In with the new year, out with the tonsils. . .

Cuddling with her best bud "Boaz"

I couldn't resist the open gown bum shot!
Mom was more nervous than she was

All ready for surgery
Reading stories to her animals on the way home, such a sweetie!

Braelyn has had a snoring problem for awhile and she was so loud we could hear her through two closed doors, and a few months ago she started wandering at night. She would come in my room, or we would find lights on in the bathroom or the kitchen. I started thinking that she was probably waking herself up because she couldn't breathe and then would think it was morning and get up to see what was going on. She also seemed to be sick a lot, and it wasn't ever just a cold, it was double infection and strep and croup, and it always 2 or more rounds of antibiotics to clear up. So after a month of doctors visits and medicine I asked for a referral to an ENT. Someone suggested I video tape her while she slept so that they could see how the degree of sleep apnea, and I felt horrible when i watched it, because she would toss and turn and then just go quiet and jerk like someone was choking her. We saw the specialist and he just looked in her mouth, said her tonsils were a 4+, which means they were touching each other and the back of her throat, and said she would be a great candidate to have her tonsils and adenoids taken out. We scheduled the surgery for the next week. I was so nervous leading up to it. I always liked assisting these surgeries when I was at the surgical center, because they were easy and quick, but I remembered how sad it was to see the little kids in their gowns, looking so tiny on the table. It is so different when it is your child, and I was so worried that I had made the wrong decision deciding to have this done. Braelyn was wonderful when we got there and they gave her a little stuffed lion. Braelyn's best friend the past six months has been an imaginary lion named "Boaz" so she was thrilled. She was so friendly and happy that all of the staff kept popping in to say hi and say that our nurse was telling everyone how cute she was. She went right with the OR nurse when it was time, and then we waited. The surgery went quickly and the doctor said it went well. Braelyn had a terrible time coming off the anesthesia and it took four of us to get her IV port back in after she had ripped it out. I couldn't stop the tears, because I couldn't help her, but then after two doses of morphine didn't calm her down I figured we would just have to wait for it to wear off. I told the doctor I was nervous that she would be allergic to the pain medication because her dad is, and Braelyn scared him so bad, he just gave me two prescriptions and ran out of the room! She recovered really well and we only had to force her to take her medicine twice. We just had her follow-up and the doc said everything looks great, and there is no more snoring! I'm so grateful that we have access to the modern medicine that we do, and feel very lucky that our quality of life is increased because of it.