10 June 2011
Lizzi’s Tonsillectomy 2011
Posted by stephyc under: Uncategorized .
Jason and I woke up just before 5:30 this morning. We both got ready to go. We didn’t plan on waking Lizzi until we were ready to walk out the door. She woke up on her own just before 6 am. We were about to walk out the door when I asked Jason did you feed the dogs? He replied, “No.” I headed out the door to make sure they had water and Jason got them food.
As I was getting ready to go back inside I looked at the garden and thought…. I should water the garden. There’s no time we will be late. If I don’t then it will die. I will do it quickly…
I kind of kicked myself for taking the time to water this morning, but I knew we would be okay in the long run. It turns out I was right on both accounts.
We stopped to fill up the gas tank. Then as we were leaving Cottonwood, I saw police car lights up ahead.
There was an accident if we hadn’t been late who knows where we would have ended up. Even just a witness to this accident would have made us truly late. Unfortunately for those involved in the accident it was worse then these pictures show. All the damage was on the other side of the car. The white car was most definitely T-boned.
We continued on our journey to Flagstaff thankful that we were not involved in this car accident.
Along the side of the road was….
A hot air balloon floating over the roadside. Lizzi got excited when she saw it.
Then we climbed the mountain into Flagstaff dealing with Semi’s and other not so friendly drivers. I know part of that frustration was that we were running late…(I hate to be late!!! Even on time is late to me….) At one point a semi pulled in front of us going a speedy 30 mph. Keep in mind I-17 is 75 mph. It was extremely irritating to me.
When we arrived in Flagstaff we checked the remaining time to our destination. We would be less than 5 minutes late. Jason got a phone call at 2 minutes before 7:30, it was the surgery center checking on us. He informed them we would be there in 5 minutes. I thought I was prompt!
When we arrived at Forest Canyon Endoscopy & Surgery Center they had everything ready for us. We filled out paper work, signed forms, and prepped Lizzi for surgery. What they hadn’t told us was that her surgery was moved up to 8:30.
I loved the art work they had on the walls of the surgery center. The one in Lizzi’s room read…”You’ll be back home today and getting well before you can say broccoli 100 times!” They had many more and they were all cute!
Lizzi was smiling and ready to get her tonsils out. That was until all the doctors started showing up. I noticed her when Dr. Downs was asking her questions and talking with us she was hugging closer to the rails of the bed. I knew she was getting nervous. After Dr. Downs left the anesthesiologist came in and talked with us.
Then the nurses came to take Lizzi into surgery. They asked if she wanted to crash. Lizzi said, “No!” They wheeled her into the O.R. which was just 20 steps away from the prep room.
They moved us to a waiting room and we prepared for the 30 minute surgery time. Jason moved the car to the back door where they discharge patients and came back. I did one word search, talked with Jason, and pretty soon Dr. Downs appeared and said, “No surprises! She’s done!” Then he walked us to the recovery room where Lizzi was still coming out of sedation. She was thrashing about and it reminded me of when I had my gall bladder out. I told Jason that’s how I was when I was coming out of sedation.
I moved so I could touch her and talk to her so as to help her calm down. I know from my own experience how difficult coming out of sedation can be and I knew it would help her to have Mommy talking to her.
When she finally came to and was fully aware of her surrounding she was sad. Most of it was because she was having a hard time swallowing and her throat was numb. I reminded her of what the doctor had told us earlier and that helped her to understand the feelings she was having better.
She was very good about taking ice chips and even a Popsicle. She was released right at 10 am. The staff at Forest Canyon Endoscopy & Surgery Center was very prompt, helpful, polite, and courteous! If you should ever find yourself in need of an outpatient surgery and you can choose where to go. I would highly recommend them!
Stephanie Shultz is a wife and mom two little girls in Cottonwood, Arizona. She enjoys photography, hiking, scrapbooking and sight seeing.