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Saturday, January 10, 2009

A Good Birthday Present

I thought I would write a quick post to say that my younger son's (YS) surgery went well yesterday. He had his adenoids and tonsils removed. Right from the beginning he was very laid back. The nurse gave him some medicine that would be make him happy and forget the surgery. I asked if I could have some and suggested that they really market it, not only those supporting loved ones through surgery but for family reunions.

YS was understandably not thrilled when the anesthesiologist put the mask over his face, but I quickly promised that when we got home I would chase down a cat for him hold. I have no idea where that idea came from, but it worked! YS accepted the mask and drifted off to sleep. I felt really choked up but had promised the anesthesiologist that I could keep it together, so after making a few strangled sounds, I was alright.

The surgery itself took a half hour. The ENT came out and again commented on how enlarged YS's adenoids were. He told us that the surgery went well, and that YS would definitely be able to breathe better. We had to wait twenty minutes so that they could pull out the tube (they needed to intubate because of the bleeding from removing the tonsils) and get him situated. We went in to see him, and the nurse had me sit in a rocking chair and hold YS. If you can picture what it would be like to try and hold a feral cat or perhaps a panther while sitting on a rocking chair, you have a pretty good idea of how this went. In addition to being disoriented, YS was furious that he had an IV and kept trying to rip it out. He was given a couple shots of pain meds in his IV, and he calmed down. Then much to my surprise the nurses commented on how easily he came out of anesthesia.

The nurse did not expect YS to eat for a few hours, but she said it would be a good sign if he managed to eat part of a Popsicle within the hour. YS ate 4. By the time he was settled into the recovery room he was working on a 5th and then ate a 6th. Much to everyone's surprise he didn't throw up, even after they moved the gurnee from the recovery area to his recovery room. YS happily watched TV and chattered away. He even got up to use the bathroom. Other than acting tipsy, he seemed fine. So much so that we were discharged after the minimum amount of observation time.

Once at home YS continued to act tipsy and have slurred speech. He was happy to watch TV. He was also happy to try and hang upside down from the couch and to try to leap off the stairs. We were told that he might remain on a high from the hospital meds for most of the day of the surgery, but that when nighttime came he would start to experience a lot of pain. Fortunately this wasn't the case. The Big Giraffe did set his alarm clock though to wake up every four hours to give him his pain medicine, which YS has taken without a problem.

Then I made my own bed check. That's when I panicked. I couldn't hear YS. I thought he wasn't in bed. Where was he? I started to feel relieved when I saw him there, but I realized that I couldn't hear his snoring. After careful observation, I was able to see him breathing peacefully. I realized that this was the first time that I can remember YS sleeping without sounding like a jack hammer was going off in his bed. That's right YS no longer snores! I think part of his successfull recovery is because he is actually getting sleep. Before the surgery, the thought YS might have sleep apnea because of the size of his adenoids. Despite the pain, medication, and swelling, this may be the best sleep YS has ever had.

Today YS did well too. He is acting like a child who is slightly off because he is coming down with a cold. He's not completely back to himself, but you would never guess that he just had surgery. He's just a little more sensitive and cranky than usual, and he has no interest in being sedentary to heal. The Big Giraffe keeps saying that the good news is that YS feels like he is completely healthy, but the bad news is that he doesn't realize that feeling is an illusion.

Today is also my 33rd birthday. YS's recovery has been one awesome birthday present!

A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Surgery isn't always a traumatic experience.

Labels: Child Health and Personal Care

posted by Alex Elliot @ 8:15 PM 11 comments

11 Comments:

At 1/10/2009 11:25 PM, Goddess in Progress said…

So, so, so glad to hear it went so well! I hope his recovery continues to go as smoothly. A happy birthday for mommy, indeed!
At 1/10/2009 11:30 PM, skiplovey said…

Happy Birthday! And so glad the surgery went well and YS is well on his way to complete recovery. He's going to be so much better for having it.
At 1/11/2009 1:32 AM, Heather said…

Happy birthday! Good to hear it went well!
At 1/11/2009 1:53 AM, Lady M said…

Happy Birthday!

So glad that surgery went well.
At 1/11/2009 6:49 AM, Goofball said…

happy birthday! I am glad to hear that YS took the surgery well. I had some minor surgery myself on Thursday and it was my first time and I found the surgery room very very scary and intimidating. Yikes.

What a trooper to take it all so well? And no nausea either? that's great! A good birthday present indeed.

and it was the first time that he didn't snore, I can imagine your panick at night not to hear him! Wow, that must be stressfull before you've realised that.

Glad you've got it all behind you now and he only needs to recover .
At 1/11/2009 1:58 PM, Count Mockula said…

Happy birthday! Yay for multiple popsicles, no snoring, and a quick recovery. You must be so relieved.
At 1/11/2009 3:29 PM, Kami said…

Oh what a wonderful outcome to such a stressful time. Good for you for holding it all together, I know how hard it is to watch your child go through this.

Happy birthday, indeed, a great gift!
At 1/12/2009 2:04 PM, Kate said…

Happy birthday! and glad to hear the surgery went well. He'll be much better off.
At 1/12/2009 3:01 PM, jodifur said…

so glad he is well!
At 1/12/2009 3:55 PM, FishyGirl said…

I'm so glad it went well. Happy happy birthday!
At 1/13/2009 11:56 AM, Trenches of Mommyhood said…

Happy belated! Glad it went fine!

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Name:	Alex Elliot
Home:	MA, United States
About Me:	Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 6 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
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For those of us who didn't get an instruction manual with our babies and for whom parenting hasn't always gone as planned. On a more serious note this blog is about supporting a woman's ability to make her own choices about parenting including the choice, for whatever reason, to bottle feed her babies formula.

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