Bye Bye Tonsils – March 1st 2011

So last year we had Jesse scheduled to get his tonsils out. He had been getting sick every 3 or 4 weeks since he was about 18 mos old and we and the doctors attributed it to his huge tonsils. However , the week of his surgery Jesse came down with pneumonia and wasn’t able to do the surgery. That and some tests at primary children’s to rule out some more serious problems led us to an asthma diagnosis. Since treating him with Asthma meds he really hasn’t gotten sick hardly at all and has had an incredibly healthy year.

Despite being healthy he still had huge tonsils that we figured should still come out and were hoping would help him sleep better. So here we are, March 1^st. Tonsil and Adnoidectomy. Jesse and I went to a little surgery prep class at the hospital they do for pediatric surgery patients a few days before. We got a tour and got to see and play with some of the medical equipment they’d be using with Jesse.

Jesse was very anxious for the surgery the whole week prior but he was trying his best to be brave that morning. We packed him a bag of toys and books to get him excited about going to the hospital and so he’d have some familiar things from home with him while he was in recovery. Then we headed to AF hospital. They got him in very quickly. We went into a prep room where we changed him into the hospital clothes, met with a couple doctors involved with the surgery and waited and watched some cartoons. The nurses helping Jesse were all so good and patient with him. They wheeled him away down the hall to surgery, in conversation about dinosaurs and that was the last I saw of him before the surgery.

We waited only for about a half hour when they called Dave and I back to a recovery room. We met with his Dr. there before they brought him. She let us know that the surgery went will and that his tonsils were huge. While we were talking to her we heard this kid screaming down the hall. The screaming was so horrible that the Dr. stopped mid-sentence and commented to us about how that kid must have REALLY been having a bad day. I remember thinking, “I’m glad that’s not my kid.” Oh…it was! I’d never heard Jesse make a sound like that but it got closer and closer until they wheeled him in on his bed, restrained in the arms of a male nurse so that he would go completely ballistic. I was shocked! Needless to say he was having a hard time coming out of the surgery and anesthesia. I guess he had been freaking out a little bit when they put the mask on him to put him under so when we woke up he was pretty distressed. I didn’t know any better and it broke my heart because I assumed that he was in a lot of pain and that was why he was freaking out. I later realized that he was just still really out of it coming out of anesthesia. I had to physically hold him down so that he wouldn’t rip out his IV’s and other sensors. His oxygen was low for a while which probably didn’t help in his being “out of it.” He was like this for about 20 to 30 minutes before he finally calmed down thanks to Angry birds on Dave’s iphone. He was cranky but much better from then on out. He passed the rest of the 2 hours or so watching cartoons and drinking slushies.

I noticed though that Jesse’s abdomen was unusually swollen while we were waiting in recovery. It looked so uncomfortable. They actually ordered an X-ray for him just to check everything out. As they suspected he had some air that got pushed down his trachea during the surgery but it surprised us to also find out that Jesse’s intestines were also completely filled with stool all the way into his colon. Sorry I know that’s gross. He had been struggling on and off for the past year with having bowel movements (which is a whole other long frustrating story that I’ll spare everyone the details on) but that x-ray made us realize how bad it really was.

When he was discharged from the hospital he was doing great. We took him home to start recovery which I expected to be him feeling lousy and not wanting to do anything but lay on the couch, watch movies, and eat popsicles and ice cream. Instead right from the get go it went something like this: “Jesse stop running around you need to rest.” “No Jesse you probably shouldn’t eat chips, let’s stick to yogurt ok.” “How does your throat feel? Fine? Ok.” There were a couple days (about day 4 or 5) when he complained about his throat hurting a little but besides that his recovery was really a non-event. I probably shouldn’t admit this but I was actually disappointment. I was kind of looking forward to him being down and out for a few days. But really I’m so glad that he was never miserable! We really lucked out.

Jesse has definitely been sleeping better since the surgery which has made, not a huge, but a noticeable difference in his mood and temperament. Also he’s been doing a lot better with the whole pooping thing. Plus he’s been very healthy since. So overall I’d say it was a huge success.

Before

After