Not Fun

This morning, Sam had tubes put in her ears and her adnoids taken out. The surgery itself was short - only about 15 minutes - and Sam did great not being able to eat or drink before we got to the hospital or while we were waiting to get into the operating room. However, the recovery from the surgery was much much worse than we would have imagined. Yes, the nurses told us she would come out from the anesthesia befuddled and would likely cry for a while. But it sounded like she would snap out of it quickly. Well, I don't know if we were just looking on the bright side, if the nurses downplayed how bad it can be, or if Sam had an adverse reaction to the general anesthesia, but it was pretty awful. She was unconsolable and beligerant, just the opposite of her normally happy, loving self. It took us forever to get out of the hospital because she refused to drink anything for quite some time. Finally, we were able to get some tylenol into her and then she drank a bit and had some popsicle and a few handfuls of cheerios, and we were set free. We managed to get a little bit of food into her once we were home, but she was still really out of it, almost like she was hung-over or stoned or something, and her face was all puffy. It was very bizarre and upsetting.

Naptime came quickly but not without more crying, and Ryan and I settled in downstairs, feeling pretty awful that we had made the decision to put her through this surgery. Hopefully it will keep her healthy and prevent any serious issues with her ears, but honestly, we both second-guessing ourselves all afternoon. I had planned to get in a nice 7 mile run in the Cathance during her nap, but I didn't have the energy. I felt wiped out, and didn't want to be gone too long in case something happened. Ryan pushed me out the door anyway, knowing it would probably help clear my head to get in a run. I ended up running the Heath loop with a slight variation, getting in 4.25. The sun was warm, but there was a nice breeze. I picked some delicious raspberries and blueberries along the way, but I never felt great while I was out there. I arrived home to find Ryan practically beside himself - Sam had woken up and it wasn't pretty; he had finally gotten her back to sleep but was afraid she wasn't going to snap out of the state she was in. We both felt pretty horrible.

Luckily, though, she slept a good long time and when she woke up, while she wasn't completely back to her normal self, she was definitely on the upswing. She wanted popsicles, so Ryan went out to get some. He came back with a full assortment of novelties :-) Sam sampled all five flavors of the mini popsicles he got, and had a few bites of ice cream sandwich too. Who doesn't like desert?!

She had a good dinner - no wonder, she must have been starved! - but refused to use her left hand or arm for anything. We had forgotten to tell the nurses that she was left-handed, and they put the IV into her left arm. It might not have mattered anyway, because they had trouble getting the IV in - the bandaid in the above picture marked the final spot for the IV after four other tries! AIE! Poor kid! Luckily, she was already under the anesthesia when they did the IV, but still. Yet another reason to feel badly about this whole thing... 

With a full belly, things were looking up and we went outside to feed the birds, water the plants and do bubbles for a bit before bathtime. It may have been too much, because she really was just totally exhausted by the time we got upstairs, but it was nice to see glimpses of her regular self. She was not enthused about the ear drops or the ear plugs we had to use to keep the water out of her ears, but went to bed relatively happy. Here's hoping tomorrow is a better day and she is 100% back to her normal self! I know we will certainly feel better if she is!