Autumn's Surgery

As many know, Autumn was the recipient of tubes in her ears. She had an ear infection that lasted over 2 months, and four rounds of antibiotics were not helping. So, the ENT said she would recommend tubes. Autumn's surgery was Dec 17. We had to be there at 7am for the 8:30am procedure. Therefore, we left our house at 5:45am to avoid Austin traffic as we had to go to Bailey Square. We were there by 6:20am. Autumn had fallen back asleep in the car so we stayed in the car until 7am. Once inside, check in was very quick. I was expecting a long wait at the check in but we were checked in and processed within 15 minutes. The nurse brought us back to the waiting area/recovery rooms. Its like you see in ICU, the rooms are all in a square with the nursing station in the middle. This is where we had our 1 hour wait before the procedure, which everyone warned me about. Autumn did great during the wait. About 10 minutes into the wait we had our first chat with one of the nurses, who thought Autumn was a doll. She was flagging down other nurses to check her out. As her mom I of course think shes a cutie, but the nurses were giving her extra attention and I think she was eating it up! After the chats and Autumn's check up, we waiting again until right before Autumns surgery. That's when the operating nurse, anesthesiologist and my ENT (Dr Zapata) came by to explain what would happen. We confirmed the paperwork and Autumn was carried away by the nurse. All my friends had told me this is a short procedure, and all were right. Fifteen minutes later Dr Zapata came back and said Autumn did great and was in recovery. Basically they were waiting for her to wake up and then they observe for a bit to make sure she is breathing ok on her own. Approximately 10-15 minutes later they brought Autumn back. She was a little groggy and they said she would be, but overall she was her normal self. We had to hang out for another 30 minutes to make sure she was ok, and then we left. I think we left about 9:20am. Autumn slept for the next 2 hours, just like everyone said she would, and that afternoon we were playing like nothing happened. I am happy to report I did not cry and was ok! (I was a mess when Mason had his oral frenulum cut....)

I wish I could say she is sleeping through the night now, but we are not there yet. She still wakes up but its been easy to get her back down (knock on wood!) I think this was the best decision right now, I am keeping my fingers crossed it works and we don't get more ear infections.

Autumn before her surgery-she was just chilling!