Tonsillectomies

Yesterday was a long day at our house. Well, we weren't at our house much of the day, but it was still a long day. Both Mr. Smiles and Precious Jewel had their tonsils and adenoids removed.

Three of my 4 kids have fairly annoying allergies. Little Naters has had enough problems that it landed him in the hospital a couple of times in the first year, but after seeing the allergist and starting allergy shots and breathing treatments he has improved significantly. We've even been able to back off of the breathing treatments at the end of this past Spring to an as-needed basis.

Both Mr. Smiles and Precious Jewel have been on allergy meds. since they were about 2 or 3 years old. Last year though, our insurance refused to continue paying the type they'd been on and made us try other brands. None of them have really worked and even after repeated phone calls from both of the kid's doctors and letters and faxes sent to the insurance company they still refuse to pay for the one that works.

Precious Jewel has never really been able to breath through her nose and she snores like a freight train at night. She also has periods where (for a short time) she seems to stop breathing and then snorts or inhales loudly. Her Dr. referred her to an ENT at her Spring Well-Child Check.

Mr. Smiles has had so many incidents of strep in the last 24 months that his doctor decided he also needed to see the ENT.

You can read about our ENT visit in my former "That's Not My Child" post.

Both kids did really well. I was sooooo impressed with the staff at the Surgical Center. They were so kind and respectful to the kids and Luke and I. Mr. Smiles went first at about 9:30. He didn't seem at all phased by the whole pre-op preparations. He kept telling the nurses and anesthesiologist that he already knew what they were going to do when they explained the process. They kept commenting to Luke and i how un-phased he was until we explained that he'd had a colonoscopy and endoscopy last fall and was somewhat familiar with the process.

Precious Jewel was another story. She was so nervous and kept asking to go home. We had brought our laptop and about a dozen movies that we'd borrowed from a friend. That kept her somewhat distracted and then they brought her some "goofy juice" about 30 minutes before her surgery. That took care of it all! = ) She hardly protested as they wheeled her bed back to the operating room around 10:15am.

Luke and I collected our stuff and headed back to the waiting room. We had just sat down when they called us saying that Mr. Smiles had just come out of surgery and was doing great in stage 1 recovery. We could follow them back to stage 2 recovery.

Poor baby. When we came into the little curtained-off area, he was crying so pitifully in his hospital bed. Two nurses were hovering over him talking gently and trying to comfort him and get him settled. They told us he'd been a champ and all the nurses thought he and his sister were the cutest patients of the day. We kept getting that comment all day (even when 2 hours after surgery Mr. Smiles vomited all over himself and the bed). Of course, they could say that to every parent, but I didn't mind. I think my kids are pretty cute myself. = )

Both kids came out of surgery really disoriented. Mr. Smiles seemed to have a more difficult time and kept trying to stick his fingers in his mouth and crying that "it stings! it stings!" They gave him another dose of pain medicine and Luke picked him up and then he slept for another hour.

Precious Jewel came out asking to see her cousins and crying because she couldn't just go home and play with them. They'd only arrived 2 nights before and 2 of them are newly adopted from Ethiopia. They are close to Precious Jewel's age and she and Mr. Smiles had really enjoyed playing with them the day before. She was also very disoriented.

They gave her some more medicine as well and she too slept for another hour. Both of them woke up in a much better frame of mind and immediately began asking to watch the movies we'd brought with us.

The Surgical Center had a small DVD player for each bed and a huge assortment of movies for the kids to chose from. The kids were in un-limited movie heaven.

After each watching their own movies, they both wanted to watch the same one and Mr. Smiles asked to crawl back into bed with Precious Jewel. They'd wanted to be in the same bed before surgery so they could watch a movie together and the nurses before looking at their charts had asked if they were twins.

Five hours post-surgery they let us all go home. Several of the nurses and the anesthesiologist came back to say goodbye to the kids. The anesthesilogist had told us that his 6 year old son had had the same surgery last year and whispered, "They act great today, but tomorrow may be another story. Just be prepared."

Twenty four hours later we are all at home and they are both doing well. Mr. Smiles has had a teary day and it's been hard getting him to drink or eat much. But, Precious Jewel has asked us twice if she could go swimming. That is until it gets close to the time to give them another dose of pain medicine and then she is on the couch with an ice pack on her throat and wanting to be rocked.

Luke's mom took the younger two for 2 nights and all day yesterday and today and that has been a HUGE help. They've had a great time with with Grandmama and Papa.

Well, that's the update on the surgery. Hope you are all doing well!