Lauren's Surgery

It was decided that Lauren was to get her tonsils out, and so the time had finally come. (7.27.11)We planned to meet Grandma Debbie, Hillary, and Marcus in Billings the day before and eat at Chuck-E-Cheese and try to relax and have as much fun as we could (for Lauren) before her surgery.

After Chuck-E-Cheese we ran a few errands and then headed to the motel that was convienetly right next to the Yellowstone Surgery Center. Lauren had to check everything out in the room we were staying in! She thought the fridge was pretty neat!

So the day of the surgery fnally came.(7.28.11) I slept pretty good that night, but I was up early. My mom had loaned us her Ipad so I was able to occupy my time with that and getting myself ready for the day as well. I woke up everyone else when at about 8:30 (because I didn't want Lauren up too early because she wasn't supposed to eat or drink). My mom had come up that morning so she could be with Sawyer while we were with Lauren. Our arrival time was 9:00 and we got checked in with no problems. The nurse that came and got Lauren was so sweet and talked to Lauren a little in the waiting room before she took her back. They weighed Lauren and she was 18.1 kg (I thought it was weird they weighed them in kg, but I guess it is more precise). Then they took us into a little room and we put Lauren in a gown. The doc came in and said hi, and then the nurses gave Lauren some medicine that made her loopy, relaxed, and all sorts of fun! Erik thought it was hillarious! She was talking really slow and she would rub her thumb and pointer finger together while she talked! haha! Anyway they strolled her away (happy as could be) in a wagon and we went to the waiting room! About 40 minutes later the doc came and said all was well and what to expect and said we would have to wait for about 20 more minutes while she woke up. A nurse came and got us and took us to a crying Lauren. The thing that seemed to be bothering her the most was the IV, but we were able to rock her and she feel asleep. The poor thing couldn't talk really well and would cry unconsolubly and we would try to take her mind off things asking do you want a trampoline for your birthday, did you know we didn't tell Aimee happy birthday (she loves birthdays), should we have Grandma Jolley come here... and on and on and on. We were able to talk her into eating some pudding and taking some medicine and then she was able to get her IV out. After the IV was out she was doing pretty good, she was drinking and eating a little bit. The nursing staff was great and gave Lauren lots of little things to take home including a little stuffed sheep named Ramsy! We decided Lauren was ready to leave and so we checked her out and her nurse wheeled her in the wheel chair all the way to our hotel! I was impressed with Lauren because she wanted to get off the wheel chair herself and walked (wobbling) to the bed! So at this point things were looking up and I was grateful that it wasn't the horrible recovery I thought it was going to be (I shall be proved wrong later in the story). So Lauren was happy to watch Caillou (a PBS show) on Grandma's Ipad and we tried to relax! My mom had stayed a while at the hotel with us only because she had locked her keys in her car and my sister Lila so graciously brought them to Billings for her!

Grandma and Lauren watching Caillou..

Sawyer relaxing :)

This was later on in the evening, Lauren was up and moving and playing with the water! I was again gratefull that she wanted to play with anything!

You can tell she doesn't feel well, look at those eyes.

Erik and Lauren playing with the FILM camera they gave her at the Surgery Center! Haha! I haven't used a disposable camera for a long time!

Me and the Lady!

Lauren watching more Caillou.

That night of her surgery we were talking about what we should eat for dinner and so Erik and I decided that we would go for some Taco Bell, and Lauren said she wanted a taco. Ok, so we got her the taco thinking she wouldn't eat it. Well she ate it! I was surprised, but glad she was eating! We later went to sleep, Lauren and Erik in one bed - and Sawyer and I in the other! It was a good night and Lauren slept all the way through with no problems! The next day we slowly got on our way, did a few more errands in Billings and then headed to Laurel to grab some lunch at McDonalds. Lauren requested a hamburger, and to my surprise again, she ate the hamburger with no problems. We made it home and settled in.

