We have been dreading this for a long time, but also looking forward to it. We are looking forward to Molly being healthier in general, but we have been dreading the pain this surgery would put her through.
Ben's mom, JoJo came up that weekend, and the timing worked out great. Better than we even realized.
I spend the day here at home, shopping and getting things ready for the next week at home with Molly recovering, while Ben was at the hospital with Molly before and during the surgery.
It was REALLY hard for me to not be at the hospital. I felt anxious all day, and I just yearned to be with my baby girl. I did need to stay here though, to keep things normal for the other kids, and to get things ready for the next few weeks.
Ben sent me these pictures that he took right before Molly went back for her surgery. She was on some medication to calm her down, and I guess it made her really happy and giggly. Ben said she just kept on laughing. So cute!
Ben called after the surgery was done, and Dr. Taggie said everything went great. It was a really short procedure, only about 10 minutes.
Ben said Molly was just sleeping it off, and he was holding her. By that time, I couldn't stay home and longer, so I waited until the kids got home from school, go things settled, made sure JoJo was all good, and I headed down the canyon to see my baby, and to trade Ben.
When I got there, Molly was tired, but seemed to be doing pretty well. I was very surprised! She didn't seem like she was in pain at all. She was smiling a lot. I couldn't believe it!
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| The kids and I bought Molly "rainbow bear" and she was so excited when I gave it to her. This bear did not leave her arms for the next two weeks. |
The nurses kept telling me that Molly had to drink 8 oz of fluid in order to leave the hospital. Molly was drinking nothing.
I ordered her a milkshake, applesauce, pudding, popsicles, soda, juice, and everything I could think of. She did drink some milkshake, but that was it....for the rest of the night.
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| trying to get her to drink or eat orange popsicles |
The night was extremely difficult. Molly just cried and whimpered all night long. She was thirsty, but not drinking, and she was in lots of pain. It was horrible. She slept in about 10 minute intervals, I did not sleep at all.
In the morning, the nurses said we could not go home until Molly drank at least 8 oz. Molly still had not had anything from the previous day, and she was refusing any liquids.
I asked them several times to please just hook her IV up and give her fluids, because I could tell she was getting dehydrated, but they wouldn't. It seemed weird to me.
After a few hours, they decided to just let us go home, even though Molly did not drink. They thought that she might do better in her own home. I agreed, but still thought Molly should have some IV fluids before we left, and have her fever checked. That never happened.
Molly was THRILLED to be able to go home. They brought a little wagon in the room, for Molly to ride in as we went to the car. Instead, Molly grabbed the wagon handle, and ran down the hall toward the door, wagon in tow. It was hilarious!
The next couple days were hard. Molly HATED the medicine, and Ben and I had to force it in her. She had about 10 doses a day, so it seriously stunk. It was a nightmare actually.
On Monday morning, after Ben left for work, Molly started looking really, really bad to me. She had a grey coloring, and she was burning up. Something in me knew that she was not right, even for just having her tonsils out. I was exhausted from no sleep the past several nights, and I was very worried. I had tried several times that morning to force Molly's medicine in her, but we both just ended up crying with medicine all over us. I didn't know what to do, and I was falling apart fast. I prayed and prayed for help to get Molly's medicine in her, so she could have some pain relief, and hopefully drink something.
Right after my prayer, Karli showed up at the door asking how things were going. One look at me told her everything. I was exhausted, crying, still in my pajamas, no makeup, Molly was whimpering and looking horrible, my house was a disaster, and so on.
Karli showed up an hour later with a Quench It drink for me (she knows me well), and one for Molly too. She also brought motrin tablets that melt in your mouth. I immediately told Molly it was candy, and she put them in her mouth and ate them! She then drank half of her Quench It!
It was an absolute answer to prayers, and Karli was a total angel. I couldn't thank Karli enough. Once the medicine started working, Molly settled down enough for me to get dressed and straighten up the house and take care of Luke, who was being a good sport with all of this.
I put Molly and Luke in the bathtub a while later, and when I took Molly out, as I was putting her diaper on, I noticed that her bum was covered in blisters and they were bleeding and had pus around them. I had seen this one time before, when Molly had strep. I panicked.
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| this picture shatters my heart |
I called Karli, told her what was going on, asked to her take Luke for me, and I took Molly to the doctor. They did a strep swab of her bum, and sure enough, it was positive for strep. Molly had a fever of 102, and she was severely dehydrated. She was a "very sick little girl." They gave her a shot in the leg of antibiotic (because there was no way on earth we were going to get her to take more medicine than she was already taking, by mouth). They then told us to either go to the ER and get her hydrated, or to call Dr. Tagge.
I brought Molly home and called Dr. Tagge, the doctor that did her surgery. I gave him the update on Molly having strep (the irony of the situation was a killer....strep just three days after getting her tonsils out!), and he said to take her to the ER. I also called Ben, and he headed hom.
So, again, I called Karli, who not only brought us dinner, but then dropped everything to drive to the ER and place Molly's IV in her arm. Karli is a good nurse, and she knew she would do better than the nurses that were currently there, who were very new.
Watching Molly get the IV was torture! Luckily, Ben was there too, but it was still terrible. It took 4 times to get it in, because she was so sick and dehydrated. It about ripped our hearts out to watch her scream and be so sick, and not know what was going on. Once the IV was finally in, Molly fell asleep immediately.
We stayed there for another couple hours, until she was fully hydrated, and her coloring was a little better. She still looked terrible, but at least we were able to bring her home.
I was on pins and needles the next few days. The doctors didn't know if the antibiotic would work, and if it didn't, there was a chance of the strep getting into Molly's blood and from there, things get really really bad, really really fast.
It was so hard to know if Molly looked sick and miserable from her surgery, or from the strep. It just had to pray a lot, and try to listen to my heart.
Molly was still horrible about taking her medicine, but every single time it was time for her medicine, I would pray and pray and pray, and every single time, she would eventually take it.
I think I prayed 10 times a day for two weeks for Molly to take her medicine. I honestly believe, that without the Lord's help, Molly would not have taken it.
The next 13 days were pretty terrible. Molly cried and whimpered a lot. It killed me to see her in so much pain. That was worse than the fatigue and stress I was going through. The nights were tough, and she woke up about every hour and cried for a little over a week. It was exhausting.
The days were hard too. She was very clingy, and in a lot of pain, so it would get pretty draining fast, and Luke wasn't a fan of it either.
Each day though, was a tiny bit better than the day before, and slowly she did get better.
One day last week, the relief society president brought over a balloon and popsicles for Molly.
For some reason, Molly completely attached to the balloon. It went EVERYWHERE with her. She constantly had it in her hand. It was hilarious, and so cute.
It has now been 18 days, and Molly has been pain free, without any medicine for 4 days now. She has lost weight, and she is refusing to go to nursery, the day care at the gym, or to anyone really. I think she has some trust to build, but it is so wonderful to see her eating, drinking, and playing again.
She went through a phase where she was starving all the time, but still not all the way better, so she would eat one bite of something, realize it hurt to swallow, so she would try something else. I almost lost my mind with the amount of food around the house that had one bite out of it!! I just kept telling myself that at least she was taking that one bite.
It was an absolute nightmare, but I think we made the right choice, and I pray every day that Molly will finally be healthier and happier.
Good riddance tonsils!
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