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!

Tube Surgery Update

Here's Andrew shortly before they took him off to surgery.

Andrew's tube surgery went very well on Friday. The worst part was waiting for the doctor to get there. We arrived at 7 am for what we thought was a 7:45ish surgery. We sat in the playroom area until 8:35 waiting for Andrew's name to be called. He didn't seem to mind, but we were a little groggy. They confiscated our coffee since none of the children in the waiting area could have food or drink. It made complete sense, but I was craving my caffeine! The last surgery we were able to keep our coffee because we were the only ones in the room, and I guess they decided it was our choice to torture our own child. He doesn't like coffee, so he wasn't tortured. Plus they have toys in there and a very LOUD TV, so he was quite distracted.

He remembered the last surgery and so that made everything a little tricky. We didn't even try to put the gown on him until they were ready for him and he actually kept it on this time. But I wasn't quick enough with the camera to get a picture and by the time they took us to him in recovery he had stripped it off. And he was carried off kicking screaming once again by the anesthesiologist, but the nurses assured us that they have seen worse. Maybe they were just being nice to us.

The surgery only lasted a few minutes, and he didn't have any problems with the surgery or recovery. But now Andrew has a bad chest cold and has been running a low-grade fever. The doctor doesn't think it is related to the surgery, and I'm sure he just picked up a virus. Jonathan has his 12-month well-baby check tomorrow, and I think I'll ask the pediatrician to take a quick listen to Andrew's lungs while we are there to make sure it is just a virus. Good times!

Hopefully this is our last tube surgery, and I keep telling myself that Spring will be here soon and take away all of the sick junk floating around!

Tubes...again

Is this a preview of what my sweet boy will look like as a surly teenager?

I took Andrew to the doctor on Friday because he has been claiming that his ear hurt. I didn't want to take any chances for a weekend emergency visit, so off to the doctor we went. Our pediatrician was out of the office, so we saw another doctor in his practice, whom we won't be seeing again. I'm not sure why he is a pediatrician because children don't seem to be his thing. He never once spoke to Andrew or tried to comfort him.

Anyway, after he looked in the good ear, he spent quite a bit of time in the bad left ear. He then informed me he needed to get a better look because he was seeing something strange. Here was our conversation that followed:

Me: "Some THING?!"
Him: "yes."
Me: Do you mean, some thing like a foreign body?"
Him: "yes."
Me: "It's not the tube?"
Him: "No. It's blue and the tube is green."

By this point I'm in shock and freaking out. And the lack of information from the doctor wasn't helping. He stopped looking in the ear, and I start asking Andrew what he put in there. He looked just as shocked and confused, which I chalked up to normal 3-year-old behavior - always look dazed and confused.

The doctor informed us that we would need to see the ENT to have "it" removed. Fortunately our ENT is down the hall from the pediatrician, so we trooped down the hall, while I continued to question Andrew about what he might have jammed in his ear. I thought maybe it was a little man from the Life game that he likes to play with.

Our ENT fortunately had an immediate opening, a little gift from God, and we walked right into his office. The nurse and audiologist hovered at the door, anxious to see the little blue man extracted from Andrew's ear. The ENT spent about 5 seconds, if that long looking in Andrew's ear and announced there was NO foreign body. Just a blood clot covering the tube. Praise the Lord! I could see the disappointment in the faces of the nurse and audiologist. Obviously they were having a boring Friday.

The audiologist checked Andrew's hearing and confirmed that the left ear was blocked and so the ENT said we need to have the tube removed and a new one put in. So, that is what we are doing Friday morning. Lucky us!

Andrew's behavior has been a little crazy lately and he says his ear doesn't hurt, but it's clear that it bothers him. We are looking forward to Saturday - new tubes and hopefully better behavior! And no little blue men!

Surgery Update

Trying to keep the gown on Andrew.

Giving up on the gown and letting him play.

So peaceful after surgery

In recovery, enjoying the sucker and not wearing the gown.

At long last, here is a little update on Andrew's surgery last week. I'm very happy to report that it went very well! I think the most traumatic part for Andrew was the hospital gown. He was adamantly opposed to wearing it, and so he didn't. At least, not while he was awake. The nurses were kind and understood that it wasn't a battle worth fighting and so, they waited until he was asleep to put the gown back on.

We left for the surgery center at 6 am, got there around 6:30 and started the pre-op process a couple of minutes later. The pre-op process took place in a playroom with a TV, toys and a couple of other kids waiting for their surgeries. The ENT came in around 7:30 and told us they would be ready for us in a couple of minutes.

When it was time, the nurse and anesthesiologist scooped a screaming Andrew up and assured us he would be fine and asleep in a couple of minutes. We settled in to some comfy chairs in the waiting room. I was all set to read a new book, and then less than 10 minutes later, they came out and told us the doctor was ready to see us. That was it. The surgery was over. I didn't even get to read the first chapter in my book.

The doctor said it was good we had done the surgery because Andrew had a lot of fluid and junk in his ears and that everything had gone well. We were then taken back to his recovery room, where we helped him wake up. He looked so peaceful - sleeping - and then suddenly, he opened his eyes and sat up. He yanked the pulse-oxygen monitor off his big toe. Someone had put both his socks on the same foot so they would have access to his toe. This was not OK with Andrew. He took the extra sock off and in his semi-awake state, tried to put it on his barefoot. The recovery nurse tried not to laugh as I explained that we are very Type A and two socks on one foot is NOT acceptable!

He was cranky and wanted to be held, but who could blame him. As soon as he was settled on my lap, he asked for his sucker. (They bribe children with suckers as they take them to the OR and then they "knock 'em out" before they can unwrap the sucker.) I didn't want to give him the sucker right away because I feared being covered in blue raspberry puke, but I couldn't bear the whining, so he got his sucker. Good news - he didn't get sick. Bad news - he spilled orange juice on me while trying to be independent and holding his own juice.

They let us leave about 20 minutes later, and we were back home before 9 am. Andrew was cranky for about an hour after we got home, but he perked up after we got some breakfast in him. Poor kid suffers from LBS (low-blood sugar) just like his mama.

We haven't had any ill side effects from the surgery. Just a little drainage, which they assured me is normal. We've noticed a slight behavior change for the better. He seems to be more himself again. We asked him if he could hear better, but he didn't seem to know what that meant, so Keith asked him if everything seemed louder and he said, "Yes!"

He asked to read his "Tubes in My Ears: My Trip to the Hospital" that night and there is a part in the book about being put to sleep and how they play a counting backwards game. Keith asked Andrew if the doctor asked him to count. He said "Yes, but I didn't count. I just cried." And he hasn't talked about the surgery since. Guess he's not scarred for life!