The morning of Emma’s surgery went really smoothly. Emma woke up in the morning in a really good mood. I am firmly convinced that the surgery class was a life saver. It helped her feel so much more at ease with the whole surgery ordeal. Ian and Nora spent the night at my parents house so that we could have a nice calm morning. We all got up and got ready. Emma couldn’t eat, so Scott and I skipped breakfast too so that Emma didn’t have to watch us eat.

We got to the hospital and spent some time in a few different waiting rooms. Emma was happy and calm the whole time. She brought her surgery buddy and spent time doing one of her favorite things–coloring.

After about an hour, they were ready to take her back into surgery. They loaded her into the wagon–which she was really looking forward too.

I was a little worried that when it was finally time to say goodbye, Emma might have a hard time. But she didn’t at all. They wheeled her down the hall and we said goodbye at the “See ya later door”. She chatted with the anesthesiologist the whole time about the pictures on the ceiling. We gave her a hug, but she barely noticed that we left.

While she was in surgery Scott and I ran down to the cafeteria to get some breakfast. Emma was gone about a half hour before they said she was ready for us to come back and see her. When I got back there she was still kind of out of it, but she was asking to watch TV and she already had a slushee.

The next few hours were kind of rough for her. She was crying and complaining that her throat hurt. She was also nauseated. They gave her some anti-nausea medicine and some pain meds. But it didn’t help much with the nausea. She started vomiting and pretty much didn’t stop until she went to bed that night. They kept us longer at the hospital hoping to get it under control. I think they finally realized that she wasn’t going to stop vomiting and they thought she would be more comfortable at home.

We got her home and got her tucked into our bed and put a movie on for her. She spent the rest of the day in our bed and we let her sleep with us just so we could keep an eye on her. The first day was rough. She felt terrible the whole first day and threw up until she finally fell asleep for the night.

Luckily the next day she was like a new person. She had hardly any pain and the vomiting finally stopped. Over the next few days she took Tylenol a handful of times and she was back to eating close to normal by the 3rd day.

Right now she is 10 days out from surgery. It seems like we are in the clear and that the worst is over. I know that at day 7-10 the scabs are supposed to fall off and the pain can be pretty severe again. I looked in her throat today and I can’t really see any scabs. Maybe they already fell off.

I’m really glad that we went ahead and did the surgery. I could tell the first night that her breathing was better. She slept silently for the first time in her life. She is also keeping her mouth closed and breathing through her nose. Hopefully both of these things will help her sleep and help to give her a better quality of life.