That afternoon my mom was at the Byron park with my nefews so we walked over to the park and played with them for a little while! (When you don't have a double stroller, you just have to get creative!) Again at this point I am still a little shocked that she was doing so good. The only reason I knew she had just got her tonsils out was because she talked so funny! We got everyone in bed and it was another successful night of sleep for Lauren. The next day was Thursday (Day 2 after surgery) Erik had to work that night, so us girls made our selfs sparce and went to my moms house so we could make noise! Lauren was doing ok, but wasn't interested in eating or drinking as much as she had been. But this day was still a good day. The night came and it was just me and the girls because Erik was at work. This night was not a good night, Lauren woke up and was crying and was unconsolable. I tried to be as patient as possible and be sympathetic, but at the same time I didn't want her to wake up Sawyer. So after a while all I could sadly do was put her in another room and let her cry :(  Friday (Day 3) was an ok kind of day for Lauren, but medicine was harder to give to her because she didn't want it to hurt her throat, and she didn't want to drink much either. (note. she wouldn't eat icecream, popsicles, anything cold, soft, or sweet, along with all other yummy foods you think kids would love to eat)  We had family picutres for the whole Jolley family set for that evening and I was hoping we could have a happy Lauren that evening for pictures, and they went ok! Friday night was a repeat of Thursday night but a little worse.. Lauren woke up a couple times crying and I couldn't sooth her... Small house + everyone in one room + no Erik to help = unhappy Lacey. Anyways we made it through the night, and the next day was her birthday (Day 4). We didn't do much this day because we were going to have her birthday party on Monday the 4th. We let her open a few presents to give her something else to think about other than her mouth hurting. We went out to Horseshoe Bend with my mom, Lila, Kandace and her kids. The night came and Lauren woke up crying a few times and to top it off Sawyer puked! Yes, what a good night! It was one of those pukes that come every 20 minutes, so after a couple rounds of pukes we all got back to bed. Day 5, Sunday- I called my mom that morning to see if she could come and get Lauren because I could tell Sawyer was going to want to cuddle and sleep most of the day because she was still running a fever. At this point I knew that Ibuprofen was the only thing that made Lauren feel better and it would only work for about 2 hours, then Lauren would be misserable.. and you are only supposed to give them ibuprofen every 6 hours :(  When I called to check on Lauren that afternoon my mom said she wasn't doing so good.. very lathargic and had been sleeping most of the day and NOT drinking. Not peeing. ugh. So I worried and thought she was most likely dehidrated or pretty darn close. We tried and tried to convince her to drink water every chance we got, and made it through another not fun night - Erik got to experience this night with us because he was done with the night shifts. The next day (Monday, Day 6) was her birthday party, so I tried to occupy her thoughts with that! She was ok during the days, but I never knew what would set her off.. and once she started to cry about something it was VERY hard to get her to stop. Oh yeah.. I don't know the last time Lauren had taken a bath, or when the last time it was she washed her hair, combed her hair... I hadn't been to the store in a long time so I depended on my mom and Debbie to bring most of the party supplies and food (Thanks!) I also talked my mom into coming early to help me get things ready because I was close to crazy and Sawyer was needy, as was Lauren! Lauren had a few melt downs at her party, but it was nothing we couldn't handle. The pattern continued and the recovery seemed to be never ending. My mom graciously took Lauren on Tuesday night (Day 7) and when I went to get Lauren that morning for swimming lessons she willingly (after a dose of ibuprofen) drank water and ate some coco puffs. YES! THERE IS HOPE! When she was willing to drink, we took advantage of that precious time and had drinking contests and tried to make drinking as fun as could be! But our sweet Lady Lauren just did not feel good, her eyes didn't sparkle and it was so hard to see her like that.

I think it was Day 10 or 11 when I finally started to see the sparkle back in her eyes. This picture is so comforting to me because this is the day that she started to come back around!

We made it through the tonsil surgery and are extremely happy that the recovery is over with! I waited to write this post because I would have been much more bitter about the whole situation, but now I can just sigh a big sigh of releif and be glad that is over! I am gratefull that Lauren doesn't have any hard feelings about the doctor and she seems to have forgotten the whole recovery!