update on Ella

Whew!

what a week it has been.

I have been meaning to do an update on Ella sooner but I honestly just didn't have it in me. Every time I sit down in front of the computer I'm overwhelmed with thinking how to update on all that has happened this week. 

As you know from the earlier post I wrote, Ella had surgery last Friday. She stayed the night in hospital and came home on Saturday. 

The biggest thing the doctor and nurses stressed as we were leaving the hospital was fluids. Eating would of course be slow at first, but they wanted her to drink lots and lots of fluids from day one. I knew how important this was too so I tried to make a little game out of it. I call it "Reach for the Stars." 

Getting fluids down a 4 year old who just had her tonsils, adenoids and 7 cavities filled is not easy. If I had a dollar for every time I have said, "take another drink" I would be rich. 

 I labeled each water bottle with 3 stars. Every time she reaches a star, she gets a prize from the grab bag.  I made a trip to the dollar store and filled up a bag with all kinds of goodies.

Sunday was rough. It's all a blur. Lots of bribing, crying and restlessness for everyone.  We tried about 6 different kinds of ice cream/popsicles/sno-cones and 4 different kinds of juice and gatorade and could never get her take more than a nibble or sip.  Fortunately she would at least take water with constant "encouragement" 

After realizing how hard this recovery was going to be for Ella, I got a little nervous about being by myself on Monday when Bob had to work. My mom and mother-in-law were SO wonderful and were willing to do anything to help me out. My mom came back on Monday and stayed till Wednesday. 

Monday was worse than Sunday.
5:00 am Monday morning: we gave Ella her scheduled pain medicine, and Bob left for work. One suppository, two more pain med doses (all vomited back up of course) , and three episodes of vomiting later Bob was taking her to the ER.

At the ER Ella was pretty dehydrated, and her glucose was really low, likely from barely tolerating anything more than water and being sick (we found out from later labs that she also had virus which helps explain the fevers and cough).  The doctors decided to keep Ella overnight for IV fluids and IV pain meds in case she couldn't keep her oral meds down.  Ella was noticeably sad to be back in the hospital but we were relieved that she was getting great care.  She improved quite a bit from all the fluids and even ate a little food for the first time since the surgery. She took some of her first non-water fluids. She finished an 8 ounce gatorade in just over 3 hours of constant pleading from Bob.

Despite all this Ella has been so tough.  We tried lots of things to help the time pass in the hospital. (coloring, fancy dresses, painting faces)

Who wouldn't want to get there face painted in a hospital bed?!

I decided to spice up Ella's couch pallet for her second home coming. I found this cool princess tent at walmart that is made to go on a twin size bed.

Each day is getting better but still in major recovery mode. She had her first outing to get a little summer haircut. It might have been too soon, it took everything out of her. It even took a few hours after being home for her to smile about it and say she loved it:)


I think we are on couch fort number 4. We are all starting to get a little cabin fever over here. There is only so much you can do. Nail painting, crafts, glow stick baths, plastic bubbles and lots and lots of movie watching.

These nail polish pens that my mom brought are the coolest! I have seen them at the grocery store and walmart.
Even Bob got his done:)

Wanna cover dad with post-it notes? Sure. Why not?

Today is day 7. The doctor said it would be a two week recovery. Things are only going to get better from here and I can't wait!
Thank you everyone for the prayers, sweet comments, tips, emails, texts, notes, packages, and treats. I could not do this without you! 

goodbye tonsils and adenoids, hello princess teeth

Ella had the works done on her sweet little mouth today. 

After getting the results from her sleep study, she was scheduled to get her tonsils and adenoids out. After a recent trip to the dentist and finding out how many cavities she had, the dentist and ENT decided to team up. 

So, at 1:00 today Ella had her tonsils and adenoids removed and 7 (yep) caps put on her teeth. We like to call them princess teeth. They are all molars so you can't really see them shine unless she smiles real big:)

I ordered this Good-bye Tonsils book from Amazon and it was so great. It was very detailed about each step Ella went through this morning.

Ella was so calm all morning and when I would ask her if she was nervous or excited, she would say excited. She really is such a brave kid and I am so proud of how wonderful she did today. I was a nervous wreck all week but had such a peaceful feeling today. Such an answered prayer. 

Ella was in surgery for 2 hours and they said everything went great. The doctor said that with out a doubt Ella had the right surgery. She told us that they rate adenoids on a 0-4 scale and Ella's were a 4+. They also said that the large amount of cavities could be because of the fact that she could only breath out of her mouth. Which means that she never created much saliva and that is what protects the teeth. It's no excuse and might not even be the reason but it sure did make me feel a little better about her having so many cavities. 

After surgery hasn't been so easy. She has been very disoriented, throwing up, and not able to get comfortable. It is heart breaking. They kept her overnight and Bob is staying with her. I pray that she gets a good nights sleep and the healing process happens fast. 

There was about 15 minutes today were she sat up and seemed to be doing good. I bought her a nail painting kit and she wanted me to paint her nails. Some of the first words she said was "mom, this one is messed up."Even in severe pain, she still cares about having perfect painted nails. I love that girly girl!

I will keep you guys updated on our road to recovery. 

the sleep doctor

Ella has always been a snorer. Like a freight train kind of snorer. This last year it has gotten significantly worse and we have been worrying about sleep apnea. Her pediatrician referred us to a sleep institute to get everything checked out. So, this last Wednesday night we headed over and checked in at 7pm. I had told Ella ahead of time that is was going to be like we were sleeping in a hotel and she would be covered in stickers to help fix her breathing. I had no idea how many stickers/wires they were going to put on her and I was blown away by how brave Ella was. I still can't get over it. 

She sat in my lap as the nurse began to hook everything up on Ella. First she put stickers on her legs and chest and connected wires to them. 

Then she spent 30 minutes covering her head and face with wires. It was crazy. She would put this waxy stuff in Ella's hair to make those wires stick and then used tape and stickers for her face and neck. 

After everything was in place, she wrapped her head in gauze so she wouldn't pull any of the wires. Ella was so chill the whole time and kept looking at Bob and saying "do I look cool dad? take my picture." 

It kinda felt like we were on a reality show. Every move and word was being video taped and watched. I'm a crazy sleep talker so who knows what kind of entertainment I was putting on for them.

 The nurses came in at 6am to unwire Ella and we met with the doctor at 9 that morning to hear the results. 

Ella definitely has sleep apnea. Pretty bad actually. The doctor was surprised to see how severe her case was. If the sleep levels are 1.5 and above, they recommend getting tonsils out. Ella's level was a 4. It breaks my heart to think about how much trouble she has sleeping and staying asleep. The doctor said it takes her 2 hours to actually fall asleep after I think she is asleep. A tonsillectomy is in our summer plans for sure and we are all hoping and praying that removing the tonsils will fix her sleep problems. We are meeting with an ENT (ear, nose and throat) doctor next to talk about adenoids being removed too. I will keep you guys updated when we find out more.