was having her surgery, it wasn't scheduled until 11:30.  So she had some jello at 8am and then nothing else.  We took her to a store to pick out a toy to distract her.  Then we headed to the outpatient center.

Once we got there, it was a whirlwind.  Drs checking in, nurses helping, a child life specialist who was awesome because she talked her through what was going to happen and had gifts for her.  Then...it was time.  I will say, Caitlin wasn't really scared at all.  (We were definitely wrecks, but tried not to let her see!  The drive to the hospital was silent,) She is really still too young to understand.  She just wanted us to stay with her.   I'm so glad they let Rob go with her.  He was able to carry her to the room and stay with her till she fell asleep.  We waited in the waiting room.  20 mins later, the dr came to talk to us.  He said she did great but they were really large.  He also took out her adenoids.  About 15 mins later we were able to see her.  I had been so worried about her waking up and us not bring there.  Unfortunately, she had a hard time.  I could hear her screaming down the hall.  They said they gave her 2 rounds of morphine to calm her down but she was upset.  It took us about 45 more minutes to calm her down.  She finally fell asleep.  We stayed at the hospital about 3 more hours.  When it was time to leave, she started getting nauseous.  Needless to say, it was a long ride home and included 1 pull over for throwing up.  We finally made it home and the healing began.

We are 5 days into recovery and I am completely shocked at how hard and long the recovery is. She's had 101.5 fever every day.  She wakes up screaming from pain.  She had hallucinations where worms were crawling on her.  She has watched more tv than she has watched in her whole life.  We know she's getting better every day...but we are sure ready to see our old bug again!  

As for the surgery, it takes about 2 weeks to see the full effects, but we are already seeing improvements.  Sleeping with her mouth closed.  Talking without "marbles" in her mouth.  Even a skinnier looking face/neck which obviously we could care less about, but it demonstrates how large the tonsils must have been. 

We have 6 more days of mush foods only (lots of Popsicles, scrambled eggs, apple sauce, yogurt), and no activity.  I am creating a list of things to do and places to go.

Thank you so much for all the thoughts and prayers!  Thank you for the calls, texts, emails, and visits.  And an extra big thanks for all the gifts!  She had been spoiled rotten with coloring books, cups, bowls, dolls, clothes, movies, and food!!  She has been treated like a princess... And she appreciates it all!

We know we are very fortunate that we are only dealing with tonsils...we have friends going through things we couldn't imagine.  However, any parent knows they would do anything to stop your child from being in pain!

Here are a few pictures!

Last picture with tonsils

This was sort of funny.  We had finally got her to calm down by putting on Sesame Street...but she was still acting funny from the medicine, so she had to hold Elmo up so he could see himself on tv.  After a very anxious few hours, we needed that comic relief!

Home at last with her new Doc

Our brave girl.  You can see the tape marks from over her eyes.

Our own little Doc McStuffins.  The hospital gave her lots of things to play with!

Day 5.  We finally got outside for a walk and Popsicles...and Libby enjoyed the sprinkler in her clothes! 

Also, a big thank you to Nana and Papa for having Abigail spend a week at the cottage!  She is having the best time ...and though we miss her a lot, we know we can give Caitlin the attention she needs.  Also, thank you to Grandma, Grandpa,and Aunt Julie for keeping Libby for 2 days for us.  And Grandma for dropping everything and rushing over when I thought we needed to head to the ER (although we were able to finally get her to drink something...I was very concerned with dehydration). And her cousins for visiting her. They say it takes a village...and our village has been amazing!!!  Thank You!!!