Crazy & Wild Weekend!!

THURSDAY:
Well--since they put me in as the Enrichment Leader the Emergency Preparedness Enrichment Night was scheduled for June 19th. They had to move it a week earlier due to Trek so it was now on June 12th! The night before Emerie's tonsil surgery! Everything was planned but, of course, the day of we had set-up, cooking (of the items we were assigned to bring made from items in your food storage), driving friends (of my kids) here and there, and just the craziness of being in charge!!

I had to do the 5 minute talk on Emergency Preparedness/Food Storage. I HATE giving talks!! But, 5 minutes isn't very long. It went okay and I was just glad it was over! We then had to do the clean-up!

It finally hit Kerby and I at about 8pm that we hadn't received the call from the hospital to tell us what time her surgery was. They do it by age and so they call you the night before, once all the surgeries are scheduled, to let you know what time yours is.

**Footnote** Kerby called me around 11:30am and asked what was wrong with our phones. There must be one off the hook because it rang busy each time Kerby called. I finally found the one off the hook and it said the call time was 194 minutes!! It had been sitting on since before 8:30am! (We figured this might be why the doctor's office didn't get through. We wondered why they hadn't tried later in the day because the phone was back on the hook by 11:30am).

Well--we called the hospital and they stated it wasn't them that would call but that our doctor was supposed to call. We called the after hours line and by 9pm I had our doctor on the phone. He was surprised no one had called but told me Emerie's surgery was scheduled for 9:00am and to be to the hospital by 7:30am.

We still had to pack for the overnight stay so that is what I did as soon as I returned from the clean-up! There isn't much to pack for one night but Emerie insisted on taking certain stuffed animals and such!

I put my camera battery on the charger to make sure it was full for tomorrow! But, of course, in the hustle/bustle of the morning I left it on the charger! So half these pictures are from my phone camera--not a great picture taker! Kerby had to bring my battery to me later that day!

FRIDAY: Well--bright and early we headed for the hospital. Emerie was not allowed to eat or drink anything after midnight. She was in pretty good spirits but still a little nervous. She went to throw something in the garbage and took small drink from the fountain! We about died! In fact the nurse kept asking how much? I guess they could have had to postpone the surgery from this but because it was just water and she just took a sip they should be okay!
Emerie in the waiting room. Holding her Pug webkin, Pal.

Kerby stayed at the hospital until they called us back. That was about 8:00am. Then he headed back to the house to spend the day with the other kids. Then they took Emerie's vitals, asked every question in the book, we met with the anesthesiologist and the doctor and she was finally ready to go. They wheeled her away and told me it would be about 45 minutes! I headed to the cafeteria because I was starving!
Emerie in the surgery area just before surgery. She looks scared doesn't she? They also gave her a little children's hospital info coloring book and crayons.

After eating I waited in the waiting room until they called me back again. This time it was to meet Emerie after the surgery. She was crying and coughing (I guess the anesthetic makes them cough). She was happy to see me but still in pain. They gave her the pain medication of Tylenol with Codeine but she just threw it up. It definitely has a different taste than regular children's Tylenol.

She asked the nurse to see her tonsils so the nurse went looking but they were already gone. The doctor did say they were gigantic! We already knew that though.

I can't believe I wore a white shirt! What was I thinking? Oh well--bloody snot and cough phlegm is what you get being a mom, right?
Emerie in her room at the hospital.

We finally got our room and they wheeled her up. She was sleepy so she slept most of the day. Kerby and the girls came to visit around 2pm. They brought her a balloon and the other Webkins Grandma had sent to comfort her during surgery. The nurses were so cute and brought everyone a popsicle! Payton loved it!
Emerie's friend, Paige, and her Mom and siblings came to visit about 4pm and by then Emerie was really tired again. She was pretty much in a daze and actually fell asleep before they left! They brought her a balloon also and a coloring book and crayons. Emerie loved them!
Emerie, Paige, and Leah.

I brought a couple books to read, a fun romance novel, and Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. I read quite a bit Friday because Emerie was watching Disney Channel or Nickelodeon or sleeping. I hope to finish the Dan Brown book soon because it is due back at the library June 19th! It is really good but long!

Emerie sure loved the automatic bed! She kept moving up the head part. Then she would lift up the feet part. Then she would do both. Up, down, up, down...

They let the kids do all sorts of stuff. They brought in more coloring books and crayons, they gave her a little bag that had a craft to do in it, and they also let her paint! It was a mess but she sure had fun! She got it all over the blanket and the gown and the sheets! The nurse looked a little perturbed but...she's the one that lets them paint, right?

The night was pretty horrible because they come it so much and check vitals. Since she had sleep apnea she was hooked up to monitors and these keep going off all night! I don't know how Emerie slept through them! They actually hooked up the oxygen for her about 3am because it kept dipping too low. She got up a few times to go to the bathroom and I had to help her because she was hooked up to all those wires.

Saturday:
I was thinking they would discharge her by 9am or 10am but I guess since it is a Saturday they took their own sweet time and checked on her about 12pm. They decided to watch her for a few more hours since they had to give her oxygen during the night. They took off the oxygen 1pm. They watched her vitals for the next few hours, she was eating more, drinking more, and not as much in pain. So they discharged her at about 7:30pm.


This was also part of the healing. They wanted her to get up an move around. They told her if she took her medicine (Tylenol with Codeine) then they would let her go to the playroom (Tylenol with Codeine actually tastes awful and she would usually try to spit it out!). She really wanted to go so after much coaxing she took her medicine, had a popsicle, and went to the playroom.


We packed up her stuff and she was ready to go--after one more popsicle (like she hadn't had enough already)! She even got to ride in the wheelchair down to the car!

Once home she asked if she could sleep with Mom so Kerby took Madison's bed and Madison moved to Taylor's extra bed. (Musical beds I'd say!)