Tubes Are In!

As anticipated, we arrived home around 9 a.m. with a little girl who was the cutest thing in the surgery area at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital! Lillian was sweet as can be during the pre-op time, and enjoyed showing the anesthesiologist where to put the stethoscope by pointing to her chest. She greatly enjoyed the bright green bracelets that Mom and Dad got to wear, as well as the super hip ankle bracelet that she was sporting!

The staff at Children’s was so great! They did a great job of explaining each step of the surgery and what to expect. And, obviously, they were so great with Lillian! I feel like she could have gone through the whole operation and recovery without Brian and I present and still feel so loved and cared for!

The hardest part of the operation (for me) was when they put her under. Now, being present for this was optional for the parents, but I am normally really good with things like shots, and stuff, so I wasn’t too worried about being emotional…but this time, I was really fighting back tears! Even thinking back to it gets my eyes a little watery. She did not like the mask being put on her and fought it quite a bit. As she lost consciousness, her body was so droopy and she had flailing limbs all at the same time, it was really weird. Putting her on the operating bed and leaving her was really hard.

The 10 minutes following were rough…I don’t know how parents who have children being operated on for hours at a time do it! My stomach was in total knots and I had my eyes glued on the door waiting for the doctor! After almost exactly 10 minutes, Dr. Meyers informed us that she had a lot of fluid in her ears, which they drained, and then inserted the tubes without incident.

We waited another 7ish minutes until we were escorted back to the recovery area. Our little love was all cuddled into her sweet nurse and wasn’t making any sort of fuss (we were told to expect an inconsolable child for 30 minutes to an hour!) Lillian was happy to have me rock her with Daddy right next to her as she drifted in and out of consciousness. Eventually, she drank some water, had some ibuprofen, and they sent us on our way!
Lillian slept for about 45 minutes on the way home so the traffic jam on I-75 was to our advantage. When we arrived home, she munched on some toast, demanded bacon, and started to be her silly self. Her first dose of ear drops went in really well and she didn’t mind them at all. She has been going through periods of normal activity and sleepy times, and I’m confident that by the end of the day, she will be completely back to normal!
We are definitely looking forward to an ear-infection-free lifestyle!

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