Sarah's tonsilectomy

Several months ago Sarah had a sleep study done because she had GIGANTIC tonsils.  She also snored louder than a truck driver!  She was too funny at the study.  She got to watch tv until she fell asleep and kept laughing at the lady behind the microphone.  That almost made up for the yucky sticky pads all over her reading the results. Well, her sleep study concluded that she had sleep apnea.

 Getting all hooked up to the wires.

These things were itchy!

She's thrilled to be sleeping with all this extra stuff, can't you tell? *wink*

So just days after Christmas (I know crappy timing right?!) Sarah had her tonsils and adenoids out.
The morning of She and I headed into Nashville.  She had her princess hair braided and her new trusty unicorn pillow pet by her side *smile*

It was REALLY early in the morning so she fell back asleep pretty quickly during the hour long drive in to Nashville.

She wanted everything documented *wink* so she could show people later "what she went through".  LOL! So here she is checking in-

As soon as she was changed into her gown she said "come on, get it over with, get your camera out and get a picture." Bossy little thing huh?!

It's hard to say if she was nervous or not because she was talking up a storm to the doctors and nurses and they say when you're nervous you talk a lot...but then again this is SARAH we're talking about! She ALWAYS talks up a storm.  Don't know where she could have gotten that trait from...hmm? lol Before her surgery the surgeon came in and talked with her.  He asked her if she had any questions for him.  She did.  She wanted to keep her tonsils in a jar.  LOL He said no.  She didn't give up easily though.  She asked a couple of times in a couple of ways.  He still said no.  Where's the heart?!

Sarah's surgery went well...but her recovery did not.  Most kids are up, eating their popsicle or drinking their juice and gone within an hour tops of being out of surgery.  Sarah was there for more than four hours.  She didn't respond well to the anesthesia.  As soon as she woke up she was crying and very disoriented.  It took more drugs and almost an hour to calm her down.  After that another hour to get her to start to drink.  It took about an hour and a half to get her to drink a cup of juice.

There's lots of cups here because first they gave her apple juice.  Then she asked for sprite. Then she asked for water. And I had a coke.  She ended up going with the juice. I know...first one they gave her.

Then we got in the car and drove to the edge of the parking lot.  And then she threw up.  And threw up.  And threw up.  She couldn't stop.  Sarah has abdominal migraines and when she starts throwing up she can't stop.  I immediately called the surgery center and told them we were in the parking lot and she was vomiting.  We got her back in a bed and they let her rest for a while until she was ready to try going home again.  They tapped her out on all the anti-nassau meds they had.  Poor thing.

Finally, on our way home.

Was that the end of her pain and suffering? NO.  After I got her home she continued to throw up.  By 9pm I was calling her Pediatrician.  He told me to get her to the ER ASAP.  My friend Jenn and I took her while my parents stayed with the other kids.  When we got to the ER the Triage nurse took us to a room right away because Sarah was visibly dehydrated.  Only problem was she LOST HER CHART and after Jenn started pacing the halls and basically demanding that someone come look at her someone FINALLY did.  An HOUR after we got there! Once they started treating her though we go the royal treatment.  They knew they had screwed up. That part was kind of funny.

Thankfully she recovered and was doing MUCH better by the next day.  It took her almost a week to start eating normal foods though. *wink* I am happy to report that she is back to being my happy Princess Sarah, eating normal and sleeping SOUNDLY now! Yay.  

Dinnertime Drama...I thought we had moved past this?

Mom: This is what we're having for dinner.
Sarah: (getting out of seat and very dramatically shoving her chair under the table) FINE! Then I choose bed! (huffing and puffing, lifting shoulders up and down and flaring nostrils-waiting for mom's reaction)
Mom: Young lady, sit back down in your chair right now.  I don't recall giving you a bedtime option.

*SIDE NOTE*
A couple of years ago shortly after we moved to TN, Sarah had a hard time with our meals at dinnertime.  There was literally weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth! After a routine physical with the pediatrician he gave me some advice on how to nip a stubborn picky eater in the bud. He suggested that I give her two options.

Option one: be civil at the table, at least TRY her dinner and graduate within a week to eating at least half of the portion on her plate and her reward was to stay around the family and not be hungry because she ate food. (no substituting the food or supplementing i.e. no eating anything but what's for dinner period.) That was a hard one for me...that meant lots of standing my ground.  LOTS. And if later she complained she was hungry or asked for food  her option was to finish dinner/have more...or option two.

Option two: choose not to eat dinner, either by stating so by her own free will OR by her actions (the weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth part I mentioned above) The consequence for this option...bed.  We eat dinner at 5pm.  That meant bed at 5pm.  This one was REALLY hard for me because the thought of sending my daughter to bed hungry was NOT fun for me.  The doctor assured me she wouldn't starve.  She ate enough food during the day to sustain her BUT the side effect would still be hunger...and that would drive her to eat. And to eat...dinner.

Well, I stuck to the plan and it was HARD. PAINFUL. EXHAUSTING. But SO worth the end result.  Yes, there were a few nights that she went to bed without dinner. And it was hard to stick to the rules of the "end Sarah's painful dinnertime behavior" but it only took about 2 weeks to see HUGE results and after a few months our house was pleasant and even optimistic at dinnertime...YAY success!
I'm happy to say that it has been more than a year if not MORE since I've had to even OFFER option one or option two...until...back to our story

*after several attempts at deal making, if I eat this then I get that...blah blah blah*
Mom: I said SIT DOWN.  I am not negotiating with you.
Sarah: Why can't I choose the option to go to bed?! I DON'T want to eat this, so I will just go to bed.
Mom: Well for one it's bath night and you need a bath.  Two you need to finish your homework and three, again I DIDN'T give those options. Now, sit down!
Sarah: FINE I'll sit down but you CAN'T MAKE ME EAT IT!! 
Mom: You're right. But I CAN make you sit there until you at least try it. I'll be up late tonight doing school work of my own so go ahead a test me on this.
...one hour later
Sarah: I'm done eating mom. It actually wasn't that bad...can I have some more please?


I kid you not.  This is how dinner went.  And MOST of the time, a few YEARS ago when she tortured us all with her dinner fits, it wasn't much different.  The main difference is that then, instead of just asking for more she usually declared it was her new favorite dish.  OY VE!


p.s. for anyone wondering we had Chicken Chimmi's, spanish rice and tortilla chips.