Delilah's Surgery

Yesterday went a lot better than I had anticipated!

We were back in our recovery area behind a curtain almost immediately upon arriving at the surgical center.  Keegan missed school so that we could all be there for Delilah.  She really had no idea what was going on, she was a bit tired and a bit upset because she wanted her kaba (chocolate milk) but she wasn't allowed to eat or drink since before midnight the night before.  

We thought we were going to have to give her some oral medication to relax her before they take her back, with her age and never having been taken away by strangers.  She has never been in day care or anything, so we though she would have a major melt down, but we didn't have time for that medicine and she was totally fine with being carried away from us - they even let her take her baby into the operating room with her! 

Jonas, Keegan and I stayed in the recovery area for 10-15 agonizing minutes while she was away.  The staff was extremely friendly and very thorough in going over every little detail with us.  They made Lila feel at ease and got her to easily open up to them, so that calmed my nerves a bit.

When they brought her back out, she was still asleep from the anesthesia.  She looked so peaceful, but it almost made me SO anxious to see her that way because I knew the circumstances under which she was sleeping.  As soon as they brought her back they tried tickling her and talking to her to try to get her to wake up.  She kicked them away a couple times, and then the screaming started, after about a minute of them bringing her back.  She screamed and screamed, with her eyes closed.  I crawled up in the bed with her and held her and talked to her and combed my fingers through her hair.  The nurse said this was very common for a child her age to wake up this way - they are very disoriented and have no idea where they are or whats going on, so they get scared.  It took about 3-5 minutes after I crawled into bed with her for her to calm down.  Her eyes stayed closed most of the time - at one point she complained that her shoe wasn't on, told us she was cold, and she wanted her baby.  Then she was just silent.  I think she was trying to take it all in, trying to figure things out.  After about 10-15 minutes, we were allowed to leave.  I carried her to the car and she was still being very quiet.

When we got home, she said she wanted to watch Ice Age.  So we sat together on the couch and watched the movie.  She nearly fell asleep on me a few times; she would roll over and snuggle me with her eyes closed.  She probably went in for surgery around 8:30 ish and it wasn't until 10:15 that she walked for the first time.  She got off the couch slowly and quietly, and took about two steps.  She let out one cry, pointed to her ears and said "Ow!" and then dropped to the floor.  That made Jonas and I pretty nervous.  She proceeded to scoot herself around on the floor for a few minutes, but then never again complained about her ears.  She finally fully woke up around 11, was playing and laughing and fighting with her brother (like usual) for the remainder of the day.

We have some ear drops that we have to put in her ears twice daily.  It's pretty cool to see the effects of the tubes so immediately - we put the drops in and they kind of sit visibly in the ear canal like a puddle. We have to press her cartilage and wiggle her ear a little bit, then the drops quickly disappear from view as they go through the tubes into the middle ear.  We then put cotton in her ears to keep the drops in there, and she has been doing so well with this.  She hasn't cried or complained one time while having it done, and she keeps the cotton in - she even quickly comes running to us when they fall out so we can put them back in for her.  

I am overall extremely pleased with everything so far.  Her ears don't seem to bother her at all and she is running around like normal this morning.  Keegan has been working with her every day for the last week or two, trying to teach her new words by slowing down his speech and get her to repeat things he says.  This week, he taught her how to say 'yellow' and 'home.' A big problem has been that he has been talking the way she talks, so she hasn't needed to learn how to say things the right way.  We have been getting on to Keegan lately, trying to explain to him that even though she understands when he talks the way she does, the rest of the world doesn't so she needs to learn to say things the right way so that preschool, which she starts in the fall, won't be so difficult for her.  For example, Keegan would say, "Go nana?" instead of saying, "Want to go take a bath?" because Delilah calls water 'nana.'  Or, instead of saying, "Want to play with the birds?" He'd say, "Pay caw caw?" because that is how Lila says it.  

So, hopefully we will see a big difference in the next few months with her speech development, and hopefully she won't be so sick as she has been her whole life up to now! She is such a trooper, I am so proud of her and excited for her as she learns more and more each day!