Today I am really hoping to put an end to the drama of the summer. Poor little K had to have tubes in her ears. I know that this is a fairly routine procedure that many many children have, but when it was my child, honestly, it was just awful.
She was upset from the second they started weighing her, and when they dared to actually put a hospital bracelet on her ankle, she was furious. It is so hard at this age when you can’t explain to them what is happening, or ask them what they are feeling. I just had these images in my head of things that she might be remembering from her last time with a hospital bracelet on…
She was okay when we were in the room waiting for her turn, although she was definitely giving me “the eye” to let me know she was not happy about being there.
When they called us back, I was able to carry her back to the operating room, and hold her hands until she was asleep. I thought I was prepared for this, but it was terrible. In case anyone out there has to go through this, after they put the mask on, her eyes started rolling back, and her breathing turned into these strange, shallow squeaks. Apparently this is normal, but I think it would have been helpful for them to tell me that BEFORE it happened. To say that I was freaked out would be a definite understatement. I was HORRIFIED! Then I had to leave my baby. 🙁
It was a very short procedure, so we didn’t have to wait for long. When she came into the room, she had a terrible time waking up. She was screaming, and thrashing, kicking, and obviously completely miserable. After about 20 minutes of this, they came in to tell me that we could go. All I could think was, “Really?? Do you see this child??”. It took over an hour before she finally did calm down, and fell asleep in the car.
We watched some therapeutic Elmo when we got home, and she then went happily into her bed. I am hoping that the rest of the day will continue to look better. And on the bright side, hopefully now she will be able to enjoy some time free from ear infections, and she will be back dancing to music with ears that can actually hear!
You actually expect me to PLAY at a time like this??
Get me out of here!!