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?

Adenoids and Tubes

On Nov. 7, Jonathan had his adenoids removed and while they were in there, they decided to put tubes in because he had a lot of fluid in his ear. Jonathan was a super trooper and did awesome. He had a little trouble waking up from the anesthesia, but we finally roused him enough that we could leave the surgery center. Unfortunately, the minute we walked in the door, he threw up all over himself, Keith and the couch. But with the help from Oxy, everything was clean in no time.

We propped him up with some juice and a Popsicle and a little TV. In no time he was acting like his normal self. We didn't plan to feed him lunch until we knew his tummy was ready for food, but we were starving so we got ready to eat without him. When he realized we were going to eat without him, he said, "You guys, you forgot about lunch for me!" So, we fixed him a can of chicken noodle soup, and he ate it without incident and was completely normal the rest of the day. I was sort of hoping for some slower movement for the day, but it was not be found except from the very tired parents!

And after his long day of getting up crazy early, no breakfast, anesthesia, IV, surgery, vomit, etc, he said at bath time when Keith was putting ear plugs in, "This is the WORST thing ever." We have a different definition of the worst thing ever!

The good news is that since his surgery he has slept through the night. What a huge blessing! He seems to be able to breathe better too! And he has had a minor cold since his surgery and it went away without turning into a sinus infection. Hip Hip Hooray!

Happy Birthday, Mom/Grandma!

Grandma and Jonathan

Andrew and Uncle Matt

Jonathan and Uncle Matt

Last night we celebrated mom's birthday, even though Jonathan was still sick. We thought he was getting better - see previous posts...Anyway, we had a great dinner and fun hanging with grandma, grandpa, and Matt.

Matt is in town working on his house and helping dad with the chores, etc. This was our first chance to visit Dad since his gall bladder surgery, which he had on Friday. He's had multiple attacks and always thought the pain was from his back. Turns out, he had several gall stones and a very diseased gall bladder. Fortunately he had a great surgeon and was home Saturday. We are so glad that it was caught before it became emergency surgery, and that he will hopefully be pain free after his sutures heal!

Andrew found a lot of lady bugs to watch in the sandbox. That's his new thing - searching for creatures. So far, he hasn't wanted to bring them in the house. Let's hope that trend continues.

Happy Birthday Mom! Hope you had a great day! We love you!

Andrew update

Attack of the frozen blueberries.

Andrew wanted to have his picture taken with Jonathan before church. I'm not sure what this picture is all about. Any caption suggestions?

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. I've sort of lost count, but I think this is the fourth or fifth week of hives for Andrew. And I'm happy to report that he only had a small break out on Monday and has been hive free these past two days. Praise the Lord! I asked the pediatrician last week at Jonathan's well-baby if we could have some steroids or something to help get rid of the hives. The doctor didn't think it was a good idea, and so I asked if he could give me some drugs and he just laughed at me. He didn't realize how serious I was! I may not have the irritating hives, but I do have to deal with an irritated 3 year old!

Poor Andrew just hasn't been himself these past weeks and some days have been a struggle for all of us! And to top it off, he's been failing his hearing tests and has been diagnosed with fluid build-up with a recommendation to have tubes put in his ears. We get to have that fun experience early tomorrow morning. We've been talking about the surgery and reading him a book called "Tubes in My Ears: My Trip to the Hospital." He studies this book like a manual and seems to understand the purpose and outcome. We've explained that this will make his ears feel better, and he seems excited about this prospect. I guess his ears have been bothering him more than we realized and are probably part of his recent irritability.

Andrew has also been suffering from Separation Anxiety, which I think I have mentioned in a previous post. Anytime I try to take him anywhere - Sunday School, Kid's Day Out, Mom's Carelink - the only three places I leave him, he FREAKS out. Today was the easiest drop off we've had in the past 6 weeks. He only tried to dislocate two of my fingers and sort of cried/whined. He usually screams and cries and clings to me like an octopus. I try to talk excitedly about wherever it is that we are going in advance and get him excited to go play with other kids. He's usually OK until we get to the parking lot or front doors of the church and then the excuses start. "I don't want to go. I too tired." But today he said, "I don't want to go to Kid's Day Out. I too excited to go." WHAT? We went anyway and when I picked him up, he told me that he had a lot of fun! That's the first time in a LONG time that he has said that. So, things seem to be on the upswing.

So we can only hope and pray that tomorrow goes smoothly and that the tubes helps him feel better and change him back into our sweet boy. They tell me recovery from this surgery is short and I hope Andrew recovers as quickly as they tell me he should. Keep us in your prayers!