Jonathan's Surgery

Jonathan had to have a breathing treatment right after surgery for croup. He couldn't stop coughing and that made his nose bleed and then he would cry. It was such a miserable experience for him and his parents!

He started looking a little better after the breathing treatment and the pure oxygen didn't hurt either!

And back at home with his buddy, Max.

On Oct. 12, Jonathan had sinus surgery, officially called sinuplasty. It was fairly non-invasive with no cutting, but still surgery. After battling constant sinus infections for over a year, and trying several other things first, including 30 days of a strong antibiotic with a nasal steroid, surgery was our final option. Jonathan was a super trooper and even stayed perfectly still while they started his IV. The nurse was shocked that she was able to successfully get it started on a conscious 4 year old. She told us that never happens!

Waking up from surgery was ROUGH. Jonathan started the morning with a croup-like cough. He's so susceptible to croup and the second he gets a cold, it turns into croup. They went ahead with the surgery because his lungs were clear and he didn't have a fever. As he was trying to wake-up from the anesthesia, he kept coughing, and then his nose would bleed and then he would cry, which would start the coughing and the vicious cycle continued. He was also SUPER cranky and even growled at me at one point when I was trying to help him understand that he couldn't take off his gown. We thought he remembered nothing and that he wasn't really awake. But the next day he said to me, "Mommy, when I was trying to wake up from the sleepy medicine, I was ridiculous." (Jonathan loves to use that word!) I tried not to laugh because it was so true. Instead, I reassured him that it was hard to wake up after surgery and that he did a great job.

He bounced back pretty quick and was at almost normal speed the next day. The hard part was that we were supposed to restrict him from running, jumping, being upside down, and any other normal little boy activity for a week or so. Two weeks after his surgery he was doing great and wasn't congested at all. But a week after that, everyone got colds and now he is congested again, but so are his brother and sister. We are hopeful that when the colds go away, so will his congestion.  All in all, he is a tough little guy and doesn't complain about the constant congestion. He even asks for nasal spray when I blow his nose to help get the junk out. How many 4-year olds even know what nasal spray is?