The Surgery!!

Becca enjoying her stay by having a tea party with daddy!!

The 3rd Tonsillectomy of the Bell Family Children was a success. Let's just hope we can stop there!! Leading up to surgery was stressful. You have to be healthy in order to have surgery. Well on the Friday before Becca started getting a cough. Actually a few days before she had started getting a runny nose with a tiny cough, but on Friday it was worse. I called the nurse and she said if the cough is more than once an hour we can't do surgery. Of course on Friday it was and I was not happy. The nurse was optimistic and told me to keep her down, fill her full of fluids, and keep her away from everyone. So, that is what we did all weekend. She got pretty stir crazy but did alright. Between doing that, many prayers, and a wonderful priesthood blessing miracles occurred and she was healthy for surgery.

The other miracle that occurred was that I was calm. I was such a wreck when I found out she needed surgery that I thought for sure the night before and during surgery I would be a mess, especially being pregnant. But, the Holy Ghost was once again my constant companion, as he has been this entire pregnancy, and I was fine. Brad was laughing because on the way to the hospital I just imagined them taking her away into surgery and started bawling!!

We got to the hospital and it was a very quick check in to when she went to surgery. That was actually nice. Anticipation is always the worst. She did so well. She sat on the bed and held a little doll they gave her and watched tv until it was time to go. I am grateful she is a tv girl (most of the time I don't like it), but it was helpful this time. She didn't even cry and I didn't cry. It helped that the nurse anesthetist gave me all the assurance that he would take good care of her and watch her extremely closely!! I must not be the only mom that worries about sedation. I just knew all would be well. Which it was.

Brad and I waited in the waiting room and soon got into a conversation with a lady whose husband was getting his gal bladder removed. She was quite the talker. It was actually really nice. It got my mind off of what was happening and before we knew it the doctor was out to tell us it went well and give us instructions. The doctor told us that when Becca was completely relaxed her tonsils touched each other!! Lovely, no wonder she sounded like she did. Her adenoids were equally large and the doctor didn't know how she even breathed at night. I wasn't shocked at all. You could hear, from birth, how large they were. She always sounded congested. Anyway, all went well with the surgery and we were all happy we did it....well, except for poor Becca.

The actual worst part of the whole process is waking out of anesthesia. We waited by an elevator to go to the pediatric ward and before we knew it could hear Becca bawling uncontrollably as they wheeled her down the hallway. She saw me and wanted me but we had to wait until we were in her room. That was a long walk. Once we got in the room we had to get her settled into bed with mom and then try to get her to take medicine. This is as she is screaming hysterically. They assured me once the anesthesia wore off she would get better. It was the longest 30-45 minutes ever. She kept ripping at her IV and wanted that out and just wouldn't stop. I was so worried because she did just have throat surgery. Once the anesthesia did wear off our sweet Becca was back. She wanted me to cuddle with her the entire time, but I was just fine with that.

We watched Mickey Mouse clubhouse for an hour and then Dora the Explorer the rest of the 6 hours we were in the room. Wow!! We will just say if I never hear Dora's voice again it will be too soon (of course, as I write this I am listening to Dora again as Becca is watching it). Becca did so well. She stayed down until the end without much complaint. She downed the juice and Popsicles which is exactly what she needed to do. After a while Becca was able to bring some toys into our room to play with and then we were able to go to the toy room they had. She LOVED it. She had a tea party with daddy, played with a doll, and then discovered the wagon and this cool little car. She loved driving this car down the hallways. The problem was she was still hooked up to the IV and we had to follow right behind her so it wouldn't rip out. She kept getting tangled in the IV, but it didn't stop her.

We were told she would have to stay over night. However, because she did so well we were able to go home. I was so glad. It has been tough since, but doable. We have fought getting her to drink and take her medicine. We finally gave up on the Tylenol with codine because she just fought to hard. However, she is still fighting me so hard with regular Tylenol. Every once in a while we can coax her to take it without a fight, but for the most part...NOT!! She already sounds much better. She still snores a bit, but nothing compared to what it was, and it will go away once she is fully recovered. She is still just swollen from everything. Today is day 6 (if you could surgery day) and we were told day 5-10 the scabs start coming off and can be painful again. Well, that would be accurate. She is having another rough day, but we shall survive. My biggest concern now is that she has been sleeping with me since we got home (per the doctors orders). However, she doesn't need to anymore, except the two nights we have tried different arrangements she as woken up and ended up back in bed with us. This means I don't sleep well as she moves more in bed than anyone I know. Oh, well. I just don't know how to wean her from this while she still doesn't feel well....by this weekend. The baby is coming and I will be gone, for one thing, but also I CANNOT and WILL NOT be kept up at night from the new baby AND my toddler. I just can't physically do it. We need prayers and miracles again that she will quickly heal and go back to her wonderful sleeping habits. I am a believer in miracles as we have seen several this week. No reason this can't happen.

Over all Becca really is doing well. If we could just get her to take medicine it would be perfect. She is a real trooper. I love this little girl and am so grateful this is now in the past. I can hold her and know she will have a much better and more full life because of it (once she recovers of course)!!!

Enjoying the toy room

You can see the IV kept getting in the way. Brad had to be quick on his feet so it didn't get ripped out!!

She loved the bikes in the room.

She also loved her wagon ride. In fact, going down to the car she got to take a wagon ride. (Much cooler than the wheel chair I will be in next week!!)

This little car toy was her favorite. In fact, once she discovered it she no longer wanted to go home. Too bad her IV didn't come out until about 30 minutes before we went home.

I loved this shot of her diaper and the hospital gown. It just cracked me up for some reason.

Becca has the best daddy in the world!! They were so darling having their tea party!!

Thanks Aunt Celeste for the Princess and the Frog balloon. She really did love it. She just comes and goes with her pleasant disposition!!

Coloring on her new princess chalk board.....the joy lasted about 5 minutes!!

Sweet little Becca soon after the anesthesia wore off!!!

So, for some reason I can't move the pictures around to the order I wanted. I have never had this problem before. Anyway, excuse the fact they are out of order.