Deanna’s Tonsillectomy

Just got back from Deanna’s tonsillectomy in Rosebud, SD. Overall, the experience was a good one for Deanna. She’s in a lot of pain (swollen, sore, throbbing throat), but is also saying that she can already tell that she has better airflow when she’s breathing.

We drove down last night after church, stayed overnight at her grandmother’s house, and went to the hospital at 10:30 AM (Central time) this morning. There was some paperwork that didn’t make its way down, so that slowed things down a little bit. She had to take a pregnancy test (among other tests) as a result — and just so you all know — it came back negative (wink).

Deanna gave a student-nurse his first successful I.V. insertion, but only after two failed attempts, digging around with a needle inside her hand (very slowly), and switching arms. The student switched hands and the nurse offered to do it, but asked if he could try again. Deanna let him. Seriously. The student was very happy about his “success” and we both heard about his happiness from other nurses throughout the rest of our time there.

The procedure lasted about thirty minutes and we were in recovery for about an hour an a half. She received three doses of morphine before we left. I wheeled her out and we hit the road. It wasn’t long after that, we were stopping along the side of the road. The motion of the road made Deanna sick…

After that short delay, we stopped to clean up and get some food in Mission before hitting the Interstate. Since then, I’ve been communicating with Deanna mostly through notes (her writing them to me). We both feel pretty wiped out — long day. Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. From the way it appears, all went well and we are expecting a smooth (and hopefully speedy) recovery.

P.S. Her back, that she hurt late last week, is also feeling considerably better. Of course, it could be the morphine!