Tubes, Tonsils and Adnoids = One Sad Little Boy

Tate has had a lot of ear and throat infections in the past year+ so the doc finally decided it was time for him to get tubes put in and his tonsils taken out. They told us that he would be pretty miserable for 10-14 days but the surgery itself was only an hour and recovery would only be an hour. We were very cautious about doing the tonsils because he is so young and that surgery is particularly hard for everyone, especially for babies who can't reason or understand. But we decided that we were sick of our little boy being sick and miserable all the time and that it was inevidible. Knowing this was going to be very physically hard on Tate and emotionally hard on us, my mom flew out to help out...typical life saver, wonderful mama. =) So we went into the same day surgery center, did a preview of the hospital, ran through how it was gonna go etc. The day came and of course I cried my eyes out as they took my little boy away. He had no idea what he was about to have done, so he went willingly...which actually made it harder. Ry consoled me and went and got a me a huge cherry coke and a some breakfast, which was so nice. About an hour later, the doc comes out as I am in mid-bite and tells us everything went great and HANDS US Tate's tonsils! Needless to say that was the last bite I took of my food. As Tate was in surgery they tell us that he will most likely have to stay the night and be hooked up to an IV so they can make sure he has enough fluids and monitor him before he goes home. We were NOT expecting this. They made is sound fast and simple but then said that kids under two usually have to stay the night. Something we would have been ok with, had we had any type of a heads up as we were discussing it weeks prior. After the surgery we were to meet him by the elevator so he could go recover in the pediatric unit. Originally, they told me that they would carry him out with only an oxygen line on his toe and I would hold him for an hour in a regular recovery room, and once he had some fluids we could go home. Now that he had to stay the night, I had no idea what to expect and nothing could have prepared us for what we saw. As we waited for him at the elevator, we saw him being wheeled down a long hallway by two nurses in a hospital bed, IV bad dragging behind and an oxygen cup by his face. He looked like a lifeless punching bag. And of course I lost it again. He was so drugged up and tired that he couldn't even cry anymore. As we got into his room they had me pick him up and lay with him. He did not like being moved. He had a complete melt down and finally fell asleep.

When he woke up he was actually pretty happy. He drank a slushy,blew bubbles, laughed a little, and wanted to get up and walk around. This wasn't fun because he had his IV in his ankle because he was so chubby they couldn't find veins anywhere else. They tried 3 times when he was under. So we just took him on walks in the wagon and on the bike. He loved it...

Finally we let me walk around with his IV even though it was coming out, we couldn't fight him on it all day and night. But by 7pm the IV was was starting to leak and wasn't working as well. So the nurse was hoping that he had had enough fluids that he wouldn't have to get it put back in again, but the doctor insisted that he still needed more fluids. So 1 hour, 5 nurses,1 anithesiologist and 8 pokes later, he got the IV put into his arm. Ry had to hold him down. I could hear him screaming 5 rooms down the hall with the door closed! Talk about heart wrenching! As hard as it was for me, I know it was 100 times harder for Ry since he had to look into his eyes while he was in so much pain. I still can't even think about it without getting sad. So here was our little man after they got the IV in and boarded up his arm...twice.

Then this was him after waking up every 30 min in the night, throwing up, and being just beat the next morning. Sleeping through his last bag of fluids before we went home.

The ten days were as bad as I could have imagined...woke up a lot in the night, wouldn't eat or drink...but by day 11 he was back to his old self. Almost over night. Crazy how the body works and heals itself. Our boy took it all like a champ and came out on top...thank goodness. What a brave boy Tate!