The Infirmary

Makenna had surgery yesterday. I know. I know. I'm behind on my posting due to the busy weekend, followed by surgery. I've got pictures for show and tell and will do my best to get them out this week. First, though, I want to talk about tonsils, adenoids, and nurses I don't like.

Fred, Mak, and I showed up at the hospital at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. We totally went by Mickey's to get some coffee. Makenna moaned from the back seat that she could smell pancakes. Nothing makes a person more hungry than NOT being allowed to eat. Not to mention that we made her eat a huge bowl of cereal at 11:40 p.m. the night before. Her cut off was midnight and I wanted to make sure she wasn't going to be starving any time soon. Also, I'm of the mind set that if my baby can't eat, there's no way on earth I'll eat in front of her.

For this to be a small hospital, it was impressive how they were on time and didn't play around. She and I were taken right on back where she was put in a lovely backless gown and paper shower cap. These people are on top of things because they have a t.v. and dvd player for the young ones. Pop in a movie and they're totally distracted. The anesthesiologist came by to chat with her and asked if she wanted to be sleepy going back to the O.R. or would she rather remember it all. Her response? "Shoot, I'd rather be sleepy." So, sleepy it was. Twenty minutes after the dose, she was yawning and propping her eyelids open. I, of course, had my handy dandy cell phone with the camera to record this. Hey, now, it's a major event in her life! I don't scrapbook, so pictures from the phone it is!

As you can see, she's always posing and loving the moment. I walked her to the hallway. She went left. I went right.....to the waiting room where Fred was. He went down to the cafeteria to see if breakfast was decent....and it was! He brought us back something good and we proceeded to eat while my baby was getting her throat worked on. We had a visit from a friend from church and before the hour was up, the doctor was poking his head in to let us know it all went well and she was already in recovery. Wow, that was quick. Ha.

The recovery nurse came within minutes to get me. Apparently, Makenna came out of surgery calling for MAMA. She was out of sorts and blind. This is what usually happens coming out of anesthesia...the vision is the last thing to come back to you. The nurse chuckled telling me how she sat up in the bed, exclaimed "I JUST CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE AND I NEED MY MAMA." They promised if she would be quiet for five minutes, she could have her Mama. I walked in there and she was curled up sniffing. I rubbed her head and when she looked up and saw me, she started crying. I told her that it was okay, I was there, and to stop crying so her throat would be okay. She literally relaxed and started snoring then. Oh, the power of a Mama's hand.

I didn't know that when she started snoring, she wouldn't stop. Girlfriend was out. We got her to a room because she was to stay at least four hours afterwards for observation. Within the hour, another patient minus tonsils was wheeled in. This girl was 14 and she didn't shut up the whole time. Never slept either. She ate and complained and put her tongue bar piercing thing back in against medical advice. They were really nice people and we all got along great. We were to go home an hour before this girl. Ha. Makenna woke up long enough to pull and exorcist on us and projectile vomit. She got the sheets, the bed, floor, wall, and me. For her trouble, she got a shot in the bum that was pain reliever and nausea medication. AFTER the shot, the nurse informed me that Mak couldn't go home until she was sitting up, lucid, and able to ride in a wheelchair without falling out. I was livid. Anyone who has had this cocktail (no pun intended..well, maybe a little) shot knows you are out for the count. And the girl was a snoring. I know because I videotaped it. On the phone, of course. So, lunch was eaten from the hospital cafeteria. The nurse was not my friend and it appeared to me that she did things her way and her way only. Is that how it goes? I did what I'm capable of. I complained about her lack of professionalism. When talking to other nurses, they knew exactly to whom I was referring and it looked like to me we got the bad apple nurse of the day. Yay. She even got to the point she didn't come around. Makenna's I.V. started beeping. After 20 minutes, I strolled down to the nurses' station and said..."I can totally take my child's I.V. out, right? Because it's been going off for 20 minutes and no one has come even though I've beeped you to let you know." They started scrambling then.

As you can see, there was no pain in her world at this moment. She was snoring and sleeping even though there was a blood pressure cuff squeezing her arm and an I.V. in the other hand.

We finally made it home where her Cat Navy waited on her hand and foot. He set his phone alarm for the middle of the night to give her the pain medication. He even put her in our bed to sleep with me and slept on the couch himself. Although, the boy got up in the middle of the night and went looking for "DAD" and proceeded to not let him sleep because..."I NEED MILK" came out of his mouth every 15 minutes until Fred finally got up and got him some. That boy knows he better not come to me with that. Mama don't play that getting up and being your waitress all night long stuff. Uh uh. Not happening.

We are keeping it low key and laid back for the day. I'm finally getting to catch up on my personal thangs on the computer and will be loading pictures of the weekend for your viewing pleasure.