We're home!

Wednesday, Campbell was getting pretty feisty because she was on a clear liquids diet until 9:30 am, then she couldn't have anything until after the surgery. She was demanding food. She might look small, but she is a firecracker. Most of the schools were closed because the temperature was -27 (I'm not sure if that included the wind chill). We made it to the hospital, played with some toys, then they brought us to our room. We were there for maybe 3 minutes then we saw some balloons walking towards us. Our friends, the VerCautren's, sent Campbell some balloons and a little stuffed kitty. She loved it. She got her hospital gown on and we went down to the pre-op area. We talked with the ENT, Anesthesiologist, and the nurse. They gave her some Versed and she got really slow. They wheeled her away at 12:40 and we went to wait. The doctor came back at 1:30. She did great. Her tonsils were HUGE. He also did her adenoids, which were also huge. They had her on a breathing machine during the surgery (this scared me), but she was off of it when the doctor came to talk to us. He told us her oxygen levels will be a little up and down because her lungs aren't used to processing so much oxygen. (this was our other big concern with the big tonsils, that it was making her body work harder to just plain breath.) I was able to go back and see her in recovery about 10 minutes later (she was apart from us for about an hour, it was so fast!). She was freaking out a little bit when she woke up. But she calmed down. We were back in her room at 2:30 pm. I was amazed because she was already talking and asking for food. She was just a little disoriented. They let her eat a popsicle. She is such a trooper!

She enjoyed her evening by eating more popsicles and ice cream. She also jumped off the bed once because she wanted to go for a walk, only 2 hours after surgery. She ate a pancake at 9 pm and stayed up until 10:30. She asked for yogurt and ate all of it then fell asleep. You might ask what did she have the biggest problem with? Taking the medicine? The nurse taking her temperature every couple hours? Being stuck in a little tiny room?
The IV stuck in her hand? No, the thing that really got to her was that little oxygen sensor stuck on her finger. It was like a little band aid with a red light in it. She ripped it off multiple times until the nurse put it on her toe. That lasted about 2 hours. We were able to let her not wear it until she fell asleep then we put it back on. Her oxygen levels when she was awake stayed around 97%, but when she fell asleep they would drop to the low 90's. If they went below 90 the sensor would beep and the nurse would come in. The congestion in her chest would settle and make it harder for her to breath. If she coughed a couple times the O2 levels would go back up. This episode happened about twice every hour. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep. Campbell slept through most of it.

In the morning the doctor came by at 7 am and said we were good to go home. Campbell wouldn't eat anything except for pancakes, with butter and syrup (she insisted). We ordered some from the cafeteria and it took about 45 minutes to get to our room. I put the butter on (with her eating some in between spreads) and the syrup. Then she instructed me to cut them up with the fork and knife. Once they were cut up I was to put a bite on her spoon so she could feed herself. The quality controller was demanding. Too big, too small. She is such a Wicke! After the pancakes were done, we were able to go home!

She has been great. She needs to be held a lot, but we were expecting that. She is great at taking her medicine and the sisters are happy to be together again. We are so thankful that everything went so well and that Campbell is doing so good! Thank you for your thoughts, and prayers!