Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Tubes - ears, that is...


Anna successfully and gracefully rode the roller-coaster of surgical procedures today. She was gently awakened at 6:10 am (about 2 hours before her normal wake-up time) and gingerly carried to the warm car to be transported to the surgical location. Upon arrival, Mommy and Anna played in the "child's play" room while Daddy took care of the details (read: forking over the money and signing papers). She was the first surgery of the morning and we were warned by the anesthesiologist that she may be stolen by adoring nurses if we didn't watch out.
Our friendly jellybean went to the nurse very easily and she was carried back to the OR, with teddy in hand. (Teddy is her bff. Don't mess with Teddy. In other news, I am ISO of another Teddy and have been disappointed that I can't find one - we need a back-up Teddy, like Hudson's "double doggy", as he calls it.) We read magazines and ate a few snacks in the waiting room (we didn't want to eat in front of Anna, b/c she wasn't allowed to partake). The ENT came out following her procedure and told us what he did (he did drain a good amount from her ears - but not infected - PTL - and put the tubes in). After only 20-25 minutes total, they called, "Anna Smith's parents?" Funny, I've thought of that a lot recently; I am no longer Beth, Dale Engle's daughter (for all you BICers out there that are reading this), Bryan's sister, Chris' wife, the worship pastor's wife...but I also am Hudson's Mommy (learned this from preschool this week) and Anna's parent (learned that today). Big change in roles. But I digress. Continuing on....



On our journey back the hall, the nurse was telling us what a great job she was doing in recovery - that she was a wonderful baby girl...not crying and screaming as a lot of infants do when waking out of anesthesia. And lo and behold, she was right. Banana was lying peacefully, albeit disoriented, in the recovery room nurse's arms, waiting for us. Safely in our arms, Daddy helped her drink a bit of apple juice, got some post-op instructions, and we were on our way! She did fuss a little bit - when she'd burp to get air out of her tummy from the anesthesia she would cry - presumably the pain in her ears, but she did wonderfully. Many thanks to you for praying for her and praises to God for keeping her safe - she was in the arms of our Great Physician the whole time. :)

2 comments:

The Wyler Family said...

what a brave girl. ethan would be the one screaming and crying at the top of his lungs. there's no way he would let me send him off with a stranger back to the OR. i have a very attached little boy who is suffering from major stranger anxiety these days.

so happy that anna is doing well. what a blessing!

Flamingo said...

she is just edible! so glad she did so well..and mommy and daddy too!