T & A NIGHTMARE

Many of you know very well that MH is a sickly little girl.  Nothing terrible, but pretty much any small bacteria/virus in a 30 mile radius is picked up and housed in that little, now, 27 lb body.  I am thankful that everything can be "fixed" with some form of medication and nothing is life threatening.  THANK YOU GOD!  However, it's still not easy having a sick child.  For anyone.  After being swabbed 7 times since June for strep, our pediatrician felt it was time to be aggressive.  We got an appointment with an ENT and the rest is history.  Thursday, February 16th MH had a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy.  Here she is before her surgery with her new Ariel surgery pajamas from Aunt Lynn, her medical kit, a pink monkey from her mamaw and papaw and a baby doll....You never know what you're gonna need so she is always prepared :

Surgery went textbook and recovery IN THE RECOVERY ROOM was fine. I was a nervous wreck/basket case which was to be expected.  The doctor told us her tonsils were very enlarged and were crypted which meant there were craters in her tonsils that was housing the bacteria and the bacteria was just eating away at her tonsils.  Barf.  Her adenoids was "disgusting" which was the words used by the doctor.  So, the surgery was much needed.  However, what was to come afterward I could definitely live without. 

After we got home Thursday, she was ok for a while.  Eating ice cream, drinking, etc.  I thought at that point it was going to be a walk in the park.  Boy was I ever wrong.  About 4:00 on that Thursday, she completely shut down on us.  Would not open her mouth under any circumstance.  No talking, eating, drinking, etc.  Would. not. open. her. mouth.  Thursday night was pure hell.  She woke up every 20-30 minutes screaming in pain.  By Friday morning, she still had not spoken nor drink ANYTHING nor had a wet pull up for far over 12 hours.  I was beginning to get concerned.  They changed the pain meds to a suppository which I thought would help.  We ended up in the Childrens Hospital Friday afternoon because of dehydration.  I was not very impressed with them and I think they knew that.  After she got fluids, she would at least open her mouth and say a few words.  Not many, but a few.  Progress.  Saturday was still not any good which led us to Sunday.  Again, shut down.  No wet pull up in almost 18 hours, no talking, no drinking, NOTHING.  Called the surgeon on call and he sent us to Baptist.  Let's just say Baptist knew this mother wasn't playing anymore.  This is her at Baptist.  This is NOT my singing, dancing, talking, princess:

  They began running to tests to make sure of no infection, abscess, etc.  Everything came back fine, except she was dehydrated yet AGAIN!  The dr did examine her throat (with 4 adults holding her down) and he said her throat was so swollen he could not even see where the adenoidectomy had been done.  After 8 hours in the ER, 3 bags of fluids, Rocephun, Decadron, and Morphine...we were on our way back home WITH a new, stronger, pain medicine.  I was dieing for something to drink so I asked Nick to stop at McDonalds for a Sprite.  As we are sitting in the drive thru lane, a little voice comes from the backseat "I want chicken nunnetts and a juice box" which translates to I want chicken nuggets and a juice box.  We ordered it for her and she ate every one of them and asked for more.  She ended up drinking 2 juice boxes and ate 7 chicken nuggets Sunday night.  Amazing what a little Morphine will do for you! 

The next few days after that were a little sketchy, but she didn't shut down on us anymore like she had been.  By Wednesday of the following week, she was still not up to par so I called back just to make sure the ENT didn't want to take a look at her, seeing that he had not laid eyes on her since the day of the surgery and we had landed in the ER on 2 separate occasions.  They told me to give her until Friday and we would go from there!  Friday came and so did a new day!  She acted fine, singing, talking, drinking, etc.  We had some friends to come from Meridian and spend the weekend with us to get MH's mind off of being sick.  Went to Chuck E Cheese, Childrens Museum, and Sunday School!  Did well with all of that so we decided to go back to school on Monday!  When she got there, her class had made her a Welcome Back sign and her friends was soooo happy to see her as she was just as happy to see them!  It made me tear up that they care so much for Mary Haddox.  Here is a picture of her sign and some of her friends that were there:

 
We cannot thank all of our family, friends, and church family for all of the prayers, calls, texts, love, and support!  We are truly blessed with a superb support system and we love you all!