Her surgery was scheduled for Thursday, March 8th at Texas Children's Hospital. She was not allowed to have anything to eat after midnight and nothing at all after 5:15am. Clear liquids were okay between midnight and 5:15, but honestly who is awake during those hours - not me and certainly not Baby Bottom. I kept Autumn up late (until 10 or 11) the night before and pushed extra fluids and food on her, so she wouldn't be quite so grumpy and hungry in the morning. We woke up late - around 6:20. I had wanted to leave the house by 6:30. We ended up leaving around 6:50 and got the the hospital by 7:40 (only 25 minutes late).
We let Autumn keep her pacifier all morning. This seemed to keep her calm. She never fussed about not having food or anything to drink. She kept looking at us like "do they know I still have my paci?" She usually is only allowed to have it for naps and bedtime. Autumn was sleepy on the way to the hospital, but once we got in the waiting room all she wanted to do was play, and there were lots of toys for her to play with.
Around 9am we got called back to the holding room where we met with the doctors before the surgery. Papa had put in a call to one of his friends at Texas Children's to ensure she got the best anaesthesiologist possible. Dr. Glass was very nice and she helped to make us feel at ease. When it came time for surgery Autumn chose to ride back to the OR in a toddler car (see picture below). She was enjoying all of the toys. Dr. Glass said Autumn was way too easy. She just rocked her to sleep (with the help of a gas mask full of anaesthesia of course). The procedure lasted all of 15 minutes. I barely sat down between leaving the holding room and having the doctor come in to say we could go back to the recovery room.
Once in the recovery room we got to hold sweet sleepy Autumn. She was so lifeless for a minute and then came the apple juice. She chugged two cups of apple juice and got fussy when we had to refill the sippy cup. We didn't have to stay in the recovery room too long before we were able to head home and put Autumn down for a long nap. Grandma, Grandpa, Grandma T and PapPap had all come to the hospital to see sweet Autumn. Grandma T had brought her a new doll too.
When we got home Autumn slept until 1:30PM. She woke up ate some mac n cheese and then proceeded to totally freak me out. She was eating and then she just starting staring off into space and getting really white. She threw up and then ate some more and then got really white again. Her head was nodding off too, like she was about to pass out. She then stared into space and stuck her tongue between her lips and made a farting noise. In hindsight I am 100% convinced that all of this behavior indicates that she was just loopy from her anaesthesia, but it scared me at the time. I even texted the ENT who had assured us that texting him was the best way to reach him if we had any questions. Autumn eased back into normal again and by the evening she was wired. She even climbed up onto the second shelf on my kitchen cabinet. I tried to get a picture, but she got out too fast.
The verdict is still out as to whether the tubes are helping or not. We probably won't know for at least a few more weeks, but in theory they should prevent further ear infections in the future.
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