The Saga on Becoming Tonsil Free

About a year ago, we had Adam evaluated for his speech because he wasn't talking very much. The Speech Therapist mentioned that his tonsils were pretty big and said he should be looked at by an ENT. I didn't think it was that big of a deal so I waited until his 3 year old check-up and asked his pediatrician about them. Dr. Bailey said they were large and that he definitely should be seen by an ENT. When I called to make the appointment I was surprised that I could get one so quickly. Dr. McQueen took a very quick look at Adam's throat and said, "Yep, those have got to come out." So, here we sit today recovering from a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy.

The procedure occurred on Tuesday morning at 8:40. As soon as we got to the hospital at 7:15, they took us back to the pre-op area. Kevin and I were able to stay with him the whole time. They had a coloring book, a clown made by the Auxiliary club, and a gown for him. Sitting on my lap, he colored and hugged the clown but refused to take his clothes off. He kept asking when we could go home. I just kept telling him we have to see the doctor first. He fought about taking his medicine (some Tylenol and some sort of Valium), but we had no idea that this little "fight" was nothing compared to later. He finally got loopy enough for us to get him into the gown right before they took him back. He even sat on the bed as long as Kevin sat with him. Kevin was able to go back with him until he fell asleep. He had to put on a full length suit, shoe covers, and a hair cover. I wish I had remembered the camera! Kevin said that Adam fought the mask they put on his nose, and he had to help hold him down. Not a pleasant experience.

We sat in the waiting room for about 30 minutes when the doctor called us back. Dr. McQueen said that Adam did fine and that his tonsils were huge. He said he should be able to breathe much better now. He also said he wouldn't be back by until after his office closed at 5:00!!! There went all of our plans. We were thinking we would all be home by that time. What a surprise we were in for.

We went and sat back in the waiting room for another 1o minutes or so (it felt more like an hour) before they called us back to the recovery room. We decided that I would go to recovery and that Kevin would go wait in Adam's room. When I got back there, he was screaming, coughing, and tossing and turning all over the bed. They pulled a rocking chair close to the bed. The nurse said she was going to place him in my lap because if she let go of him for me to get him, he was going to run. He sat in my lap and I gave him bear, but he was still trying to get all the leads off of him and was trying to get to his IV. We were told that the first people he would see when he woke up would be us so that he would think we were with him the whole time. That plan backfired a little don't you think? The poor kid was scared to death and didn't recognize a soul. They did call Kevin in to join us too. We stayed in there for about 15-20 minutes while he calmed down and all the monitors said he was doing good. They transferred me and Adam to a wheel chair and wheeled us up to his room on the pediatrics floor.

He wanted me in bed with him, so we sat and watched some cartoons together. He never went to sleep. Kevin and I both expected him to just crash once he got to his room. The nurse, Christie, came in and gave him some Tylenol with codeine and an antibiotic which he took with no problem. Looking back, the heavy duty pain meds they gave him right after surgery were still working. His lunch came and he ate some orange Jello, three bites of a popsicle, a few sips of apple juice, and three or four ice chips. It all went down hill after that. He ended up falling asleep and I had no idea how often he was supposed to take the pain medicine. I also thought because he was a child, they would give him the pain medicine without us having to ask. WRONG! Just like adults you have to request it. He was in so much pain that he only ended up swallowing about half of his pain meds. He wouldn't drink anything and didn't touch his supper (orange Jello).

A bad thunderstorm rolled around about the time the doctor was supposed to come by. He had been in touch with the nurses throughout the day and called us to say that he didn't feel safe walking over to the hospital (we didn't blame him), and he felt that Adam should stay the night because he hadn't drunk enough during the day. He would be by early in the morning to check on him. Kevin left a little later to get Jackson and Sarah from the baby sitter's. He brought them to see Adam and brought me some dinner. Jackson was very curious and was asking way too many questions around Adam. He, Sarah, and I went for a little walk to answer all those questions. They left as the nurses were changing shifts.

Adam and I had gotten settled. He was laying with me in the bed watching TV (thank goodness for those channels that show kids shows all day long and into the night!) when the new nurse came in. Her name was Terry and she was a little abrupt. She just did what she had to do and didn't "sweeten" any of it up for Adam. At least he was used to the blood pressure, temperature, and heart rate checks. She put the pulsar machine on his finger (it had been on his toe but taken off for the many trips to the bathroom) and taped it on. He wanted it off and started crying. Then she wanted him to take his medicine. Of course, he wanted me to give it to him. Through tears and threatening to get Terry to give it to him, I attempted. He spit it all out. Terry just got another dose and he did take that. Again, he took the antibiotic just fine. He just hates the taste of that Tylenol. I texted Kevin and asked him to bring our Tylenol from home to see if he would take that any better. I got ready for bed, turned the lights down, and held him until he fell asleep. Around 10:00, about the time I had just fallen asleep, the nurse came in to get me to sign some papers and to give me a sheet on which to record his eating and bathroom habits. Couldn't that have waited until morning??? I think I finally fell asleep about 2-3 hours later, which was about 30 minutes before she came in again.

