Recovery time..

Ds #3 had his surgery. We had anticipated the worst, but it went much smoother than we expected. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, our youngest son had been diagnosed with obstructed sleep apnea and needed to have his very large tonsils and adenoids out. Last Friday my mom and step dad came into town to help with the older kids and we went off to the surgery center. It was early in the morning so ds was really unaware of what was going on. We explained to him that the doctors were going to fix his throat so that he could breathe a bit better. We also told him that when he woke up from a little nap mommy and daddy would be there with him. The horror stories we've heard about children coming out of anesthesia were so scary. But, to our surprise he came out of it very well. When he first started coming out of it he was a bit fussy and just confused. He was very groggy and out of it. He did look at both of us and recognize that we were there. We sat next to his bed and held his hands and rubbed his back. He took a nap and slept some of the meds off. After he woke up the second time he was in pretty good spirits. Still a little grumpy and unsure of everything, but not like I expected. He laid in bed and watched Nick Jr while they monitored him. Soon he asked for a popsicle. :) He ate a bit of that and then started asking to have his IV removed. He wasn't really excited about that being in there! Once he was taking in some fluids they removed the IV and let him hang out a bit longer. The hardest part of the entire day was when the nurse went to put a band-aid on his IV spot. You would have thought they were killing him. This kid...he's a nut! He'll let someone cut out his tonsils and then pull out an IV, but don't you dare try to put a band-aid on it! How dare you! lol... He was incredibly brave and cooperative during the entire procedure. What a relief! I worried for days about this procedure and how he would do. Boy was I glad to see him pull through it like a champ! He's always been tough, so I shouldn't be surprised. He is afterall the 3rd child! Having a big brother and sister will toughen anyone up!
The week of his surgery they had to take some blood and we worried about that also. I made dh go with me for fear we'd have to place him in full out tackle to get the blood they needed. Well, the time came and he sat there so nicely on dh's lap while I talked to him and distracted him. The nurse poked him and he barely flinched. He looked over at her for a brief second, the look on his face was priceless! Sort of like "What did you do that for?" . He never said a word, not an ouch or anything. What a brave boy! He did so well.

Well, now fast forward to day 3-4 post op. It hasn't been such a picnic. They warned us that days 3-7 could be rough. He is certainly in pain, very frustrated and just really confused. He can't seem to figure out why on Earth we took him in to 'those mean doctors' to have them 'hurt' him and send him home to have no chips! He really wants chips! Of course, he can't have them since they're sharp. I think it's a matter of him just knowing he can't have them that makes him want them so much. We barely even keep chips in the house. We're not huge chip eaters, but from time to time we'll get some. Like if we have Subway we'll get chips (the baked kind, YUM!) or if we have a cookout we might get some chips and dip. But, this is what my child craves when he can't have sharp foods! ugh.. Any other day he'd be begging for ice cream and popsicles. Now he says popsicles and ice cream are yucky!
It's been a challenge convincing him that he can't eat anything and everything. He's a bit burnt out on mashed potatoes, jello, pudding, yogurt, cheese, soup, noodles, mac & cheese and eggs.
He's also not sleeping at night which is making mommy and daddy VERY grumpy and tired. I think the pain is worse at night and he is so restless. We were up so many times last night I can't even count. YAWN!!! Poor dh had to go to work today, I know he's exhausted.
I think we'll all get to bed early tonight.

If we can get through the next couple of days I think he'll be fine. It's exhausting and so hard to watch him in pain and not want to take the meds. He used to take them fine, but now that he's had them for 4 days straight he is tired of it. Earlier it turned into a wrestling match with me trying to give him his motrin. We ended up with both of us wearing that dose, so I'm sure he'll be hurting again sooner than later. Can't negotiate with a 3 yr old who has a sore throat, is going on no sleep and can't figure out why those 'mean doctors' did that to him. I keep telling him that they were helping him, but he is plain mad! Poor guy! One day he'll forget all about this and will be glad it was done when he was young. Right? For now he keeps pointing to his mouth saying "Why did they do that?".
Oh and he has a new voice now also. A bit surprising to me as noone had mentioned that as a possibility. It's very strange to hear him talk now. I am hoping that is just due to his swollen throat and the fact that he's favoring that area. He talks completely different now! He also has trouble pronouncing a lot of the letter sounds that he could say clearly before. He was a talking maniac before. Before the surgery he could tell you all of the letters of the alphabet and their correct sounds, but now it sounds like a jumbled up mess. Dh and I can barely make out what he is saying now. I really hope he gets his sweet and CLEAR voice back! He has always gotten so many compliments on how well he speaks and what a large vocabulary he has already.

Oh well, I suppose I should go get some house cleaning done before the kids come home on the bus. Ds is sleeping, so will hopefully wake up feeling a bit better. Thanks to all of you who have shared kind words, advice and prayers with us during this time. We're grateful for each of you!