Post Surgery

Day one following surgery went really well.  Kassi is one tough cookie.  She even ate a grilled cheese sandwich for supper.  The doctor had said she needed to drink at least 15 oz of fluid a day otherwise she would get dehydrated.  Yesterday she drank 25 oz! 

This morning started out a little harder.  Which the doctor had warned us about.  He said the second morning is the hardest, because they are the driest on that morning.  Due to the doctor saying that 1 in 10 kids gets nausea from the codeine Kassi refuses to take it.  So this morning was hard until she started drinking and then things got better.  By 11 she had already drank 20 oz!!  She also ate some of a waffle.  She is one tough cookie.

I took two weeks off from work, just in case and I am not sure that I am going to get to actually take them off.  She is doing so well.  We do have to keep her home and rested for one whole week.  They warn that between 5 and 10 days they will lose their scabs and begin to bleed.  So we have to watch for this, but otherwise I think things are going excellently.

Surgery Day

Kassi had her tonsils and adenoids taken out on Thursday. 
We had to be at the surgical center at 9:30 a.m. so we spent the night in Billings.  When we got there the doctor was out in the waiting room talking to another set of parents whose daughter just had the same surgery.  They took us right into pre-op.  We talked to the doctor and the anesthesiologist.  Then after two hours the nurse came to get Kassi.  They gave Kassi a camera so she could take pictures.  Most of them are of things like the tv, her room curtain, the floor, but she did get one of her operating room and her nurse.  The hardest moment in my life as a mommy so far was having to let go of her so she could go to the operating room without me.  Next came the longest 45 minutes... 

When the doctor got done with her surgery he came out to the waiting room to let us know how it went.  He said her adenoids were not very big at all, but she did have a narrow nasal passage so it was good to get them out.  Then he said that she had as much scar tissue as an adult would have indicating that she had a serious infection behind one of her tonsils at one time.  This created an abscess.  I asked if having a fever of 103-104 for four days could have been indicative of such an infection.  He said yes that is likely.  At that point I got very upset at one of Kassi's doctors, as I had taken Kassi to the doctor for a fever of such and she told me it was nothing! 

After about 30 more minutes Kassi woke up in the recovery room and they came and got us.  She was really sleepy so she slept for about another hour.  The little girl that had gotten out of surgery when we came in was still in recovery and having a really tough time.  It made us feel really bad listening to her cry.  Kassi woke up and ate two popsicle's, drank a juice, ate a yogurt and asked the nurse for a veggie sub from Subway.  After about three hours in recovery, just to make sure she didn't get sick to her stomach, we headed for home.  Stopping at Subway on the way so she could eat her veggie sandwich on the ride home!  When we got home she had a cup of soup and headed to bed.

Posing in the waiting room.

Getting ready to go to the OR.

Showing off her grape lips in recovery.

Next Tonsil Chapter

We took Kassi to the ENT on Wednesday.  He said she has chronic tonsillitis and they have got to come out.  When we were there they were enlarged, but he said the infection was gone.  She had just gotten off of her third antibiotic so we thought we would be good until her surgery next week.  She was still asleep when I left this morning and when I came home at lunch I noticed her voice was the worst it had been.  When I looked at her tonsils they were the biggest they have been.  They were touching and the white was coming back.  I called the ENT, slightly panicked, because if she is talking like this I imagine she is having a hard time breathing too.  She says she is breathing fine, but I just don't know.  The ENT office said to start back on antibiotics and take her to the ER if I feel her airway is blocked at all. 

So here we are on antibiotic number four and me trying not to panic.  Being very familiar with the signs of lack of oxygen I am watching her closely.  I don't know what the ER here could do.  It's not like we have an ENT here that could take them out in an emergency situation.   So I wait, I watch and I worry.
 
I took a video for her to hear the difference in her voice now.

Bring on 2012

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012.

I wonder what the new year will bring us?

We do have a few things planned for the year.

Disneyland here we come!  We promised Kassi we would take her to see her Princesses for her 5th birthday and hope that Candy will be able to meet us there.  Kassi still has nine months to wait, but she is so excited.  To tell you the truth I am too.  I really think it will be a lot of fun and I always look forward to spending time with my family.

We are contemplating selling our house and building a new one.  I just don't know if I really want to.  It all makes since and we would have so much more room.  The dogs would have a bigger yard, we would have more room for company and Wes would have so much more garage space.  I also think we could have it all for what we are paying on our current mortgage.  So one would think it would be an easy decision.  It's not though.  Before Kassi was born it would have been easy, but now this is home.  This is where we have so many memories I just don't know if I can leave that all behind.

Several people around us are adding to their families this year and I am so excited and happy for them.  There will be lots of baby showers in 2012. 

As for anything else to come in 2012...I am not sure. 

I do hope to be able to see Candy this year.  It has been 2.5 years since we have seen her, unless you count Skype.  That's not near as long as it was the last time, but now that we have her back in our lives I just can't imagine her not being part of our family. 

We are so very blessed.  The year is getting off to a good start.   

I wish everyone the best in 2012.