She checked Adam's vital signs again and said it was time to take his medicine again. My thought- Oh boy, here we go again. He got so upset that he was coughing, crying, and bleeding. I am so glad we spent the night because I would have freaked out! Terry checked his throat several times and I guess it stopped because she never really did anything about it. He did take both the Tylenol and the antibiotic. I changed his Pull-Up and he laid right down and went back to sleep. Me? I lay there listening to him, checking on him every time he coughed. I think we slept (if you can call it that) until about 6:00 when Terry returned. More medicine. More tears. This time Terry left the room and I gave Adam his medicine and he did so much better. I think he just didn't like her. He got up to potty (which was an ordeal with the IV and the Pulsar monitor) and then laid back in bed watching more cartoons. He started complaining of his belly hurting. I thought, Oh good, he's hungry. I asked him if he wanted some juice. He nodded, so I went to the refrigerator got some juice and a cup. I poured all of that juice into a cup and gave it to Adam. He held the cup to his mouth and threw up all in the cup. I called for the nurse, and she came right in. She didn't seem alarmed by it at all. She said it was from all the blood he had swallowed that night. GROSS! Again, so glad we spent the night.

Around 7:30, Dr. McQueen came in to check on Adam. He was more concerned about him eating and drinking. I asked him about taking regular Tylenol without the codeine, and he was OK with that- thank goodness! He also said he would have them turn the IV off (not take it out of his arm but at least unhook him from the machine) so he could move around more. After Dr. McQueen left, we met our new nurse, Kelly. Mine and Adam's favorite by far. She checked his vitals and turned the IV down so that not so much was going in him. She said that it would encourage him to drink and eat some Jello. They brought him 3 bowls of Jello for breakfast, but someone in the cafeteria got confused. They brought him peach Jello instead of orange. Adam took about two bites of the peach and said he didn't like it. UGH! He was actually going to eat but didn't like it. Go figure! We asked Kelly to call down for some orange Jello and asked her about giving him our grape Tylenol from home. The hospital apparently only has cherry- Adam's least favorite flavor. She had no problems with that which was good because I could make sure he got it every 3-4 hours instead of having to wait for the nurse to get it. He was a little more tolerant of the grape flavor but still fought a little before taking it.

His orange Jello came and he ate all of it! He also had a few sips of water. At this point we were pros at taking him to the bathroom and he became one too. We would have to unplug his cord from the pulsar machine and unplug the IV machine to take it with us. Adam would hold his pulsar cord, I would hold the IV line and push the machine. He knew he couldn't walk too fast. I think he enjoyed going to the bathroom because he could get up and move around.

After lunch (an orange popsicle, some water, and some orange Jello) and a nap, the nurse came in and unhooked his IV completely. She didn't take it out of his hand but at least he could move around better. He went for some short walks to the fish tank by the nurse's station and discovered the cart of books. He kept going out to get more books. There was a wagon in his room and he started climbing in and out of that getting a little more adventurous- a little more like Adam. I think that the codeine had been bringing him down. Around 4:00, we decided that we had had enough of the hospital and went to ask about a departure time. Kelly called Dr. McQueen, and he said that we could go home as long as Adam continued to eat and drink at home. She wrote up his discharge papers, went over instructions with us, and took out Adam's IV. He whimpered a little but was a trooper through the whole thing.

We left the hospital around 4:45 and went to get Sarah and Jackson. Seth, Ivy, and Jackson made get well bags for Adam with some goodies. He smiled so I know he appreciated them. We got home around 5:30. While Kevin fed Sarah, I tried feeding Adam some Jello. Our orange Jello must not taste like the hospital's Jello. He said he didn't like it. A Highlights Puzzle Book came in the mail with some stickers. I told him for every bite he took he could put a sticker on the page. It worked, and he ate the whole thing. Now, if only that would work for the Tylenol!

He colored with his crayons from the Lamoreaux's and Jackson, took a bath, and went to bed. He slept all night until about 7:30 the next morning which is great for Adam.

This whole ordeal was nothing like I expected. I thought he would take the Tylenol so we could stay on top of the pain and he would just bounce right back. I am now thinking he may not be ready to go back to the sitter's on Monday. Only time will tell...