McCullers (Family of Four): Tonsils, Adenoids, and Tubes: Oh my!

Yes, these were indeed Maeve's lions, tigers, and bears that kept causing her pain and sickenss. On Monday, April 4th, Maeve had surgery to remove her tonsils and adenoids and to put in a new set of functioning tubes.

Everytime Maeve would see this logo, she wouldsay, "Cam and Maeve"
which is who I told her it was when we went for our first appointment

We traveled to the big city of Atlanta and checked in to a hotel that was right across the road from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite. Since we had to be there so early that morning and the little one couldn't eat or drink anything that morning, we thought it best to allow her to sleep as long as possible.

Watching Elmo on Daddy's phone - no clue what is about to happen

This worked well for the first hour before the surgery began, but it wasn't long before we were all set and ready that Maeve was ready for her morning ritual of "juice." The first few times I told her that I had forgotten the juice. She concluded that it was 'in the car" so she kept grabbing my hand to try to pull me up and lead me out to the car. It was beginning to be too much. Luckily, the sleepy juice was brought in soon and she quickly calmed down and allowed them to wisk her away from us without a fuss.

All relaxed thanks to the sleepy juice

After reading email and devotionals on my phone and trying to distract myself with a good Starbucks and some Regis and Kelly, Dr. B finally came in and told us things had gone well and that Maeve was in recovery. He gave us eardrops and told us of a few things to expect. We were anxiously awaiting the reunion with our little girl, although we knew it would likely be far from the quiet scene that we had just waited in.

A few minutes later, a nurse came in to tell us that Maeve had been taken back to the O.R. because of drainage they were concerned about coming from her ears. Of all things I wasn't worried about, the ears had been those because she had done fine last year with her first set of tubes. So, needless to say, the worry of a mother surged inside of me and caused me to think all sorts of things. After trying to hold it together, I quickly became a mommy mess, breaking into the ugly cry. Why had I brushed off everyone that wanted to come with us? At that moment I needed the wisdom of all the the mothers that I lean on the most. Then I had a little voice pop into to my head. It was Maeve singing one of her signature songs, "He's got the whole world in His hands" and I was reminded that He did indeed have the whole world in His hands and he most certainly was holding her right now in His hands.

Two nurses came in to reassure me after Tony witnessed my moment of crumble. They assured me that it was very common for little ones to be taken back to the O.R. In just a short while, Dr. B. came back and told us that the recovery nurses thought they saw some bleeding so to be safe, he ordered her to go back under anestesia so that he could check for sure. There was no bleeding, but there was a lot of fluid that he was able to suction out, making it easier on her when she did wake up. He suspected that her most recent battle with fever and ear infections was due to a full blown sinus infection and the extra fluid was a result of that lingering beast that medicine could not make go away.

Sleeping off the anesthesia - the biggest complaint was her red toe

We were led up to room 134 to wait for our sleeping beauty. When we first saw her, she was sitting up, riding on the bed. As soon as she saw us, she starting telling the news! She didn't cry as much as I expected her too because she has been rather melodramatic lately, but she did want me to know that she did not like where she had been. She was also wondering why had she been there without us. The recovery nurses were so complimentary of how well she had done after waking up. One of them said, "We would have never guessed that she just turned two. She answered all of our questions." Even in her most humble moment, she has a way to make my heart dance with pride!

I scooped her up as best I could without hindering any of the medical stuff. Her iv was in her foot so that made holding her a little awkward. We rocked in the chair for a little while as she drifted back off to sleep. Nonna and Pop were there within moments to check on their girl. I was glad to see some familiar faces too. Her oxygen levels dipped down too low, so the nurses came in and helped me put her in the bed so that they could give her oxygen while she slept. It did the trick and got back up to where it needed to be. After about an hour of more snoozing, it was like a light flipped on. She sat up and was talking and drinking juice. She was giving Nonna and Pop orders and seemed to be back to her regular mode.

Feeling better and eating yellow jello

Most of the afternoon was spent going in and out of sleepiness, crankiness, and happiness. It was quite the roller coaster! She was spoiled by a package sent to her from her "Boys" that included a cute bear balloon, a coloring book, and a squishy pig. Then C.G. came in with more balloons and a Yo Gabba Gabba toy. She was executing her princess powers in full force! She continued to drink, which was our main goal for the day. She really wasn't hard to occupy either. She was very talkative and was very distracted by random tv shows.

Feeling much better the next morning and playing with a new toy!

As I was sitting beside her later that evening, finally eating the burrito that Tony had gone to get a couple of hours before, Maeve decided that she wanted a burrito too. Of all times to want my food! She was not going to take no for an answer so I pulled her off a little bit of the soft tortilla. Of course she wanted more and wanted to bite it herself. Luckily I had requested for Tony to bring a cheese quesidlla. So, we pulled that out, and much to our dismay, she ate tiny piece after tiny piece until she had eaten the whole thing! This was definitely NOT on the list of suggested foods, but we thought if she was able to chew and swallow without feeling any pain, then what harm could it do?! Only Maeve...so unpredictable!

She slept well during the night, much better than her parental counterparts who were battling the storm and the makeshift beds. The biggest struggle the whole time was her taking the medicine. (Which later we learned was totally disgusting...and I even tasted it with the so-called flavoring in it!) After a breakfast of a little bit of yogurt, eggs, and grits, Dr. B declared us ready to go home. Tony scrubbed her down while I packed all of the stuff. In moments she was dressed and walking about and waving to anyone who looked like they might wave back. With bouncy blonde curls and a matching pink bow and shoes, she was out of there! No looking back!

All dressed and ready to go home!

She has done GREAT all week! She has eaten well, played like normal, and needed to take very little medicine. She's been singing in a little bit higher and shakier voice than normal and sucking those fingers even more than normal. It really must be true that the younger you are, the easier it is to bounce back from this surgery. And the best thing is, we cannot hear her when she is alseep! No snoring at all! Our baby can finally breathe! Now, if we can say goodbye to all the sickness, we will be able to to say this was truly a dream come true!