Mia's Hospital Adventure

On Saturday and Sunday Mia's "lump" did not improve, but the Ear/Nose/Throat Specialist (EST) felt that we should continue to wait and observe what was happening with it. He didn't seem overly concerned. Our pediatric doctor kept implying that he thought that we would need to have the abscess drained, so we had two differing opinions.

They discovered that Mia did in fact have a staph infection, so it was good that they had put her on antibiotics when we first got there. Now the question was what to do about it. She also had fevers going on and off Saturday and Sunday.

On Monday things did not look any better and Mia was still pretty miserable, although the new pain medication did help. Our Pediatric Doctor consulted with a pediatric specialist as the hospital and they both felt pretty strongly about having the abscess drained. The EST was consulted and consented to do the operation, at about 2:30pm, Monday Feb. 21st we took Mia to the operating room. She was so sweet as she showered kisses on Ron and I as we waited for them to take her into the actual operating room. I was so glad to have Ron there to reassure me that all would be well. It was pretty stressful and traumatic for me, but he helped me through it.

The operation lasted about 40 minutes and then the doctor came and talked to us and told us everything went well. We waited about 10-15 more minutes and then were able to go and get Mia. She was a little groggy, but was in good spirits. We noticed a big difference with her within an hour. She was all bandaged up around her neck, but she had a lot more spunk to her and seemed much more like herself.

They observed her on Tuesday and on Wednesday they took the drain that they had left in out and pull the incision mostly closed. They left it open a bit in case it needed to drain more.

We were able to go home around 11am and were able to pick up all the kids and take my brother Sean to lunch and then to the MTC at 1pm. (He flew in the day before and we were able to visit for a little while). We are sure glad to be home and to have our Mia doing so much better. We are all grateful for those who helped us and prayed for us during this challenging time. We are also grateful for the doctors and nurses who were so kind and knowledgeable throughout our stay and most of all we're thankful to our Heavenly Father for the MANY blessings we felt throughout this experience.

When the boys came to see Mia she wanted to play with them and interact. It was really cute to see her giving them hi-fives with her bandaged hand.

We really enjoyed seeing the boys. Bella stayed home as she was sick and we visited with Siena later that night.

Can I just say this is the cutest... I mean must beautiful little girl. She had been so miserable and then started feeling so much better that we couldn't keep her in her room so we wandered the hospital halls. Needless to say everywhere we went we were met with, "Isn't that the cutest little girl," or "What a little sweetheart."

She loved pushing a pink doll stroller around that was filled with toys.

Because she was wearing blue I also got asked a lot about my son, so I made sure to bring a headband back with me to the hospital so there would be no mistaking that she is a girl. Do you think this headband was a bit much?

Notice how lopsided her face is. She looked so different. I did love that when the boys came to see us at the hospital the first thing McKay said to Mia was, "You look so beautiful." It brought tears to my eyes.
Here we are walking down to the Operating Room.
Here is another close up of Mia's face before surgery. It just kind of sagged on the one side because it was so swollen.

Waiting in the Operating Room. I think Mia's face says it all. "Do we really have to be here?"

After the surgery Mia found a comfortable place to hang out. A pillow palace.
Mia's spirit's really seemed to improve after the surgery. Lots of big smiles for all.
On our way out of the hospital. Mia was exhausted.
Mia got so excited to see her uncle Sean at the hospital. He flew in Tuesday afternoon and spent a couple hours with us. What a fun treat.