The big day finally arrived. I was scheduled for surgery to remove my tonsils, adenoids,and hernia repair at 8am on 8/31. The ENT was Dr. Bonilla and my general surgeon was Dr. Doski. We arrived at the hospital at 6am; I actually was in a good mood for getting up that early. After I was registered, we were taken back to the pre-op room. I played in the room while mommy and daddy spoke to both doctors and the anesthesiologist. The anesthesiologist was very concerned about my runny nose and cough; in fact, she did not want to do the surgery. She talked to the ENT who told her that I wasn't getting well and that is why they were doing the surgery. She came back into the room and said they were proceeding with the surgery, but because of my congestion I was at higher risk. Of course, this made mommy and daddy worried, but they knew I was in good hands. The surgery nurse came and gave me some oral medicine to keep me calm and took me by the hand to take me off to surgery. Mommy, daddy, and nonny went to the waiting room. After an hour or so the ENT came out and said everything went well, and my adenoids were so large that they were completely occluding the back of nose. He took out my tonsils right back to the muscle, but did not remove the tonsil capsule under the muscle because he said on children as young as me, that the tonsils still serve a immunological function. About 45 minutes after the ENT came out, the general surgeon came out and said everything went well and they were waking me up out of anesthesia. After 30 minutes, mommy went and asked if they could come back and see me. They let her and daddy come back, when they got back to the recovery room, I was still out of it and they had some oxygen blowing in my face. Mommy was very sad to see me like this. They anesthesiologist was at my bedside and said she hadn't given me very much pain medicine because she was worried about my congestion, but she said I didn't show any signs of pain when I was in surgery. She then wanted to make sure I was coming out of the anesthesia so she rubbed my sternum until I woke up. I woke up wining and then it turned to a cry. I was very hoarse. The nurse let mommy hold me and she gave me a Popsicle. I ate 2 1/2 Popsicles and drank a juice. I would still crying a lot and the doctor let the nurse give me a little morphine, but it was such a small dose that it didn't seem to make a difference. They transferred my up to the pediatric floor and I was still in SO much pain. The nurse up there gave me some oral narcotics, but I was still in a lot of pain and very agitated. I hated the pulse oximeter, my IV, the blood pressure cuff, all of it! Mommy crawled into the baby bed with me to try to get me more calm. Daddy went a bought me a Yo Gabba Gabba video. I cried and cried, but would drink juice and eat Popsicles and jello. Finally after 3 1/2 hours of crying, I fell asleep, but only for 20 minutes. The rest of the afternoon, I was miserable, but because I was taking in fluids, the nurse took out my IV and I was discharged from the hospital about 6pm. I was finally able to get comfortable and go to sleep when we got home.
The next 7 days, I was miserable! I watched a lot of Yo Gabba Gabba, ate a lot of Popsicles, jello, mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, and juice. Because I was in so much pain, mommy tried to give me my narcotic every 4 hours, but i HATED it. Not only did it taste bad, but it burnt my throat. When I would see mommy with the syringe, I would go and bury my hand and start bawling. When mommy would get me, I would cry so hard that I would turn blue and then when she gave it to me, I would choke and sputter. No matter what mommy mixed it with, I hated it, but without it, I was miserable, and would not swallow anything.
On day 7, mommy and daddy noticed that my lymph node on the right side of my neck was enlarged.Mommy called the doctor and they switched my antibiotic to Augmenten for 10 days. After 2 doses, there was finally noticeable recovery and by 2 weeks, I was completely back to normal.
Since my surgery, I can breathe SO much better! I no longer sound congested all the time, I can sleep an my back, and I am not all over my bed when I sleep. I am glad I had it done, but hope to never have to go through that again!!!
On the way to the hospital, hoping they wouldn't recognize me
Waiting for them to take me back
In the recovery room
On the pediatric floor
Hiding from the pain medicine
Poor Luke!
ReplyDeleteGlad that he's oing better and that it was all worth it.