Surgery

Ashlyn had surgery today on her right ear.  She has had a lot of ear problems and we are really hoping this will be it!  About a year ago, she had a really bad ear infection and her ear drums burst.  She has had a hole in each ear ever since, and we decided that since they weren't healing on their own, it was time to do something about it.  When Ashlyn first heard they were going to fix her ear, she was excited.  She is tired of having problems and having to have ear plugs in every time she is in the water.

As we got closer to the surgery date, she didn't seem to be nervous.  She didn't have any questions and never vocalized anything.  We asked for a special pediatric tour on Tuesday evening.  They showed us the surgery center and told Ashlyn everything that was going to happen.  It was done very well and geared specially for kids.  She seemed fine.  The night before, she got nervous.  I laid by her in bed and she asked questions.  I kissed her goodnight and left a few minutes later.  Then after 5 minutes, I could hear her crying in bed.  We went up and she was crying pretty hard.  She tends to sit and think about things and worry and soon blows things way out of proportion.  We said a special prayer for her to stop worrying and I read her some stories to calm her down.  Then we turned on some primary songs on the radio and I stayed for a few more minutes rubbing her arms.  From the time she was 1 year old, she loved us to "tickle scratch" her.  Basically we just lightly rub our fingernails on her skin.  She loves it and it really relaxes her.

The next morning, we had to be at the hospital at 8 am.  She did good at first.  When they put us in our waiting room and had her change into the hospital pj's, she started getting worried about what would happen when she was asleep and that she would be in a lot of pain.  She started panicking and was crying (almost hysterically) for us to change the date of the surgery.  She didn't want to do it anymore.  She kept saying "Please mom!  Tell them I don't want to do it anymore!"  It seriously broke my heart!  I can't stand to see my kids so upset or hurt, and I started crying too.  She was unconsolable at this point.  She didn't hear anything we were trying to say to her.  We decided to have another prayer.  After the prayer, she was a little calmer.  A nurse came in to talk to us about the time frame and saw that she was scared.  She went and got a couple kits with colored pencils, some yarn and a bookmark to sew, and a bracelet thing to make.  After the nurse talked to us, we opened the kits and had her start working on the things in the kits.  This really took her mind off everything and she did fine after that.

They took her back to the surgery room around 10 and brought her back to us around 11:30.  She was really quiet and calm.  And dazed.  She saw us, but didn't really see us.  After a few minutes, she noticed her arm which was wrapped with pink coban.  It looked like she had a cast on.  Her eyes about bugged out of her head.  I think she was worried she had a broken arm.  Then she noticed the oxygen monitor taped on her finger and asked about it.  About five minutes later, she asked what it was for again.  She asked another 2 times about everything attached to her.  It was funny.  The nurses started pushing us to have her drink some apple juice (so they could get her out the door...) but she just kept throwing it up.  After a while of waiting (and throwing up) they just told us we could go home.  After we got home, she took a nap and woke up so much better.  She started drinking and keeping things down and later progressed to eating yogurt.  She's now able to walk around fine and is feeling good.

Getting distracted

After the surgery

 Recovering at home

They put tape on her eyes during the surgery which

irritated her skin.  She looks like a raccoon, poor girl

We are thankful for Doctors who can fix all sorts of problems.  We are also thankful that this surgery is over and that everything went well with it.

I forgot to mention that after her surgery, the doctor came in and told us that he looked in her left ear and it had healed!  We've been waiting for it to heal for almost a year now.  We are VERY thankful we don't have to have another surgery to fix the other ear too.