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after lots of cockups and having to call the hospital at 7am, 10am, 11am and 12pm we finally got to go in.
sophie was very relaxed and a play specialist came to show her the special "sleepygas" mask and a picturebook about operations. she had magic cream on her hands too.

she then did some painting in her bed, and got to colour in her "bravery" certificate. sh met the nurses, then the doctor and anaesthetist came to introduce himself too and sophie was grown up enough to ask "can I have sleepygas insted of a cannula please?" an i explained she's scared of needles from all the blood tests she's had in the past trying to figure out why she's ill so often, and if we could have the gas and then have the cannula in that's be better for squidge. he agreed, told us he prefers to put kids under with cannula drugs as they're quicker, but he prefers not to distress kids so that was good.

the op happened at 2:25, she was out and in recovery at 3:15. she'd had Voltarol and Codeine pessaries inserted in her bum while she was asleep (poor thing!!) but as she woke up she was crying her little eyes out because she was so disorientated etc.
due to the painkillers, so wasn't feeling anything really, excpt slight nausea and dizzyness.

at 4pm back on the ward, she stole james's granary bread, ham, cheese and mustard sarnie lol!!! basically he got his sarnie out, she looked at it and said "ooooo mmmmmmmm that looks gooooood" and james offered her a bite. she took a bite, grabbed the sarnie and moved to the other side of the bed so he couldn't get it back, like a naughty squirrel lol!!!
the nurses laughed, came and asked "is that nice soph?" to which sophie nodded and giggled lol. the little boy across from her was munching on biscuits with cream cheese on hahahaha.

about 5pm she started feeling in pain again, but we gave her some iced water, then she had her hospital dinner. roast chicken, brocolli, roast taties, stuffing and a jelly. she ate a little of the savoury, and all of the jelly.

6:30pm we all gave in and gave her more painkillers. she was used as an example on the ward for one of the older kids. Maisie was refusing to take painkillers in tablet form and complaining about pain because she wouldn't take the heavy duty painkillers and they don't come in syrup form. Maisie was 10. sophie was given her paracetamol tablet, downed it like she does (she wont take syrups, they make her sick) and the nurse said to maisie: "did you see that Maisie? Sophie is 5 years old."... after this Maisie took her pill lol.

soph then fell asleep. she stayed asleep while they took out her cannula and did final obs. james had gone home to get the car and he came back, scooped her into her dot blankie and she was awake for leaving the carpark, but asleep when we got home (3.5 min drive on a good day).

her night was bad. she was yelling in pain a lot, had lots of painkillers. james did the night shift while i slept in sophie's bed. he came and got me at 9am.

she bravely ate a few crisps this morning and right now (10:39 sat) she is asleep.

I am so proud of her.

So glad it's all over. She was a very brave sausage!

Much better to have them out when you're small.......I was 30 when they whipped mine out! What a brave little girl

right now she's busy building a den out of her duvet, some blankets, the sofa and the coffee table hahahaha.

I'm so glad it went well. I do hope she's fully recovered soon.

Zoe

yay - glad its over - and hopefully that wil sort out future lurgies too :)

Aww poor Sophie, looks like she took it like a trouper. Glad she is through it now.

well we're now 3 days post op. she's having a tough time 'cos she's developed a chest infection on top of everything else
have got antibiotics from the dr for that, and for the fact that her breath, instead of getting better is getting worse so they think the throat could be infected too.

the little trouper has been trying to eat, but it's so hard for her poor thing. yesterday and the day before she threw up a few times, nothing but snot and dried blood though. she's not had any nausea today though, think it must have had something to do with her being "bunged up" on top of everything else!! she'd not told me she'd not pooped since friday morning (pre op), and sorry for TMI but last night she finally did a foul, solid dump the size of Calcutta. if I'd known I'd have been feeding her raisins and giving tummy massages!! we've had no tummy pain or nausea or sickness since so that's one off the list.

we've had really bad nights, she's sleeping propped up in my bed because of the cold and she often sounds like she's drowning in her own secretions last night was hardest. I am having to wake her every 4 hours for painkillers anyway, and last night something just snapped in her. she screamed in pain and frustration for an hour before passing out, and then had to be woken again to take the painkillers.

my local pharmacist is a star though and perhaps tonight we'll have a better night. I told him of our predicament when i went to pick up her antibiotics and he mentioned something I wasn't aware is still made; Tyrozets. gentle enough for a post op throat, but strong enough benzocaine to relieve at least some of the pain in her throat. *high fives Mr Singh*.

Echinacea tea with honey, Mrs F - gargled and spat out. 2 or 3 times a day.

And I've just had a recommendation for sore throat from a herbalist of a thyme infusion, either fresh from the garden or about a teaspoon of dried thyme in a cup of boiling water, infuse, cool down to drinking tempaterature then drink and/or gargle with it. It works really well. I've had a sore throat from my cold for about a month and it's finally seeming to ease it even after a massive sing for our advent carolservice last night. It's quite a nice flavour to drink too...

thanks peeps!!