Tonsils and Adenoids removed

Ainsley had her tonsils and adenoids removed at the end of March.  She's a little, ok, maybe a big, drama queen, and we weren't looking forward to it.  I took her to Build A Bear a few days before her surgery so she would have a new stuffed animal to take with her to the hospital.  She loved the whole experience, and picked out a bunny.

Rubbing the heart

Saying a wish (or just hiding her eyes!)

Bath time for bunny!

When it was time to pick out an outfit, she immediately found the Cinderella outfit and that's what she had to have.  Can you guess what she named her bunny?!  May I introduce you to....Cinderella Bunny! 

She was excited to take her Cinderella Bunny and Lalaloopsy blanket to the hospital with her.  We had to be there around 10:00 that morning for check-in.  She couldn't have anything to eat or drink that morning, and I was really worried about her wanting milk, but she did so good and didn't even ask for it.  While we waited, she was in good spirits and sang, danced around and kept me and Joel entertained. 

The nurse finally came and got us and told us the operating room was running behind on surgeries, so I think it was around 1:30 or so when they were finally able to take Ainsley back.  Ainsley surprised us at first and let the nurse take her blood pressure, temperature, etc. as long as she did it to Cinderella Bunny first. 

Giving Cinderella Bunny medicine

I don't remember the title of the girl that came in, but she was amazing with Ainsley.  She wasn't a nurse, but she helped Ainsley calm down, kept her occupied, and was so nice.  She brought her coloring books and crayons, an iPad with Mickey Mouse, a tiara, wand, stickers and anything else that Ainsley wanted. 

Ainsley refused to take the "happy juice" and we had to hold her down while she spit some of it back into my face.  It was awful!  It took two tries, but we finally got enough in her to make her calm down a little.  When it was time to take her back, the nurse gave her a "bubble parade" by blowing bubbles down the hallway as they wheeled her.  She tried popping the bubbles with her fairy wand, and didn't even care that she was leaving us. 

Our princess ready to go back

The wait in the waiting room seemed like it took forever, but it couldn't have been more than 45 minutes.  Dr. Joos came out and said everything went fine, and we should be able to go back shortly and see her once she woke up from the anesthesia.  It didn't take long before we heard Ainsley screaming.  The nurse warned us that when they wake up, some kids fight and scream, and we knew Ainsley would be one of them.  We were in the waiting room with the door closed, and Ainsley was back in another part (past a double door and then down a little hallway and in her own recovery room) and we could still hear her screaming.  After probably 5 minutes of her screaming, a nurse finally came and got us to go back and see her.  When we walked in, there were two nurses holding her down while she was kicking, screaming, and pulling at her iv and cords.  As soon as I got her on my lap she started calming down and fell asleep.  That was the worst part of the whole day.  Hearing my little girl scream and not being able to be there with her.  I know I will never agree to not being in the room when she wakes up again.  I wasn't a very happy Mommy!!!

Ainsley would fall asleep on my lap and then wake up crying in pain.  I felt completely helpless.  She refused to drink anything, and we had to wait over 2 hours to get into her room for the night.  Joel and I took turns holding her while she slept.

Her room was finally available, and we were out of recovery.  Once we got to her room on the pediatric floor, the nurse tried taking off the tape, etc for her iv that the other nurses had secured so she wouldn't pull it out.  I tried warning her that it wasn't a good idea, but she didn't listen.  We had to have a couple other nurses come and hold Ainsley down to put arm restraints on her while they put new tape and a washcloth over the iv to hold it in place.  It was terrible to watch.  My baby was in arm restraints that made both of her arms stick straight out.  I hated every minute of it.

Still in her arm restraints

Mom had kept Lily for us the night before and was keeping her that night also.  Her, Mark, and Lily came up to the hospital to see Ainsley a little after we got settled into her room for the night.  She still had her arm restraints on, and Grandma Shelly decided to take them off of her.  She wasn't pulling at the iv anymore and it was terrible looking at her with those restraints on!  I know Ainsley was happy to see Grandma Shelly!

Ainsley finally started drinking for us, but didn't want to eat.  I was able to get her to eat a little cottage cheese, jello, and chocolate pudding that night.  She was drinking chocolate milk really good and didn't even notice that we were mixing her medicine in with it.

Mom and Mark left with Lily after visiting and Joel left with them, leaving me and Ainsley alone for the night.  I don't know how many times she had to pee, but it was a lot.  She was still hooked up to the iv fluids, plus drinking quite a bit of milk.  After asking two different nurses if she could be taken off the iv since she was drinking and hearing "No, we need to leave her hooked up", I finally asked one more time (I may have been a little demanding the third time) and after calling the doctor for approval, we were able to get her off the iv.  It was so hard wheeling the big iv cart to the bathroom with Ainsley so she could go to the bathroom every 5 minutes.  I can't imagine how it would have been all night if I had to do that! 

