Ann Catherine's Surgery

Today was quite the day. Ann Catherine had her left ear tube removed. The right one fell out this fall and since they have been in since she was 18 months old, it was time for them to come out. Unfortunately, the left one had to be surgically removed.

The surgery itself lasts five minutes. Completely uneventful, really. But I was really worried about Ann Catherine having anxiety beforehand. She doesn't do well at the doctor, and I was so worried that she would be scared. Well, God answers prayer! She woke up in a happy mood (at 5:30am no less because we had to be at the hospital at 6am!) and did so well in pre-op. She just played with toys and even picked out the pink jeep to drive to surgery. Because she was so at ease, I found myself being at ease, too. As she drove away to surgery, she got this look on her face like, "Uh, oh. You people aren't going with me, are you?" She started to look afraid, but the nurse guided her onto the operating room.

The surgery went great. After it was over, the doctor came to talk to us. A few minutes later, we hear this child screaming. I mean, screaming at the top of her lungs! My mother looks at me and I said, "No, it can't be her." No sooner had I said that than the nurse came out and said, "Mrs. George?" Uh-oh. As she led me back, she said, "I need to warn you. She's pretty unhappy. She won't let any of us do anything with her."

Now, I was somewhat prepared for this. When AC and Lily both got their tubes, they were crazy people coming out of the anesthesia. I mean C-R-A-Z-Y. They were thrashing and screaming. But, I had hoped that now that AC is older, she wouldn't react that way.

I was wrong.

Two nurses were holding her and she was screaming like there was no tomorrow. They let me hold her, but she was flailing and kicking so bad I thought I would end up black and blue. She was going nuts. Seriously, nurses were walking out of their rooms to see who the crazy child was who was screaming so loud. One poor nurse brought her a popsicle and said, "Would you like a popsicle, sweetie?" and she screamed, "NOOOOOO!!!" so emphatically you would have thought he had asked her if she wanted to swim in a pool with sharks. I wanted to go, "Really, she's the sweetest child you'll ever meet!" :)

They quickly moved us out of post-op and to a room. I think they just wanted to get the loud kid out of there. AC proceeded to scream and flail and they just went ahead and let us go home. On the way home, it was no better. She would ask for her lamby, then two seconds later she would throw it on the floor. Same with her juice. She hated me, herself and everyone else.

We got her home and I FINALLY got her to lay down and sleep (this after we had already laid down 5 times and gotten back up). When she woke up, she was Ann Catherine again. That crazy little girl was gone. We even went outside to play for a little while. And her Poppy brought her fresh flowers from his front yard. That made her feel much better!

I'm just glad it's all over and Ann Catherine is back to normal! As for Lily's tube, I'm hoping they fall out of their own!!