Recovery Day 4

On Friday, L had surgery to remove his tonsils and adenoids, and to put tubes in his ears. Recovery so far has been awful. If you were to ask me if your child should have the same surgery, I'd say "Don't Do It!" Of course, that's not how it works. In the words of the surgeon, L's adenoids and tonsils were HUGE and blocking his airway.

Surgery itself went okay. It was at a hospital we'd never been to before {and not a children's hospital} but they were kind and on time {although they build in so much waiting time}. There was a chance we wouldn't be able to join him in recovery, which was a horrible thought, but in the end, we were able to go back to the recovery area. Good thing, too, because L was DISTRAUGHT. He would wake up and SCREAM. Finally, the nurse took the hint and pushed morphine in his IV.

Although he puked twice, there were signs that first day that L was healing well--he ate jello and yogurt and even shredded cheese. He slept soundly Friday night. Saturday morning was tough but he seemed better in the afternoon. Then Saturday night, he called for us several times. Sunday was tough, getting him to eat or drink (and by eat, I'm talking soft foods like ice cream) was like pulling teeth. He dry-heaved twice, yet I wasn't too concerned because he wasn't losing what he'd comsumed.

All this time, L was constantly on the couch. No energy. Looking like death. HEART-BREAKING.

Again last night we went to bed early in case he woke up frequently. Sure enough, he called us a million times, for wet diapers mostly, till at 1am we heard him puking. This one was for real. Since it was the middle of the night and we all wanted to sleep, we gave him a Zofran. Suddenly he was happy as a stinkin' clam and Hubby and I are looking at each other like "has he been nauseous This Whole Time?" The good news is, L was feeling better and drinking tons of water. The bad news is, he wasn't at all interested in sleeping. Eventually, I told Hubby to get as much sleep as he could before work, I'd stay in L's room. I ended up getting less than 2 hours of sleep. I let L "get up" {I'm not sure he'd slept at all} about 6:30 and then Hubby took over and I got an extra hour of sleep in my own bed (as opposed to L's floor). Worst night since the infant days!

Now he's taking Zofran regularly and he's eaten some ice cream and fruit so far today. And he's on his second nap, so he's likely to be nocturnal again tonight. :-( But it's nice to see him movig around again, and looking a little less like death. I'm hoping the worst is over.

I'll keep you posted.

Has your child ever been through something like this? Any words of wisdom?