A new girl

Chloe had her tonsils out in July. The real tonsils looked disgusting so I found a picture to illustrate without getting too graphic. The only difference between this picture and Chloe's real tonsils is the size of the tonsils. Her tonsils were almost touching the uvula. One day I asked her to open her mouth so I could see if she was done eating her food and all I saw were two large balls in the back of her throat. She had never complained about a sore throat or her throat hurting when she swallowed so we never knew anything was wrong. She didn't have tonsilitis, but the doctor said they needed to come out. He felt like they were causing sleep apnea and stunting her growth. Who knew? She snored really loud, but we thought she was just taking after her mom!

I was nervous about the procedure because they were going to put her all the way out for the surgery. I had also heard horror stories about kids coming out of the anesthesia and freaking out. Of course the doctors at Primary Children's Hospital would take good care of her, but I don't think you can stop a mom from worrying. They should have given me the relaxing drugs, but turns out giving it to Chloe helped calm me down anyway. The drugs they gave her before the surgery were strong and worked fast. Her speech started to slur, her eyes glazed over and she got very relaxed. When we asked her if she wanted to ride in the wagon with the doctor she started cracking up and said, "there's no wagon." Even though our little girl was going into surgery, Jason and I couldn't help but bust up laughing ourselves. Then a doctor came and talked to us about the procedure and Chloe slowly reached out her hand towards the doctor. She just kept her hand reached out and then started looking at it like it was some sort of alien object. She seemed mesmerized by it. Again, Jason and I got the giggles. This definitely helped with the tears that were about to be shed by a freaked out mom.

About half an hour later the doctor came and told us that the surgery went very well. Relief came instantly with the news along with fear of what was going to come next. I was still remembering the horror stories about the effects of the anesthesia wearing off. Those same drugs that had made our little girl loopy must have had quite the impact on her petite body because she was sleeping soundly in the recovery room. In fact, she slept almost the whole day. Poor girl!

The next week or so was a little rough, but she sure was a trooper. When the pain killers would start to wear off she'd get cranky and not want to take more medicine. Finally, we realized why she didn't want to take the medicine. That stuff is nasty. Why wouldn't they put flavored syrup in medicine for kids. So dumb.

Now, she's all better and, believe it or not, she actually asks for food! I was shocked the first time she said she wanted something to eat. The only thing she asked for before was a "ba ba." All we have left to do now is get some meat on her bones!