Hello. It's been a while but I'm back. I took a little break from writing. Life was starting to feel a little overwhelming. I was taking photography classes, getting Spanish tutoring and taking Mia to various therapies and the blog kinda fell by the wayside. But I missed it. I loved reading the feedback from all of you and the catharsis of writing was really a great outlet. So here's a little catch up on what we've been up to for the last month or so.
The Broncos won the Super Bowl.
Mia had her tonsils/adenoid/ear tube surgery on February 9th. We showed up at the surgery center at 6:30 in the morning. We were in the waiting for about an hour. Around 7:45 they gave her a drink that was supposed to make her feel as if she had drunk six shots of tequila. I was hoping I would be able to go with her into the back room where she would be fully put under sedation but the doctor said no one was allowed to go with her. When they wheeled her back the wasted feeling she had apparently wasn't strong enough to calm her. She screamed as they wheeled her away on the gurney.
Her surgey took about 45 minutes. The nurse came to get us around 9. She told me she was still coming out of the anesthesia and it was normal for kids to act "crazy". We walked into the recovery area and I found Mia curled up in a ball on her bed crying. She was digging her forehead into the pillow. The nurse asked me to pick her up and sit with her in the chair. I held Mia as she thrashed in my arms. Unable to open her eyes she screamed and flung her body. Her IV was still in her hand and I was worried she would pull it out. CJ held an oxygen tube in front of her nose trying to coax her into consciousness.
After about 20 minutes she was still crying. She was barely peaking her eyes open and the nurse told me we should get her dressed and ready to go. I guess insurance doesn't cover much time in the recovery room. As we walked to the car she couldn't support the weight of her head and was nodding out. The rest of the day was pretty rough. When she regained full consciousness, she seemed to be in a moderate amount of pain. She refused to eat any of the ice cream and pudding we bought for her. We kept her on a steady diet of hydrocodone and antibiotics. I was compelled to call her surgeon when I saw blood coming out of her left ear. He told us to have her keep cotton balls in her ears. When we explained to him that she would never keep cotton balls in her ears he seemed perplexed.
The next two weeks were tough. She hardly ate and HATED the ear drops we had to give her. She hit a growth spurt right in the middle so she was noticeable much taller and thinner than she was before the surgery.
When she was able to get back into the routine of school and therapy, there was an obvious regression. Mia's Occupational Therapist Liz recommended some more behvioral therapy to combat her apparent anxiety. She is having a lot of attachment issues with me. She breaks into a panic attack when I go to the bathroom or get out of the car even if it's only to unbuckle her from her car seat. I think being wheeled away in the hospital may have had a profound affect on her.
Despite the fact that it's been a tough month, I'm happy we got the surgery. She hasn't had an ear infection since and she seems to be feeling pretty good (even though her last two checkups have shown that her tubes are clogged and we have to continue giving her drops). She seems to be feeling pretty good and I think with therapy we can get her back on track.
