What brought us to this point again was quiet uneventful until we went back to the doctor for a routine 6 month follow up after nearly a full spring and summer of ZERO issues. Come to find out her ears were in bad shape and that quick little visit bought us another trip to the OR. I just about fell out of my chair, but really said "I can't make this decision on my own, we've got to call Mason." And I walked out the room, took Hadley to the bathroom and let Dr. Truong talk to Mason on the phone. She may have thought I wasn't coming back but I knew surgery was really our only option. What we do know is Hadley's Eustachian tubes are severely dysfunctional, her ear drums are very unhealthy, she likely wouldn't pass a hearing test, her ears reject/push out the tubes every time and there was lots of puss and/or fluid behind both ear drums...trapped having no where to go. Considering she has had mastoiditis (ear infection that spreads to the bone behind the ear) once in the past the chance of her having it spread to the bone again is high. Also, Hadley's infections are very hard to fight as she is colonized with MRSA and there is only O.N.E antibiotic left at this point that is able to treat that infection. Until that medication does not work anymore, we will continue with this plan.
Well doing surgery was a home run decision, but anesthesia was causing me a lot of anxiety. Let me explain to you why...Last April 2016 when we did her 3rd ear surgery we gave her versed to help her relax, be funny and forget about things while rolling to the OR. Well she screamed the whole way to the OR and when she woke up...........she was biting, hitting, spiting, kicking, and peeing on nurses. She does not remember a thing, but clearly she has quiet the different reaction to versed than other kids who just wake up fussy and groggy. Therefore this go round we made a pre-op medical play session with my dearest co-worker Veronica Tuss to get Hadley comfortable in the surgical environment. She got to see, touch, smell, and explore the medical equipment prior to game time this past week. By making a game out of the hospital environment I believe this is what truly made our experience on Tuesday more positive. What 4y wouldn't want to paint and stamp anesthesia masks, blow bubbles out of the mask, decorate the masks with stickers and fun smells, color Moana's hospital pajamas and see all the toys in the waiting room.
Well fast forward to this past Tuesday, we made the risky decision to forgo the versed which was a tough choice but with the support of our Child Life Specialist Veronica Tuss and Pediatric Anesthesiologist Sam Rodriguez we were successful rolling back to the OR w/o a fight. Hadley had lots of support from various specialties, Patient Experience, Child Life, various Peds Anesthesiologists, Nursing, and Management. I'm not sure if they were coming to check on Hadley or check on me :) But I truly feel the love and support from everyone for making such a wonderful experience.
I need to owe almost all of my credit to the CHARIOT Program that Stanford Children's Hospital is launching to help reduce childhood anxiety. Hadley was 100% engrossed in picking out her red Sevo dragon, naming her "Rose" and picking out a birthday cake for her to eat. She was so distracted rolling back into the big OR, with me right there on the bed with her, and so engaged in helping her dragon breath and blow fire on the cake to blow out the candles. She still is talking about how her dragon, Rose, ate the whole birthday cake before her surgery. Not only was she sooooo successful with falling asleep w/o versed but she woke up from anesthesia with NO emergence agitation, anger, delirium, aggression! None, zero, nothing! We now know that versed is clearly the culprit of her anesthesia difficulties and that she will be a crazy drunk :) Haha. What we also know is that ear surgery is likely not the last so until then we pray, take antibiotics and play!
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