Tonsil Surgery

Playing Curious George while waiting to get registered

She got to wear fancy pajamas :)

Being silly waiting for the nurse practitioner to come in and examine her before surgery

Pure JOY! Love this picture of her!

Playing more video games waiting to go back to surgery

Anesthesiologist walking her back to surgery. This was the point that we had to say "see you soon"
Very hard to let her go. So grateful that she had innocence about this whole thing. Put her more at ease.

When we came into the PACU to see her, she was crying, coughing, rubbing her eyes, pulling at her throat. She was in A LOT of pain. It was heart breaking to see her like this. She had to go bathroom, she was in so much pain, and nauseous all at the same time. We got her up to the bathroom, and then got her back in bed where they gave her 3 doses of pain medication (fentanyl) and some zofran (nausea medication) to help her. After those 3 doses, she was finally able to settle down and not pull at her throat. It was a huge relief for me to see her finally calm. As we were about to leave the PACU to the recovery room, she threw up a lot of yucky old blood…that made her feel so much better.

Still not feeling well…but at least no more pain. She is in the recovery room right now. Here she got more vital signs taken, more pain meds and just lots of waiting to go home. We had to wait an extra hour because they gave her a narcotic to help with the pain. Kali was ready to get home at this point.

On our way home…she got a VIP treatment going home. Got to ride in a wagon!

While she was waiting to go back from surgery, a lady came up and explained to her what would happen back in the OR and Kali practiced with the anesthesia mask and she got to pick the flavor that she would smell to help her fall asleep. She smelled a couple of them and picked root beer. She also got a doll that she got to color to make it look like herself. It was nice to have people like that working at the hospital to once again help Kali understand what would be happening.

In every area of the hospital, up on the ceiling there were colored tiles.

Today Kali had surgery on her tonsils and adenoids. We had to be up at PCMC at 8:00 to have her ready for surgery at about 9:30.
After all the registrations, examines and talking with doctors…Kali went back into the OR at about 9:40. The anesthesia, Dr. Holley, took her back. He was great with her. As we walked down the hallway, Kali got to push the buttons to open the doors and also got to use his badge to open the door to the OR. He joked and talked with her. Kali didn't feel quite as nervous. As she went back, Jarel and I went to the waiting room.
I had a very calm feeling, not nervous, but a little anxious just waiting to see the dr to tell us that all went well. Once that dr came and told us all went well, it was a relief. Surgery is scary and when it is on your child, it puts a whole new aspect on it. After Dr. Dahl told us things went well, I said a prayer in my heart thanking my Heavenly Father that she made it through surgery and was waking up! So blessed.
They then took Jarel and I to the PACU to see her. When I went around the curtain, she was crying and not doing well. It was so sad to see her like that. I went and held her hand and just tried to comfort her the best I could until the pain medication kicked in. I am grateful for modern medicine to help in situations like this.
The next place was the recovery room. There we spent the majority of our time. Kali watched TV, got a root beer slushy and pain meds to help her feel better. By the end Kali was just ready to get home.
They took her down in a wagon. And we went home. She fell asleep on the ride home. Once we got home she woke up and did great. She was in no more pain (they say usually the 2-3 and 7-10 days are the worst), which was great. Our neighbors brought over dinner and Kali ate tons of it. She was so hungry. You really wouldn't even know she had surgery that day. In my mind I thought she would be on the couch all day, in lots of pain but right now she is doing so well. We are keeping her around the clock on pain medication to really help her recover.
Glad that the surgery is over and now onto recovery! The freezer is stocked with popsicles and ice-cream for her :)