A few bumps in the road, pneumonia, creative communication

*I apologize in advance for some missing photos - I used Photobucket for free as a means to store my photos and they are now holding a few hundred pics of mine for hostage unless I pay for an expensive plan and I also managed to lose half my photos from my computer*

Two weeks ago today, my little Bear had her upper airway craved out like a little jack--lantern.  Okay, she had her tonsils and adenoids removed and it was rough.  Rough!  I had naively imagined that my little girl would be like her little friends and bounce back in a few days. So much so that I actually created lesson plans to work on with Ellie during the 2 weeks she would be missing school.  Needless to say I did not crack open those beautiful file-folders even once.

We avoided the hospital and the ER--two big successes in my opinion.  For just after Bear lost the scabs from her throat and screamed from immense pain for a few days, she started to perk up.

And then got. . .

Pneumonia

Photo Courtesy of Mayo Clinic

I kid you not.  It is common for a child to still snore for a bit after her T&A surgery.  The uvula and base of the tongue are still slightly swollen and there is snot.  Lots of snot.  Think buckets of thick, nasty snot.  And thick, stretchy saliva.

On the 7th night post-op, Ellie was snoring loud enough to rival her daddy, but it sounded different.  I am not one to high tail it to the pedi for every little sniffle, cough, or fever, but it sounded "off" to this worrywart mama bear.  My stethoscope had a crack in the tubing so I couldn't hear anything but turbulence.  Plus, she is my kid.  I don't diagnosis or treat my kid (okay, that is a lie).  I took her in and guess what--crackles and rhonchi in the right middle and lower lobe and the left lower lobe.  Poor air movement.  Possible mucus plugs.  A questionable oxygen saturation (more like someone kept yanking it off before we could get a pretty wave pattern).

I was told that if I had waited another 2-4 days it would have been bad.  I should also mention that she was already taking Omnicef as a post-op precaution so I wasn't really holding out a lot of hope for the Augmentin to work.  Thankfully, it did seem to battle the pneumonia.

The Donut Sandwich.

Because I took her to the pedi, I learned that Ellie dropped two pounds.  I wish I could drop 2 pounds.  Or fifteen.  Anyway, this was clearly the result of not eating.  Every day Andrew would bring home donuts hoping to coax Ellie into eating.  Bear would grabbed a beautiful, delectable, chocolate-frosted ring of fried dough, take one bite out of the frosting, and then just hold the donut.  Cradle it like a baby.  Not eat it.  Eventually, I would eat it.  I gained more than 2 lbs.

Now the not-so-chunky chicken is feeling better and she believes we have donuts.  All. the. time. Daily, I show her that there is no hidden box of donuts in the pantry, fridge, or freezer.  Still, she frantically signs for them and then signs "car".  As in "mama, you will get me a donuts.  in fact, you will drive to the donut place and give me a donut.  i demand a donut.  the Bear wants donuts!"

The thing is, I didn't know she was signing for donuts for a couple of days which meant we had quite a few meltdowns.

Sign for sandwich

Ellie's sign for "donut"

Mama Bear down!

By day 11, Ellie was feeling pretty good.  Well enough to want to do something besides laying around or watching TV.  However, I was sick!  This Mama Bear has an awesome immune system.  I rarely get sick, but of course it happens on a day Andrew is at work and a day when Ellie is in hyper-Bear-mode and not at school.  I blame Texas for my illness.  I think virus and bacteria love this roller-coaster of temperatures--50s one day and 90s the next.  Even the mosquitoes think it is a grand ole party.  It is like one large petri dish over here.  I am going to move.  Somewhere cold.  Like Greenland.

I did find time to give her a haircut.

The Augmentin Rash

Oh so you thought the tonsils and adenoid saga was over?  Not so!  Remember the pneumonia?  The antibiotic got switched to Augmentin.  A drug she has never been on.  Right now I am warring between blaming the sunscreen or the Augmentin.  We haven't used the sunscreen since that Sunday and I have continued to Augmentin. The rash is getting worse and not better so I am not holding out a lot of hope here.


Here is another entertaining sleep picture:

I hope to be back to our regularly scheduled programming soon.  Until then, be sure to tell Jon Stewart and Comedy Central what an a** he is. . . er I mean ignorant, insensitive little prick man he is.  While I understand he thoughts on Congress, the use of the word f@#ktard is no different than saying r*tard in my book.  #stopdisablityslurs