I've always joked Sydney sleeps like a catatonic ninja. If she's having a rough night, Brent will usually brave sleeping by her but aside from the constant tossing and turning, she snored too. Loudly. Even though she's been potty trained for a while, she had little accidents in the morning. Not enough to soak her, but like she couldn't quite reach the bathroom fast enough so she had to change her underwear. She was also notoriously grumpy in the morning. We didn't think too much about all this until her pediatrician took a look at her throat. Sydney's behavior was classic for a kid with tonsillitis. He recommended taking her to an ENT specialist.
I've actually seen this ENT with Sydney before- his name is Dr. Livingston and he just frowned at me when I said, "Dr Livingston I presume?" as he entered the exam room. The reason I was taking Sydney to him that time was because she stuck a craft ball up her nose. I asked him why kids do that and he threw up his hands, told me he'd been doing this for 30 years and still didn't have an answer to that. He even sees teenagers who are old enough to know better and they stick stuff up their nose! The point being, I had taken Sydney to Dr. Livingston before and I wasn't exactly thrilled to be seeing him again- but mostly because he didn't think my "Dr. Livingston I presume" joke was funny.
We were smack dab in the middle of stay-at-home orders so we attempted a Zoom with video and when that failed, I ended up just talking to Dr. Livingston on the phone. They couldn't take in-person appointments but he wanted us to more carefully observe Sydney as she slept- mostly for the apnea where she would stop breathing and then her body would jerk her into another position so she could breathe again. He suggested nasal spray just to see if it opened anything up.
Eventually, we were able to see the good doctor who discovered Sydney's tonsils were a size 3+ out of 4. She also has high palate and a crease in her uvula and something about that meant he was going to take out most of her tonsils and adenoids but leave a little bit. We scheduled the surgery for the following month and since she was his youngest patient, she got to be the first one of the day.
Before the surgery, she had to be tested for COVID-19. I decided not to detail what that would be like because Sydney can anguish over things. I'd heard it was invasive, but watching the nurse swab her I was pretty sure he grabbed some brain matter because that whole, looong swab went up her nose! It was over in a few seconds and she handled it like a champ- even he said she did better than most adults. One more pre-op appointment with her pediatrician and she was cleared for surgery.
We had to get up really early to make it to the hospital by 6AM. We showered and Sydney picked out pajamas and some wedge heels which ended up being a bad idea when I had to try and get them on her when we left the hospital. Sydney was in a really good mood- I think she was anticipating some mother-daughter time.
The hospital allows the kids to take one stuffed animal into surgery with them and Sydney was excited to take Lovie, her bear. They even put a mask on him! It was about now my nerves really set in. I know this is a routine surgery. I know Dr. Livingston has done a million of them. I know this is what she needs. I know, I know, I know. But this is my little girl and her innocent eagerness at being in the hospital- surrounded by medical professionals and people masked and hand-sanitized just got to me. She had no idea what lay ahead and the guilt set in. The guilt that I hadn't seen the warning signs for what they were earlier and the guilt for keeping her in the dark about what was about to happen to her.
This was when my friend Alisha Garner breezed through the door and announced she was going to be Sydney's nurse. My masked jaw dropped. I follow her on Instagram and she had posted a picture the day before from Washington climbing Mt. Ranier! I didn't know she was back in town and I had no idea she worked at this particular hospital. She chatted away in her upbeat voice and the vice grip of fear I was under loosened a bit. The children's wing of the hospital had been closed due to COVID-19 so it seemed the staff was happy to see a little girl. Alisha told me when she saw Sydney's name on the list she insisted on being her nurse. She listened carefully as Sydney told her all about Lovie and how her favorite color is pink but her second favorite color is purple and how these new socks feel funny... There was a delay with the medication because Sydney was so young and while we waited Alisha advised me that after this surgery most kids are either weepy or angry. She said most parents fall all over themselves trying to help but the best thing would be to turn off the lights and just let Sydney be. Just before she was wheeled off, Alisha let Sydney put up the guard rails on her hospital bed and she was sooo excited to do something so grown up.
The Lord sends me nurses at some of the most helpless and vulnerable times of my life.
Alisha's advice was gold. Sydney came out of surgery very weepy. She immediately gulped down 5 cups of water in between waves and waves of sobbing. Just as Alisha predicted, I felt the motherly instinct to try and fix it, but instead I turned out the lights and just stroked Sydney's hair. Eventually I crawled into the hospital bed because Sydney wanted to be held and it seemed to calm her a bit. I don't care if a tonsillectomy is a minor, common surgery- it's still surgery and that's a big deal.
I've never seen Sydney drink water like that!
The juxtaposition between her cheerful, perky self pre-op and a child that was just wrecked post-op was stark. He're a quick video of her breaking down in tears:
My ministering sisters brought over a meal for the family. I didn't think we needed it. Brent does all the cooking and he was working from home so he'd be around. A tonsillectomy is a minor surgery, no big deal, right? Turns out we needed that meal so very badly. Post-op I was physically and emotionally drained. I passed out and didn't wake up until late afternoon. Sydney passed out too but she needed her pain meds so Brent managed those while working and dealing with the other girls. By dinnertime, we were eager for that warm lasagna and rolls. I was so grateful to those ladies!!!
Before the procedure, I chatted with lots of friends and family who'd had a tonsillectomy. They all raved about how much better life was afterwards: no more ear infections, they could sleep, they could breathe- life was completely different. Somehow no one mentioned the recovery process. I thought it would be just a few days but Sydney was miserable for a solid week and a half. Dr. Livingston was out of the office so I talked to the on-call doctor about upping her pain meds. If we fell behind on those, Sydney was in agony.
On day 10 post-op, it was like someone flipped a switch and she was perfectly fine. Believe it or not, she was sick of ice cream and longing for "scratchy" food they had told us to avoid. She had pizza that night and was back to her cheerful, perky self, no worse for the wear!
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