We were right around the corner from the play room, so after Joel left, I walked her down to play for a little bit.  Of course, she didn't want to leave to go back to her room, but she didn't have a choice when she had to go to the bathroom! 

I was finally able to convince her to lay in bed and watch a movie.  She crashed around 11 that night with a chocolate mouth from the pudding! 

We had to wake her up every few hours through the night to take her medicine, which we just mixed with chocolate milk since she refuses to take medicine.  It made for a long night! 

Joel came back first thing the next morning.  The resident doctor came in around 7 and looked at Ainsley's throat and said we were ok to be released.  I was surprised at how quickly they got everything done that morning and we were released pretty quickly.  I'm sure they were more than anxious for us to leave.  Ainsley wasn't exactly an easy patient.  She gave all the nurses a run for their money. 

The last thing they did before releasing us was take the iv out of Ainsley's hand.  Somehow we coaxed her into sitting on Joel's lap and the nurse took it out while she watched Mickey without a fight.  But, the gauze and bandage the nurse put on her hand after removing the iv was covered in blood within minutes, so she had to re-bandage it.  Ainsley wasn't having it.  Joel held her on his lap while we held her down and the nurse put a new bandage on.  Halfway through, Joel said his leg felt wet.  He was right.  Ainsley had peed on his lap while the nurse was re-doing the bandage!  I think she was fighting us so bad because she knew she had to go to the bathroom, but didn't tell us.  Here's a video of her telling us what she did.

On our way out!

We stopped and got her medicine and a milk shake on the way home.

She did pretty good the first day home, and drank chocolate milk for me when I would mix her medicine with it.  She refused to just take her medicine, and if she would have known it was in her chocolate milk, she would have refused it too.  The next morning we woke up and I tried putting her medicine in some chocolate milk and she refused to take it.  I tried mixing it with white milk and she refused it too.  Joel ran into Walgreens at 6:30 that morning and got some chewable Motrin and Tylenol, and to our surprise, Ainsley took them!  I couldn't believe it and was so happy and thought we'd found the answer to our problem of getting medicine in her.  That only lasted for a day.  That night, she refused to take any more chewable tablets, and refused to drink chocolate milk that I had put medicine in.  We tried fighting with her, holding her down, and giving her the medicine, but she would spit it out and almost throw up, so we stopped trying.  She didn't have any pain medicine two days after her surgery.  I felt like a horrible Mom, but I tried everything to give her some, and she refused it. 

She ate a lot of cottage cheese, pancakes, and macaroni and cheese the next few weeks.  She was really good when it came to food, and if she asked for toast or chips, I would just tell her she couldn't eat them yet because they'd make her throat hurt and she took that answer and didn't question me.  If she'd see chips on the counter, she'd look at them and say:  "I can't have chips.  They'll make my throat hurt."  It was so funny to listen to her, but I was so proud of her for not arguing or whining about it.  She was one very happy little girl the day I finally let her eat cheese puffs again!

We didn't really have any issues after surgery (other than Ainsley refusing pain medicine).  Her breath smelled absolutely horrible for a few weeks.  I couldn't get too close to her, because it would make me sick.  Thankfully, the rancid breath is gone!  The only real problem I had was a few days after surgery, she laid down on the couch for her nap, and I noticed she was foaming at the mouth.  I called the doctor, who said it wasn't normal and to wake her up and watch her to see if it continued.  She only did it that one time (that I know of).

We were hoping her speech would improve with the surgery, and I think it has a little.  I'm sure it will continue getting better in the months to come.  The surgery definitely helped her sleep.  She doesn't snore anymore and she's not restless, which is very nice!  We have also noticed that she's eating a lot better.  There has been a few nights where Joel and I didn't know if Ainsley's belly would ever get full.  I don't know if she can swallow better now, which is why she's eating better or what, but it has seemed to help.  The only issue we still have is her coughing/gagging/throwing up fits.  She's fallen asleep in the car multiple times since the surgery and will start coughing and has thrown up multiple times from it.  She's always done this, and we thought the surgery would help, but it hasn't.  She's even started doing it at night.  I don't know if the nightly episodes are because of allergy related issues, or if it's the same underlying issue as what happens in the car.  We had her follow up appointment with Dr. Joos last week and when I told him about it, he recommended we give her 1 teaspoon of Zyrtec once a day for the next 4-6 weeks to see if it helps.  I'm willing to try anything at this point!

At our follow up, Dr. Joos said that her right side was still inflamed, and it was the same when he looked up her nose.  Lily has an appointment with him at the end of May, so he's going to take a look at Ainsley again then to see if she's any better.

It seems like the surgery was so long ago, but it's been just over a month.  I can honestly say I'm glad it's all behind us and she seems to be doing better!