All Better

Karen has healed phenomenally well. By the 5th day after surgery she was hopping around and wanting to do everything like normal. The doctor insisted that she stay down for 10 whole days and it was quite the battle to get her to sit or lay on the couch for the last 5 days. After 7 days she won more often than I did. But she is all better now and eating more than she ever has before. For example, the other day she had 3 cinnamon rolls for breakfast, a snack, 2 drumsticks for lunch, cookies, popcorn, candy (we went to a movie) and everything on her plate at dinner (can't remember what we had). She's like a bottomless pit. I know that she will be growing in no time. We feel that this will bless her life in many ways and we are glad we did this tonsillectomy.

We also had school pics taken of the kids. We love to have a local photographer take the pictures rather than get the real school pictures. The school picture packets are very expensive and you get a bunch of wallets that are never used anyway. The lady who takes their pictures get much better and cuter photos anyway for a much better price with a CD of 5 poses. We love it and are very grateful to her for them. Karen's pics are even posted on her blog because Karen is just that cute! http://capturedpix.blogspot.com/2011/09/more-dates-for-school-pictures.html Scroll down at this link to see them. I'm posting my favorite of Karen and Michael below.

It was a beautiful area where she took their pictures, so I took the kids back to get a few more of my own with both of them together. Mine didn't turn out quite as good as hers, but they did turn out cute.

Tonsil-less

Thursday was the big day for Karen to get her tonsils out. She was one of the first on the schedule for the day which means we had to be there by 6:45, which means a really early wake up time. Karen had been really nervous the whole week telling me that she was scared to get her tonsils out. We tried to reassure her and explain everything that would happen, but this only comforted her a little. She was most worried about how bad it would hurt afterwards, and the promise of ice cream after the surgery didn't give much more comfort.

When we got there they were really cute with her and she looked darling in her child size hospital gown that didn't even come to her knees. Good thing there were blankets to cover those long little legs. Here is a before picture.She was really brave about everything until they got this syringe out. They needed to put some drops up her nose to cause relaxation and amnesia so she wouldn't remember the ordeal. Little did they know that the syringe would be an ordeal for her. She got so scared and we had to hold her down to let them do it. After they got the drops in, I held her in my arms and tried to calm her down. It was amazing, we could tell exactly when the medicine started to work because she all of a sudden she stopped crying and her eyes were so droopy she could hardly keep them open.

The operation itself was really fast. About a half hour after they wheeled her away they called us back for a consultation with the doctor. He said that everything went perfectly. As he removed her tonsils they just oozed with infection and because of this he believes that her enlarged tonsils were probably caused by chronic tonsillitis. They sent the tonsils to the pathologist to make sure, but that's what he thinks she's been suffering from. Totally surprised us since she has never seemed to have symptoms of tonsillitis, but what do we know.

She's really been a trooper and been really good about eating and drinking the soft foods we are allowed to give her. We've been very surprised and pleased with how hungry she's been and how much she has eaten since her surgery. About every two hours she's been asking for more food. They told us we can't give her any dairy for 2 days so her options are limited, but she loves chicken noodle soup, chicken and stars soup, popsicles, punch, juice, and eggs. She's also loved being waited on hand and foot and being able to get everyone to get things and do things for her. Our beautiful princess. Here is a picture after surgery. Does she look different with her tonsils out? (j/k)
We love our sweet little girl and pray that this will help her in many aspects of her health. We also appreciate all the concern and prayers offered on her behalf by so many of our friends and family. Thanks.