Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Happy 22 Months!

safe and sound
Eh, we missed last month's update, but that's okay.

Today, Audrey is 22 months. For her Monthday, we took her to the operating room. That's right. After 7 ear infections, we decided to have tubes put in her ears.

Her surgery was scheduled for 1:30 in the afternoon. She was not to eat anything after midnight last night. She could only have clear fluids until 9:30 am. Then, nothing after that.
I knew it was going to be a rough morning. Audrey loves to eat. She usually requests Cheerios 2 seconds after waking. It was going to be difficult to think up creative ways to deny her food.

Contrary to what I'd anticipated, the morning went swell. I had scheduled a doctor's appt. for me at 8am. So, we all got up, got dressed and drove to the doctor's office. It ended up being the perfect distraction from our usual routine. Tim and Audrey took a walk through the cemetary until I was finished. We got back in the car and she said, "We should go eat!" Tim and I looked at each other. "Shit," we thought, "What are we going to say?" Tim took up the challenge first. "In a little bit. We'll eat in a little bit." 15 minutes pass and she says, "Eat pizza?" I took a turn, "We're going shopping!" It worked. She babbled about shopping all the way to the mall. We killed some time there with kiddie rides and water fountains.
Surprisingly, not one fit resulted out of food deprivation. I was seriously impressed with her stamina. What a trooper!

The surgery center was awesome. The nurses, the doctor, everyone was great. They even let her pick out a toy to take home. (This was before the surgery.)

Several people told me it would be quick. Man, was is quick! We took her back, I sang "10 Little Indians" forward and backward and she was out. Ten minutes later, they rolled her back into our personal waiting room. The worst part, (Roni you were right), was her coming out of the anesthesia. She was screaming and thrashing around. She would straighten herself like a board and then go limp. She'd thrust her head back- that was scary. But, it only lasted for about 5 minutes. She was released about 20 minutes after surgery. We were so anxious to get out of there after that episode that we darted out of there without even changing her back into her clothes. The hospital gown came home with her. She's happy about it too- she loves that thing!

Now, she's like a new kid. It's amazing to see a significant difference so fast.
Thank you for all the well wishes and thoughts. Audrey is more than fine. I know she has to feel so much relief....and so do I.
She's screaming and dancing right now.
I think I'll go play.






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