The day before Lauren’s operation she woke up with a cough. Both her sister and I had been nursing a head cold prior to this so I knew she was getting one as well. I had convinced myself they were going to cancel her surgery, I was feeling disappointed it wasn’t going to happen but so relieved at the same time. I had the phone call from the nurse that afternoon to go through what time we needed to be there and asked the usual questions before an operation. I did mention to her that Lauren was getting a cold, she said still come in and the anaesthetist will assess her. I still had in my mind that it would be cancelled.
The morning of the surgery Lauren had to fast. Trying to communicate with a 13 month old food driven child that she wasn’t allowed to eat was tricky, but she did so well. I think she was more upset with the nasty cough she had.
We arrived at the hospital and were admitted, the nurse then showed us where to go. We walked past a group of parents who were sitting in a waiting area, happily chatting away and lead down a narrow hallway to another sitting area. There were 3 other families waiting as well. We were eventually called into a room where a nurse asked the usual questions like did Lauren have any allergies, did we know what procedure she was having done or had she been sneaky and eaten a chocolate bar that morning, that sort of thing. She did her checks on Lauren, she had a slight temperature so we gave her some Panadol. We told her that she had just started to show signs of a cold so she let the anaesthetist know, who came in and checked her out. She listened to her chest which was clear so she said she felt comfortable to still go ahead with the procedure.
So it was happening! I had convinced myself that the operation was going to be cancelled so I didn’t start to freak out until that point. My heart started racing and my fake smile became even more obvious. The nurse then asked some more questions and said only one of us can go into theatre while Lauren was given the gas. I said to Mark that I would be ok to go, so many mum’s had pre-warned me that it wasn’t nice so I thought that since I knew this that I would be ok.
Lauren and I were shown into the theatre where they had me sit on a seat next to the operating bed, they had me lay Lauren on my lap with her arm tucked under my arm while I held the other free arm. They put the little mask on her face for the gas and she instantly started screaming and crying, at that point I was just so focused on keeping her still. The sounds she was making started to change and her eyes were still open but they told me that she was now asleep and they got me to lay her on the table. Her body was limp and lifeless, all the while she was still making noises and had her eyes open. That broke me. They let me give her a kiss then a nurse showed me back to the room where Mark was, I turned into a sobbing mess. I cried hard! The poor nurse left me to ugly cry with Mark for a little bit. Once I felt a little more composed we walked out and the nurse lead us past the next lot of waiting parents and kids and then back to where the first lot of parents were sitting, I felt bad that those waiting parents saw me crying, I didn’t want to freak them out. I also felt a bit silly for crying because no other parents seemed as distraught as I was.
As we sat nervously waiting, drinking horrible instant coffee, we could hear kids in the recovery room, who had woken from their operations crying and in distress. This was not in any way what so ever comforting. Every time there was a new cry we would sit up like Meerkats and listen to hear if it was Lauren. We were preparing ourselves to go running in there like crazed lunatics. It had been nearly an hour since I left Lauren so we were thinking we would be called in soon, we sat and waited then noticed other parents being called in who’s children went in after Lauren. I started to panic internally, as you do, you start to think the worst. Another 30 mins past before I was finally called in. Again only one parent could go. I finally got to see Lauren, the nurse said she took a long time to wake up and she couldn’t leave Lauren alone which is why she wasn’t able to come and get us. Lauren’s temperature had risen even higher, so they had unzipped her Wondersuit to help cool her down and got me to give her Nurofen. I then was able finally cuddle her and make sure she was ok.
As Lauren dozed in and out of sleep in my arms the surgeon popped in and said the operation went well. He said the adenoids were a normal size but he still shaved them down. There was however a lot of fluid behind her ear drum so the grommets will help her immensely. He said she will be able to hear better right away and may find some sounds a bit to much and be upset by them.
We were then shown to a comfy chair to sit on while we waited to make sure Lauren recovered well. Mark could come in and see us at this point, the poor guy was left waiting in the hallway trying to keep any form of a heart attack from occurring. He then was also able to enjoy some sleepy cuddles and feed her tiny teddy’s. She was a champ in recovery, she was as quiet as a mouse, even when they went to take the needle out which was in her ankle, she didn’t even make one peep.
After they were happy with how she was recovering she was fitted with ear plugs and a headband for swimming and we were able to take her home and let her rest, which she slept the day away!
Posted by Learningthemumlife, 9th August 2019
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