Tonsils and Adenoids No More!

This morning, we had to be at the Ambulatory Center with Mikayla at 7:30 for her surgery to remove tonsils and adenoids. We got up at our usual time got dressed and then headed off to get Drew to school. We dropped him off at ten after 7, and Craig worried the whole time about whether Drew would make it okay. He's never had to walk into the school by himself because usually mommy is with him. He usually hangs out with me until the bell rings, but this morning he sat in the hall and read with the other boys and girls. He seemed to do just fine, but it is very stressful. I got a taste of what other parents go through on a daily basis!

After dropping Drew off safely at school, we headed to the ambulatory center. When we arrived Mikayla enjoyed looking at the beautiful fountain in the lobby, and playing with daddy while mommy filled out papers. Once Poppi got there, it was all about him! She played with him the remainder of the time while we waited for the admitting nurse to call us back.

When the admitting nurse called us back, Mikayla gave Poppi a kiss and we headed back. We had only been back there a couple of minutes when we looked up to see our Pastor, Glenn Rusher. He is such a godly man, and we feel so blessed to call him, not only pastor, but friend! Once he got back there and gave Mikayla a hug, Mikayla started asking for Poppi, so Pastor Glenn went back out and got Poppi!

Pastor Glenn looks on as Mikayla plays with Poppi. We are all back where they checked Mikayla's vitals and prepping her for surgery. Aunt Jennie calls Craig's cell phone to let him know that she and Mimi are there. He asks the admitting nurse if it's okay for them to come back to see Mikayla. She agrees, saying You can pray, but then everyone but mom and dad will need to go back out because we are only supposed to have 2 family members back here. After we pray, Pastor Glenn, Jennie, and my mom, and dad begin to hug Mikayla and tell her they will see her when she wakes up. She started crying for my dad, and wanted him to hold her. The admitting nurse said "no, you stay, if she is going to cry like that, you stay!"

Mikayla shows off her cool thermometer. She kept trying to take it off of her head!

Ms. Angie, a family friend, works at the ambulatory center. Ms. Angie's son and Drew played on the same basketball team. We talked to her about the surgery during basketball season, and she let us know that she would try her best to be there to help with Mikayla that day (this was in January, so she wasn't sure about her schedule for March). We were so pleased to find out when we arrived that Angie was working today. She came out while we were waiting for the admitting nurse to call us back to talk to Mikayla and Mikayla gave her a huge hug!! Angie is wonderful! She was so great with Mikayla - made her feel as comfortable as possible. Here she is telling Mikayla exactly what is going to happen - "you will get a hat like mine and your bear will get a hat and I will walk you back. When we get back there, Rex (anesthesiologist) will put a mask on your face that smells like candy (Mikayla chose bubble gum), and you will go to Monkey Land". She went on to tell Mikayla that not everyone gets to go to Monkey Land. You can see how interested Mikayla was in this!!

The admitting nurse said that everyone could come back in for a minute before they carried her back, so Craig went to get Mimi, Jennie, and Pastor Glenn. When it was time for Mikayla to put her hat on, she started to cry. She knew that it was getting close to time for them to take her back. Poppi put a hat on to convince Mikayla to put hers on. She did and smiled for this picture! Then, Ms. Angie picked her up to head to "Monkey Land". At this point Mikayla started to cry, not a loud mad cry, but a scared quiet cry. We all gave her kisses and told her we loved her and that we would see her when she woke up as Ms. Angie carried her off. When she cried it really got to all of us, but we knew this had to be done. We also knew she was in good hands, and that Jesus would take care of her!

We had been in the waiting room about 5 minutes when Angie came out to tell us that she was asleep. We are so thankful that she was working today!! We waited another 25 minutes before a nurse called us back to talk with the doctor. Dr. B told us that Mikayla did great during the surgery. He told us that her adenoids had probably been causing her more problems than her tonsils. He said she had a generous supply of both, and that we would notice a tremendous difference with them out. He said that the nurses would call us back to see her in a few more minutes.

After about 10 more minutes of waiting we were finally allowed to go back to see our princess. She was still pretty out of it when they first put her in my arms. The nurses had been holding her and loving on her. They all kept saying how sweet she was and how they wanted to take her home with them. One of them said she's like a little magazine baby. I was glad to finally hold her in my arms! It had been a long, emotional morning for all of us!! We stayed in recovery a little over an hour where Mikayla had a little apple juice, and began answering our questions with nods and shakes of her head. She also kept making faces with her mouth and tongue making everyone laugh. Her mouth was still numb and her tongue was swollen and we think it must have been bothering her because she kept trying to stick it out. It was funny to watch, but when Craig would laugh at this, Mikayla appeared to get upset.

Finally, about 10:30 this morning, after 3 hours it was time to take our angel home! Daddy gets prepared to carry her out to our van. We are so glad that her surgery was a success and that it went smoothly! We so appreciate every one's prayers. Please continue to pray that Mikayla had a quick, easy recovery!