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!)

Crazy Thursday!

Well--Laurel called this morning and said she wouldn't be able to go work out! Funny but I was actually thinking "great! I have a morning to get some stuff done and not sweat doing it! (even though I was dressed for the occasion)" Ha-Ha!! I have been wanting to go to the library to check out books instead of buying them, yes--it would definitely save me money to "rent" rather than "buy"! So as I am driving to the library it hit me--Emerie has her final appointment with the ENT for pre-surgery clearance! Oh great! I just missed the exit to take to go pick her up from school--after just recently dropping her off! I called the ENT office to see if it was okay to be a little late--I hate being late!--or if they wanted me to reschedule. They said to just get here when I could get here!

I ran to the school--in my workout clothes mind you--and went to the office to check her out. Her class wasn't in her classroom so they checked in the MPR because that is where most of the Kindergarten classes were because they were practicing for their program. The aide came out of the MPR and said her class wasn't in there and went looking for them. After about another 10 minutes of searching she realized that Emerie's class WAS in the MPR and finally tracked her down for me and we left! How frustrating! I don't think I would actually have been that late had they found her the first time!

We get to the ENT office and I am getting Payton out of the car and realized she didn't even have any shoes! I guess when Maddie buckled her in the car this morning before leaving for school she didn't have any shoes on. Normally that is okay but she also didn't even have her hair done either!! What a group of wackos we looked like! We then sat at the office for about 40 minutes in the waiting room (Emerie was so out of control I was going to lose it!) We got called back and then the Doctor says, "Do you have any questions?" I didn't so he says, "Great! We'll see you on the 13th of June. Remember not to feed her one thing after midnight the 12th! They will call you on the 12th to let you know the time of the surgery!" I said, "That's it?" I think I offended him because he said, "Did you want me to do more?" I'm thinking, "YES! I just spent the last hour waiting to be told 'See you in 3 weeks." He didn't even look in her throat or anything! Couldn't they have just told me that over the phone!!?? Very frustrating!

We then went to the library--because it was pretty much on the way home--and I guess I haven't taken the kids to the library too much because Emerie definitely didn't know how to act! I had even coached her before walking in about how to act and that it was a place to be quiet and whisper! She egged Payton on once playing hide-and-seek around the pole that Payton shrieked in delight! The security guard actually came over and told me to keep my children quiet! We quickly picked out a couple books and a movie for Emerie and then I went looking for books for me! I actually found a few to check out--love that Nora Roberts!! And I even found a few to buy! They were only 50 cents each for nice hard bound books that aren't new releases anymore! Anyway--I am going to try to take the kids to the library more often!

We also had piano today because their teacher switched it from Wednesday because of a conflict. It was nice to just sit and let the little ones play at the park while the two older ones had their lessons.

It's Official! Surgery is May 30th!

Well--after a meeting with the ENT to go over the sleep test results he stated that she does have sleep apnea but not a horrible case of it. Her oxygen levels do go down to 'unhealthy' levels when she sleeps so hopefully the surgery will alleviate that. He ordered some pre-surgery tests: EKG and a chest X-ray so we did those today! The movie is showing how Emmie acts at the doctors office! She is a goof ball! The next picture was the EKG--Emmie asked to have her picture taken (I think I started a trend!) The surgery is scheduled for Friday, May 30th, which happens to be Payton's birthday! We may have to celebrate her birthday early or late?!

Emerie's Sleep Test

Emerie had her sleep test done last night. It was very interesting! They hooked her up to all sorts of wires and straps! They even had a small wire under her nose that measures how much she breathes through her nose and how much she breathes through her mouth. They had a wire hooked to her toe to measure her pulse-ox (how much oxygen she is getting in her blood).
Emerie was a little nervous at first when they were putting them on but got use to it! Many times throughout the night the technicians had to come in and adjust the wires that had come loose or put back on the wire on her toe because it had come off. They actually video her while she sleeps. It was not a restful sleep for either of us! The technician finally woke us up at 4:55am and said she was nervous Emerie would fall off the bed and they had enough readings. They then had to pull off all the wires and straps. I still don't know how Emerie slept with all those wires and patches stuck to her face and all around her head!

On the way out of the sleep center Emerie said, " I thought this was going to be more fun than that!" Is that classic Emerie or what?!