Successful Surgery

EJ had his surgery this morning. I woke him up after Big Brother got on the school bus and I laid him in my bed until Hubby & I finised getting ready. Afterall, EJ didn't have to get dressed or anything. A quick trip to the bathroom, a dry Pull-Up and brushed teeth and we were out the door.

We arrived at the hospital a few minutes early and got signed in. A few minutes later, the lady from registration came out to get me to verify some information. Then we waited ...

The nice volunteer took us back to the pre-op area and Nurse Joy gave EJ a delightful blue gown and some spiffy anti-skid socks. After fighting with the child for a few minutes (he didn't want to take off the Handy Manny pj's), he finally relinquished and let me change his clothes. However, he'd have nothing at all to do with the socks. I can't say that I blame him, actually. They didn't even match. HA! Nurse Joy came back into the room and told us that EJ was going to have to take some medicine and wanted to know if he would take it better in a cup or a syringe. Um, neither actually. I explained to the nurse that it bordered on child abuse whenever we have to administer meds to this child. I don't think she believed me. We decided to try it in a cup first. I think the general consensus was that because EJ hadn't had anything to eat or drink since 7 last night, maybe he'd be thirsty and drink it. RIGHT!! Nurse Joy brought the medicine cup in and EJ took a sip and for a minute, it looked like he was really going to take it. But then he realized it wasn't juice and defiance kicked in. Because Nurse Joy was pretty adamant that he was going to have to take all of it, I suggested we go ahead and put the rest in a syringe. We (myself, Hubby and Nurse Joy) pinned EJ down and got as much in him as we could. But at this age, you can't make them swallow!!

At some point, we were visited by the Anesthesiologist, the Nurse Anesthesist and the Doctor. The doctor explained that the surgery would be relatively simple, very similar to the first surgery he had 2 years ago. The only difference this time was that EJ would most likely have his adenoids removed. He explained that the adenoid removal would take a little bit longer than just the tubes. The nurses came to take EJ and as we were walking out of the pre-op suite, one of the nurses gave him a little Beenie Baby kitty to carry with him.

My mom, Hubby and I made our way back to the waiting room and when we got there, I took out my phone and realized I had a missed call and voice mail. I checked my messages and had one from the school nurse telling me that Bug was in her office complaining that he didn't feel good. "Oh great" was my first thought. I called the nurse back and found out that Bug didn't have a temperature and had not been sick so I asked that he be sent back to class. I explained to her that I was up at the hospital for my other son's surgery. She said that Bug mentioned his brother was having surgery so I figured he was concerned about that.

Well, we waited and waited and waited. After about 25 minutes, I knew that the adenoids were going to come out. When EJ had his first set of tubes, he was back there for 15 minutes. After 45 minutes, the nice volunteer came and got us and took us back to the consultation. The Doctor met us there and explained that he did remove EJ's adenoids because when he looked at them, they were huge and were definitely blocking the Eustachian tube (therefore prohibiting drainage of the fluid). He also said that there was a pretty significant amount of fluid built up behind EJ's ear drums and that it was almost solidified. Poor little guy! The Doctor said that EJ had probably been quite uncomfortable for a while. Hopefully, that's all behind us now.

After meeting with the doctor, we headed back out to the waiting room. As soon as they had EJ in recovery, we were allowed to go see him. He had 3 nurses around his bed and they were all commenting on his position. Apparently, as soon as he began to wake up in the slightest, he flipped over on his tummy and pulled his legs up under him and stuck his bottom in the air. This is the way he generally sleeps at home but they thought it was cute. One of the nurses said that EJ opened his eyes, looked at her and said, "You're not my mommy!" and drifted back off to sleep.

We finally got EJ to start waking up and I was able to hold him. He was very groggy but not irritable (I was warned he would be cranky). He had an IV in his left arm and the PulseOx meter on his toe. The nurses were holding an oxygen mask close to his face so that his throat wouldn't be so dry when he woke up. The Beenie Baby kitty was beside him and I noticed that it had some cotton balls in its ear and some tape on its arm. Cute! I offered him some juice and he strongly refused it. The nurse asked him if he wanted a popsicle and he very sweetly, with his eyes still closed, shook his head yes. Nurse Yolanda quickly got EJ a blue popsicle and as soon as he got the thing in his hands, he fell asleep again. I tried to remove it but he woke up and started crying. As soon as I let go, he fell asleep.

Finally, the Nurse Yolanda came in and said we could go home. She removed EJ's IV and we put Handy Manny back on. Of course, all EJ cared about was the fact that we'd taken away his blue popsicle. Hubby went and pulled the van around to pick us up and we were on our way. After a quick stop at Firehouse Subs, we were home. EJ laid on the couch and I decided to give him a 1 day reprieve from my "no-eating-on-the-couch" rule. He had some Apple Jacks and some tea. EJ started to feel a little brave and hopped down to walk into the kitchen. I guess he was still a little loopy from the drugs because he was swaying and bumping into things. HA!

He's down for a nap now and hopefully will be a little more "with it" when he wakes up. He will go to the ENT in a week for a follow-up visit and then hopefully there will be no more ear infections! Thanks to all who prayed us through this morning. I love you all!