A full week has passed since Bambina had her surgery, and she's mostly doing well. She hasn't been taking as much formula as usual, fighting us pretty vehemently when offered a bottle, but it looks like she's getting close to turning that corner. Her "solid food" intake dropped as well, but I think that's close to working its way out, too. I don't think it has to do with her mouth being sore, I think it's more of remembering when it was sore and not wanting it to hurt. My guess is that memory is fading now, so hopefully feedings will improve.
We haven't been making her wear the arm braces, as those have just frustrated her. Instead, she just hasn't been offered anything small enough to actually fit in her mouth, so she hasn't had any problems. Every once in a while she tries to put her fingers in her mouth, but that's been caught pretty quickly. We were told she is allowed to use her bink-a-bluff-a-paci-cork-a-nuk, so that keeps her hands out of her mouth overnight.
The big thing that is of any concern to me at this point is her ears. She had tubes put in at the same time she had her plastic surgery done, and we've been given drops to put in her ears. There's still a lot of dried blood in her ear canals, for those of you who have had kids with ear tubes, is that normal? She doesn't seem to mind the drops when I give them to her, but every once in a while she bats at her left ear, which seems to have more caked/dried blood than the right. There's no seepage at all, so I'm tempted to not worry, but there's this niggling in the back of my mind that I can't quite ignore...
The biggest frustration for us at this point is her sleeping. We've had some pretty rough nights, and she's been fighting going down something fierce lately. Last night, it took Amy's mom over an hour to get her calmed down and asleep, which has been, unfortunately, pretty typical since the surgery. Whenever we set her in the bed, no matter how tired she is, she just starts wailing, and cries and screams literally until she just can't go any more. Bedtime is bad enough, but she's done it overnight once or twice, too, which just puts Amy and me in a foul mood.
No picture of the inside of her mouth yet. I keep trying to get one, but I just can't seem to get a clear shot. It think I just got lucky with the one I took before her surgery. I'll keep trying, though, so you all can see how things look different post-surgery.
4 comments:
I found some stuff at the Mayo Clinic web site. I hope it helps. Maryann
Here it is below:
After the procedure
Children generally recover from ear tube placement surgery fairly quickly. It may take a few hours for your child to fully recover from the effects of anesthesia. He or she will likely be sleepy and irritable for the rest of the day after surgery. Most children don't need to stay overnight in the hospital. And in most cases, children resume regular activities within 24 hours of the surgery.
A child's hearing usually improves immediately after surgery.
You may see drainage from your child's ear for up to one week after the surgery. This is normal. Drainage may appear as crusted material or as seeping liquid. The color of the drainage may be clear, green, yellow, brown, pink or bloody. After surgery, your doctor may prescribe eardrops to prevent buildup of blood or other fluids in the tube.
You may need to take precautions to protect the ear and the tube when your child is swimming or bathing. Discuss possible restrictions and water-protection options with your doctor.
Here is the link if you want to look at it more closely.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/ear-infections/EI99999/PAGE=EI00013
I wonder if her ears hurt when she is put down to sleep? Maybe that's what's making her cranky. Or maybe she is at the separation anxiety stage. Hope things get better soon.
Thanks for the info- that does easy some worry... Google is our friend!
Separation Anxiety is in full swing... She really doesn't like us out of her sight. That might be it. I just created a bad habit of rocking and singing her to sleep tonight because I didn't want to hear the crying for hours again.
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