adenoids and tonsils ~

last fall zoe and ella had their adenoids taken out,

and ella had her super gigantic tonsils removed too.

it was all a pretty big deal.

even the pre-op appt was fun and interesting.

the finger prick blood draw hurt but the girls thought

it was pretty funny they had bandaides on their 

'middle man' fingers .....

.....  and would pose, showing off the bandaides,

whenever they got a chance ......

they were ready to go early in the morning on surgery day .....

and showed off their adenoids and tonsils one last time .....

ella's left tonsil ranked a 4/5 and her right one a 5/5.
super, super big.  we were proud of her growing efforts : )

children's hospital continued to impress us --

they are so welcoming and kid-focused (which

is good since they are a children's hospital, but still).

before surgery the girls learned all about exactly what

would happen during each step, and were even shown

how the iv's would be placed using their stuffed animals.

then we waited a bit while they watched a movie ....

...... and we took a few pics .....

the wait wasn't long but long enough where they started
to get a little nervous and apprehensive .....

then it was ella's turn.
i got to carry her into the operating room, and just like
when she had her kidney surgery it was THE HARDEST
thing ever to let go of her and leave her on the operating
table, even though i knew she was in great hands
(we love their ent doctor) ......

while ella was in surgery zoe called grama .....

..... and then it was her turn,
and again, it was SUPER hard for me to
put her on the operating table and walk away ....

both surgeries went fine.  ella's took longer than dr. rosiario
thought  it would because her tonsils and adenoids were so huge.

the first part of the recovery (while she was still sleeping)
was the easiest for ella ......

once zoe woke up and felt pretty good and was ready
for her popsicles ......

....  she had moments of not feeling that great ....

..... but once she started feeling better she felt

pretty good and was discharged right now schedule .....

she quickly felt good enough to be silly with her dad too,

always a good sign .....

ella had a tougher time, was in quite a bit of pain
and didn't feel well from the anesthesia and medication.
early evening she was transferred to a room -- the gurney
ride was one of her few highlights .....

recuperation at home was quick and pretty easy for zoe.
ella wound up not feeling well for almost 2 full weeks.
pictures and cards from their classmates hand-delivered by
their sweet teacher miss splett made their day though!!

wearing the obama maske always made ella feel a little better .....

zoe went back to school before ella, and when ella went
back she only attended half-days at first.  the girls did a
super job sharing their hospital adventures with their
classmates .....

.....  and with my students too .....

we are really glad we did this when we did, and once they both

were feeling better we had a winter with fewer bouts of being sick .....

so worth it despite the not-so-fun parts ......