Surgery

Joshua had his adenoids removed on Tuesday. It was a crazy day, but it went pretty well. This is the story.

Brian has been working a ton, and he was on swing shift at the time. So he got home from work Tuesday morning at 1:30 a.m. I got up at 5:00 a.m. to let Joshua have one last drink before his fasting period. Joshua thought it was hilarious he was up so early, and colored for a while when I got ready. I got Brian up at 5:40 (4 hours of sleep) and we were out the door by 5:50. We made it to the hospital on time even though we had never been there before and had to do paper work. Then they took us up to a room to wait. We had to wait for like an hour before they called us back. Fortunately they had some toys to play with, and there were two other little boys, brothers, having surgery the same day. Joshua was pretty fine up to this point, he was probably hungry and tired, but just playing and running around. I had to keep him from running through the hospital halls.

They called us back and we got him dressed for the surgery. Hospital gowns are ugly in general, but I think they are cute on babies.

And here is the open back.I think at this point Joshua was starting to realize that something was up, because he just wanted to be held and he bacame alot more subdued. Before they took him away they came and gave him some nose drops that basically made him drunk. The surgeon came over to say hi and Joshua just stared at him like "what do you want". When they took him away he didn't even fuss he just stared at us with a glazed look.

Brian and I went back to the waiting room and Brian went to go grab breakfast. We hadn't eaten yet because we thought it would be cruel to eat in front of Joshua. Brian had just gotten back with the food and Joshua hadn't been gone 25 minutes when the surgeon came out and said that every thing went really well, and in about 20 minutes they would come get us to see him. The surgeon also said that the adenoids took up his entire nose, and that we should start to see improvement in a week. (In the meantime the tissues are all swollen so there isn't the extra room in there yet).

About 20 minutes later a nurse comes to get us. We go back pretty quickly and find another nurse struggling to hold Joshua as he woke up. He was flopping around like a giant strong newborn. He wasn't awake enough to hold his head up, but he was fighting to get away like crazy. Brian took him and he settled down a little bit, but was still struggling. Brian held him for a while and then Joshua looked like he was reaching for me. I picked him up and he got so upset he held his breath and set off all the alarms. Joshua just wanted his daddy.

The nurses decided to take him down to the next waking up area; Joshua was still upset so the nurses suggested we walk around. So Brian carried him around and around the area and I pushed the IV pole. Joshua finally settled down and the nurses came in to discharge him. Normally its good for people to nap to come out of anethesia, but Joshua was having none of that and everyone figured he would feel much better at home.

Joshua and Brian fell asleep on the way home and as soon as I got home they both went straight to bed. Joshua was so happy to see the house, he smiled when we went up the stairs for the first time after he woke up. Brian had to go to work 2 hours later (he felt really refreshed after his nap, we decided he was blessed to have 6 power naps, instead of a long nap that usually makes him groggy). Joshua woke up and was starving since he hadn't eaten yet. I spent a good part of the day giving him food slowly so that I could make sure he wouldn't throw it back up. Finally at dinner I let him eat his fill.

Now he is just recovering. He wimpers in his sleep, so at night we give him stronger pain killers, but they wear off at night and he is really grumpy in the morning while he waits for the regular ones to kick in and I think the stong pain killers give him a hangover. He has a constant stream of yellow snot (yellow because there is a little blood in it) coming from his nose, and his breath is terrible from the dying tissue. He is doing well though, he can eat whatever he wants. He has had enough energy to play with his friend Ayana and go outside. I am glad that it is over.