Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Sofia's surgery

This morning I got up after a long night of child illness to bring Sofia to the hospital to have her adenoids out. We had to be across town for 7:30am so that meant being up and out the door by 7am. Sofia was definitely hesitant and she was very tired so I carried her the whole way to the hospital. I figured it was the least I could do for her. We got to the hospital and got checked into our room. They had a couple DVD's for Sofia to watch which was nice. The nurses and doctors were great with Sofia. They were very patient and helpful. They took things slow with her and didn't rush her into anything. The nurse gave Sofia a sweet drink to make her sleepy. Sofia was excited about this since she was VERY thirsty. I was excited about it since it would make it so Sofia wasn't as nervous. I should have known better though...my daughter doesn't get sleepy! The nurse came back in a little while later to see if Sofia was asleep but of course she was wide awake. Oh well, Sofia had started to calm down a little bit watching the video so it was fine. The time came to go into surgery and Sofia started to get worked up but the staff was great. They gave me scrubs and let me come in the surgery with them. While I was changing they were talking to Sofia and playing with her. They put a cap on her head to cover her hair and they also put a cap on Sofia's stuffed animal, puppy. Sofia really liked that puppy had a cap on too. Once we were in the surgery room the doctor showed her the instrument that clamps onto your finger. (I'm not sure what that is called but if you have ever been in admitted to a hospital then you have seen it.) Anyway, the doctor put it on his finger to show Sofia and then he put it on mine too. Sofia finally agreed to have it put on her finger and she liked seeing the monitor show what the clamp was measuring. It was interesting for me to see the heart rate of each of us. The doctor was by far the most relaxed which made me feel good. Sofia didn't like it though when they had to put the gas on her face. They talked her through it but she still cried. In true Sofia style she fought sleep as hard as she could. She cried until the moment she was asleep. Once she was asleep I went back to our room and waited. I read my book and talked to a friend but was surprised when they came back into the room so quickly. The whole thing only took about 25 minutes. The doctor came back in carrying Sofia in his arms all wrapped up in a sheet. She looked like a little baby. The next 30 minutes was not fun since Sofia was coming out of the anesthesia. I remember the feeling well so was very sympathetic. I held her and sang her songs which seemed to calm her down a little. I was waiting for the vomit to hit since that is what happened to me and sure enough it came. Once she got that out though she calmed down a lot. The doctor had told me that Sofia should sleep for two hours but I found that hard to believe. I worked to get Sofia to sleep and she did finally fall asleep but only slept for 30 minutes. Though the nap was short it did wonders for Sofia. She woke up looking better and seemed to be feeling much better. By the time my mom called, Sofia was standing up naked in the window laughing! The doctor came to check on Sofia and gave the OK to start liquids. The nurse brought water and, in true Czech style, she also brought tea and piskoty. Sofia thoroughly enjoyed having her snack. We left the hospital and I carried her back home again. She is definitely tired but is in good spirits.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

So glad Sophia did great! She looks really good for just having surgery in the picture! BTW- the machine you were talking about is an O2 Sat Machine which measures your heart rate and also the amount of oxygen in your blood (you want it at 100%) (: Little tidbit from back in the days of medical assisting.

The Syvertsens said...

so glad it went so well! we all think sofia is super brave, especially after my hospital experience last week. i am terrified to ever go back :)