Pre-surgery, Zoe was upbeat and willing. Ready and raring to go.
“Are you nervous, sweetie?”
“Pffffft! No.” (As if to say, “Mommy! I AM six years old, I KNOW what I’m doing!”)
What a brave little girl!
The “relaxing” medicine they gave her right before hand was the most entertaining part of our day. Although, watching my little girl act like a raging drunk wasn’t the prettiest thing to witness.
Here is the elephant on her hospital room wall, that she INSISTED was currently charging at her:
Waiting for the O.R. to call her down was just slightly beyond excruciating.
I had my trusty drug of choice coping mechanism standing by…..
Some of the longest 45 minutes of my life went by…..
This is the part of parenthood I cannot stand….the loss of control, the feeling of worry and helplessness. Every parent goes through it. Every parent loathes it.
But she did great. No problems, no bumps or hiccups. Minimal blood loss and she returned from surgery fast asleep.
Aaaaaah…… A huge sigh of relief. My baby girl is back with me and she is okay.
And then, she woke up……….
Part two in the “Intolerable moments in Parenthood” series. Watching your child feel pain and fear and sadness. All at once.
Again, you’re powerless and you just want to curl right up alongside them and take every ounce of their pain from them, absorb it into your own body, if you must. Anything, to make it go away.
Since her throat was too sore for her to speak, she pointed to the little hospital pain chart they kept in the room…….
Poor baby. There have only been one or two times in all of her life that she has been in that amount of pain. And really…..a six isn’t too shabby!
This, on the other hand, was mommy’s pain level……
After eating a spoonful of pudding, post surgery, she exclaimed, “Oh!! I can’t eat this.”
“Why not?”
“Well, I’ve only ever had pudding when I had tonsils in my mouth!”
I promised her repeatedly, “We won’t ever take your tonsils out again!” 🙂
Words that, at the time, served as more of a comfort since she was far too loopy to understand their simplicity.
She is still feeling pretty uncomfortable but we’re trying our best to keep her hydrated and just seeking solace in the fact that by the time she’s old enough to hold a grudge, she won’t even remember this lousy experience.
That, and this fall she won’t be missing another month’s worth of school due to recurrent strep throat and tonsillitis.
The tonsils are gone for good but I know that eventually her smile will return.
12 responses to “Missing: Two tonsils and a six-year-old’s smile…”
oh, poor dear. that made my stomach twist up 🙁 I remember doing it with Zach when he was about a year and I remember handing him off and then him waking up a hysterical clinging mess. Kinda makes you feel like that charging elephant 😉
Hope she feels better quick!
I can’t imagine having to go through that as a mother! Good job Mom, pat yourself on the back, you made it through! That was a very amusing recount of your Hospital experience though : ) I hope she heals quickly!
Yes, it was quite entertaining after the surgery too! Especially when she stood up in the bed and, pointing to Daddy, Mommy and Gramma said, “I love you, I love you and I love you!”
Sweet to the bitter end. She is as entertaining as she is beautiful, but as I’ve said before, I am a bit partial, being her Gramma.
Poor poor poor thing. I felt sooooo bad for her yesterday. You could tell she was trying really hard to be her normal cheery social little self while I was over, but at the same time you could tell that she really just didn’t have it in her and that she felt horrible. I hope that she starts to turn the corner soon and that she drinks some water! How much worse to feel icky and have to be in a hospital bed, instead of your own comfy couch with your family around you? Zoe, we hope you feel all better soon!!!!!
Oh dear. A necessary evil, wasn’t it? You’ll keep the pudding and popcicles and kisses and hugs coming!
I will never forget handing Sydney over the that mean (it’s not his fault that he had to take her so perhaps mean it’s a fair thing to call him) when Sydney was just 3. Nor the feeling of her waking up in extreme terror after the surgery was over. Her mouth looked horrible and she was screaming. I completely understand the feeling of helplessness.
I will also never forget standing there talking to her and then just as I was ready to leave her looking at me and saying HI! like I just walked in. Poor thing she was so loopy!
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Oh, sweet girl… that picture made a lump in my throat!
Auntie Lauren is sending well wishes your way and Margot says Hi and “I love you”!
Sarah,
I can’t imagine what you went through with a child that young! I had a tough enough time of it with a six year old.
When Zoe was 16 mos old, she developed Impetigo in her eye and had to be hospitalized for four days. They had to RE-place the IV three or four times because she kept moving. At one point, I even had to lay on top of her because she was screaming and kicking so violently.
No parent should endure that!!
Allyson,
Thank you. The journey isn’t over quite yet. Saturday eve. was spent in the ER, so they could give Zoe a LITER of fluids because she was dehydrated.
All day Sunday was spent vomiting and sleeping, off and on.
Her tolerance for pain is so high, we took her off of her Hydrocodone and now we are just trying to keep her hydrated and trying to get her to eat.
(but who wants to eat, when you’re throwing up constantly!!???)
Mom,
She is sweet! I find it adorable and heartbreaking at the same time….Sunday morning, after spending over three hrs in the ER on an IV, I woke up to a cleaner living room and kitchen.
She told me, :Mommy, I picked up for you.”
I told her, “You did NOT have to do that! You need to rest.”
She hugged me and said,”I wanted you to be happy, mommy.”
I hope my stress and worry are not affecting her ability to get better. It really makes me think twice about keeping my frustration and concern over her well-being to myself, instead of letting her see how badly I want her to get better.
Kids know us better than we know ourselves.
Amy,
I know, that’s Zoe, she wants everyone around her to be happy, so she does her best to be as upbeat as possible.
It just wasn’t working that day!
I knew she was dehydrated and when the ER doc saw her, he said her eyes looked sunken in and her skin was so dry it was flaking off.
Over two hours on an IV is NOT how she wanted to spend her night, but it really perked her up! She was watching cartoons on the hospital tv and actually laughing and smiling!
Melissa,
I know!! Quite necessary, indeed.
The day after the surgery, she had had enough of the pain and told me, “Mom, I want my tonsils back!”
It’s still difficult for her to understand that now that they’re gone, she will eventually feel SOOOO much better! No more Tonsillitis and not so much missed school. But she just wants the pain to go away!
Shell,
I can’t imagine what Syd had to endure! What a little trooper.
How does this Motherhood gig not kill us?????!!!!
Uber-strength we have, my dear…uber-strength! 🙂
Computer-generated Spam-Bot,
Thank you for the timely Resource information. How helpful!
Now, don’t spam me again!
Lauren,
I read Zoe your comment and she gave me a big smile! You made her day. 🙂
p.s. we miss you guys already!
how is everything on the computer front?
i’m just glad she made it through with no problems! she’ll return to her normal self soon. 🙂
What a brave little girl. I hope that she is feeling better. I can only imagine what a mother must feel looking at her child in pain. Take care and have a good Tuesday!
xox,
Linnea
Awww! I hope she’s feeling better. Going into the hospital SUCKS. I know it was rough for you, too. You should both do something really fun when she’s feeling better!
Evie