tubes

danika had tubes put in her ears yesterday. jan 30, 2013....just shy of 18 months old.
she hasnt had a ton of ear infections, just ONE....since september!
 that WONT.GO.AWAY!
she has been through 4 rounds of antibiotics...and they just arent getting any better. the fluid just wont go away...so she was referred to an ENT that we had a consult with 2 weeks ago (really nice, young, cute, indian DR) and she agreed that danika needed tubes.
since then, ive talked to a lot of my friends and co workers that have kids with tubes and they all say the surgery is "no big deal"...the nurse brain in me knows that, but she is still my baby and the mama brain was a tad bit nervous.
we had to leave the house at 0630 to be at the hospital by 0730...and danika couldnt have anything to eat! i think that was the hardest part! she kept asking to "eat" and signing it, for a "nana" and "mo" (milk)....
check in was quick...matt and finley were going to wait in the waiting room, they had a few things to play with, a huge salt water aquarium, and matt had brought the dvd player with a few movies (good thinking!)...
before i knew it, we were being called back there. everyone kissed danika and her and i went to the back. she got weighed...we tried to have her stand on the scale and she didnt want any part of it, she started crying when i tried to put her down, so she sat on the baby scale...and then they measured how tall she was...then took us to our "room". it was kind of like an ER room, small, a stretcher, a few necessary items (a tv!) and a glass sliding door. the tech took her vital signs and then we waited. it wasnt even 8am yet, and she was scheduled for 9.
she had lots of visitors while we were waiting....our nurse, the tech, the anesthesia nurse, our ENT....all asked the same questions (is she allergic to anything, does she have any heart, lung...problems, blah blah blah)
i changed her into her hospital gown that was HUGE on her! and we watched TV....and then played on my phone! at about 810, they gave her some pain medicine....
then at a few minutes before 9, the anesthesia dr, a student, and an OR nurse came in, asked more questions and then asked if she would go to them, i wasnt sure....
so they let me hold her and walk with them to the OR doors. the anesthesiologist was walking next to me distracting her with a dora sticker and once we got to the OR doors he said "ok, you cant go any further", so i passed her to him. it went smothly until she looked over his shoulders and realized that i was walking in the opposite direction...she cried "mama!!!!", i turned around and saw her crying all red faced, being walked away by some strange man in blue scrubs (the anesthesiologist)....i got back to our room and it was 0859...

pictures of us hanging out before surgery! she got mad when i sat her down in the chair!

matt and finley holding down the fort in the waiting room! sending danika text messages!

 

next thing i knew, the ENT dr was in my room! she said danika was done and in recovery! 

WOW! THAT WAS QUICK!

 she said that her ears were not infected but she had "lots and lots of thick fluid in them. especially the left one", that the surgery went well and she did fine with the anesthesia and fell asleep quickly. then she went over all the post op instructions with me, asked if i had any more questions, and out the door she went!

i looked at the clock, it was 0916! less than 15 minutes!

at 0921 another nurse came to take me to danika in the recovery room...i was away from her 20 long minutes...

i walked in and her nurse was holding her, danika had her head on her shoulder and was quietly sobbing (not really all out crying, just very upset and doing that breathing thing where she was taking short quick  breathes)...she came to me right away and just kind of melted into me...she was burning up...and not happy.

then she started puking...puked on me 3 times poor baby....

at about 0945 they let matt and finley come to the recovery room....by now she wasnt as hot, her vital signs were better, she wasnt as upset, hadnt puked any more....and wasnt crying...just attached to me! i think if she could have crawled into my skin she would have!

 

the nurse went over more discharge instructions and we were walking out the door at 1000!
as we were pulling out of the garage, she hurled all the water she just sucked down!
but that was it...no more puking!
and when we got home, she chowed on some french fries, chicken nuggets, and cheese (they had said to not give her anything heavy or fried cause her belly might not be right....haha)

anything can be made better with chicken nuggets, french fires, dora, and hugs from your big sister!!!!
finley was such a good girl in the waiting room matt said! and she was in AWE of the train tracks above us as we left the hospital!

 

danika did so good, and was such a brave little trooper!
lets hope the tubes give her ears the relief from the fluid they are supposed to so she can hear correctly!