A short stay in France

Let me start by saying, thanks for all your prayers and thoughts for Natalie during her surgery this morning. Everything went fine, and she recovered from the anesthesia with no problems. Her surgery was at 7 a.m., and we were home by 10:15 a.m. I thought we would stay longer when it took a while for her to wake up from the anesthesia, but when we tried to wake her at 9 a.m. (about 60 minutes after her surgery was over), she responded well, slowly coming awake, eventually drinking and eating, and we were out of there!

So why the title of this post? Being back in a hospital setting brings back the language of doctors and nurses. Before Natalie was born, there was a lot of language there that I would not have understood, but after 5 weeks in the NICU, later 2 weeks in the hospital with pneumonia, plus 1 year of swallowing therapy at the children's hospital, I learned the lingo.

And it all comes back, just like when I hear French out of the blue...I understand what they're saying, even though it's not part of my regular day anymore. So we made a quick stop in "France" today, with the "blow-by Os" and "PO" and weights in kilograms. It's not my favorite version of France...I'd much rather get on a plane and fly to the real thing, but it's a reminder of those hard days at the beginning and how far Natalie has come.

And now for the details, for those who are interested:
Natalie's glasses prescription hasn't changed since the last time she was checked by the ophthalmologist, although we got a new prescription this time, because she's actually going to get new glasses now that her prescription appears to have stabilized (and since she's bent her latest pair beyond recognition and we're determined to pay an extra $50 for a frame that will stand up even better to her twisting and turning so we don't have to be constantly visiting the optician for an adjustment.) The not-so-great news is that her eye pressure is about the same, maybe a little higher, so we will continue to put the drops in her eyes every night.

The ear tubes went in fine. Since this is her third set of ear tubes and she had a lot of fluid behind her ears, the ENT said we should talk soon about her getting t-tubes, which are ear tubes that are meant to stay in longer, perhaps until she's an adult. Tom and I had hoped she would outgrow the need for ear tubes, but it hasn't happened yet. We're not excited about getting something more permanent done, but I don't think this is a decision we'll make right away.

And now for the adenoidectomy: the doctor went a circuitous route to tell me that her tonsils are tiny (they were a "3+" two years ago, now they're a "1+") AND her adenoids are tiny (now a "1"). So what happened? He said they've shrunk since the x-ray, which he had said they could do, but I didn't think it would happen, and plus, she's still not breathing well. He said the poor breathing may be caused by the turbinates, which were quite large. I hadn't heard of turbinates before, so I'll have to read up on them. When he desribed what they were, I asked if it could be related to allergies, and he said it's possible. So allergies will be the next avenue we pursue, because he said that while he will reduce the size of turbinates in adults, he won't touch them in kids.

I had to ask him if he removed the adenoids after all this discussion about other things, and he did, but since they were already small, I don't think their removal is going to help Natalie's breathing.

It's great to be home! I realized halfway through holding a sound-asleep Natalie that I didn't really prepare for an overnight stay like I should have (a change of clothes and toiletries in the car). Thankfully there was no need.