SURGERY....

Hello everyone,
I'm glad to say that surgery went WELL. We went in to Kootenai Outpatient Surgery at 6:30 this morning and they pre-op'd Kiersten. They took her out of her PJ's and put her into a little disposable shirt and pants. After asking many questions, and us seeing the doctor, and anesthesia, They invited one parent to carry Kiersten back into the operating room. We had discussed this prior to surgery and it was whatever parent she really wanted today. However... she really didn't care who's arms she was in this morning... and George decided he didn't want to go back there. So I gowned up and carried her back into the OR. After getting back there I set her down on the operating table and she really didn't want to be sat down. She starting crying and reaching for me...and anesthesia put the mask over her face... YES. She put up a good fight. She didn't' want the tight mask on her face. However, after crying and taking deep breaths of the anesthesia she became very tired....and that is when we laid her down completely on the table. By the time we got her head down to the table...she was fast asleep.
The anesthetist was great and said he had three kids, and would treat her like his own... although it isn't the same as your own...he stroked her hair as she fell asleep which made me realize that he probably did care!! Anyhow...fast asleep and then I had to confirm her to the doctor and what surgery he was doing on her and then they whisked me out of the room.
I went and de-gowned and then met George out in the waiting area! After about 5-10 min waiting, the nurse came back and got George and I. We went back into a consult room...we were suppose to talk to the doctor in there prior to going to Kiersten however their was some communication breakdown between the nurses and the doctor. They thought he had already came and talked to us, and he hadn't, so they took us back to Kiersten. While waiting in the conference room...we could here her crying in the post op area. When we got back there...she was screaming uncontrollably. She screamed and was throwing herself around for about 30 min at the hospital... and cried all the way home and then cried for a while at home. So it was probably 1.5 to 2 hours of crying. Then she started to get better. You could tell her ears hurt though. Every time she would cough, or burp...she would start crying a painful cry! After some Tylenol and ibuprofen...she was better. She finally started playing around the house. She ate lunch, and now is taking her first nap for the day. So much for her sleeping most of the day like the doctor said most kids do
The doctor did come in and talk to us after we were with Kiersten, however it was hard to hear him and concentrate on him since she was screaming and flailing all over the place. I do remember him saying... We will talk to you tomorrow, if you have any questions, don't be afraid to call, and that he wanted her on antibiotic ear drops for a while! He did say her ears had lots of fluid but he didn't think it was infected. Anyhow that's about all I remember from the conversation with the doctor. Well I better go.. I'm sure Kiersten will be awake soon.

~Jocelyn Drake~