No more snoring (hopefully)!

A while back I mentioned taking my daughter to an ENT, if you don't recall. So after much debating I decided to get her tonsils and Adenoids taken out. My doctor had her see the ENT because her tonsils look very large, on a scale from 1-4, four being the largest the tonsils can be (touching each other) E's were a 3. So in other words very large! I brought up my concerns with the Doctor about her sleeping/snoring, or not sleeping should I say. It seemed like she can be in her bed for 12 hours at night and seem to have slept that whole time but still be grumpy/tired the next day and if I put her down for a nap she would take one. Is that normal? Is it normal that my 4 year old has dark circles under her eyes most days? Well I asked the Doc this and she said she probably has sleep apnea and doesn't get restful sleep. Large tonsils cause her to snore, pretty loudly I might add, and snoring can be connected with apnea and that can be dangerous for a little child to suffer from. I went to the ENT knowing they would just say "I think we should take out the Tonsils" but I wasn't sure how I felt about it. I'm glad I went to the ENT I did, she was so good about my concerns and understanding and not annoyed that I had so many questions and concerns about it the whole "surgery" thing. I decided to set a date and just go through with it. A growing 4 year old NEEDS their sleep!

E had her tonsils/Adenoids out on Nov. 6th. It is a routine procedure and is an out patient operation, so we went home that same day. She did really well and I was surprised she didn't cause more of a dramatic scene at the hospital. I wasn't allowed to see her right as she was coming out of Anesthesia, not sure why but I didn't care, but I could hear her when they were wheeling her to her room as she was coming out of it and she was NOT HAPPY! The Doctor came and talked to me right after and said every thing went really well and that they would come get me in 30 minutes or so after they let E come all they way "out of it" and settle in her room. I thought "They are going to love my dramatic daughter for another 30 minutes." Well not even 10 minutes later they come back and say "E wants her mommy NOW!" Ha ha ha, I knew they wouldn't last! Apparently after she came out of it they still had the IV in her hand and they give about three doses of pain meds through it. Well they only got two doses put through the IV before my angry daughter RIPPED it out! ((SHIVER)) it makes me cringe to think about that. I guess she really didn't like that IV in her hand and now her hand is still bruised from it. So that was all the drama she caused at the hospital, I seriously thought it would be way worse. I was pleasantly surprised.
The suspense of how dramatic she would be the following days got me all stressed and worried, but the fight was only with getting her to take her medications, all three of them, and that was it and now she's downing the drugs like a champ. She will some times complain of pain but nothing so dramatic like I thought, phew! That same day she was up and walking around saying she was bored from watching movies and TV up in my room. Of course the one day I let her in my room to do nothing but watch TV (her dream come true) and movies she complains about being bored. KIDS?! Normally she would LOVE that. The next day I asked her what she wanted to eat, thinking it would be ice cream or pudding or some thing soft and cold and her response was "A cheese burger and fries." Ok, cheese burger and fries it was and an ice cream cone too. And she ate it all. She has been running around and happy (as long as I keep the Loritab in her) playing like nothing has happened. I like this medication she is on it makes her a little loopy and silly. It's funny because I can time it, about 30 minutes or so after I give it to her she'll come up to me and say "I love you Mommy!" all loopy like, it cracks me up. I tell myself it is NOT the drugs talking :) So this whole experience has been so much better than I thought it would be and what a relief that is! So no more snoring for this girl, hopefully!
Today she is in more pain today than the last three days or so, I think the scabs are starting to come off which is painful. The other down side about this whole tonsils out thing is her breath WREAKS so bad! I dry heave some times when I get a whiff of it, it is that gross! Poor girl. I'm counting on that to go away, if she ever wants to date and/or get married this breath thing MUST go away!
Well there ya have it the story of E's Tonsillectomy, very exciting I know!