Last week Hunter had his tonsils and adenoids removed on April 19Th. This past week has been really rough on him because he has been in a lot of pain. My heart has hurt for him and the best thing that I could do for him is to hold him. He was such a big boy as he headed into surgery. Stephen and I were as honest as we possibly could have been. We did not want to scare him, but we also wanted him to know that this procedure was not going to be pain free. The morning of surgery we had to leave the house by 7:30 because he had to be at the hospital at 8:30. He could not have anything to eat and could only drink a sip of water. The entire way to Macon we talked with him about the surgery and answered any questions that he had, which were not many. Once we made it to the hospital he was great for about 30 minutes and then he started complaining that he was hungry. In order to occupy his mind and keep it off of his tummy we walked outside, down the halls, to the bathroom a couple of times, and he had his socks on so being the great mom that I am I let him run and slide on the marble floors. I was willing to do anything to pass the time and prevent him from being anymore miserable that what he already was.
We made our way to the second floor about 9:45 am and my heart was in my throat by now. Hunter was still holding out strong. They performed all of the pre-op procedures and answered any last minute questions that Stephen and I had. The anesthesiologist came in and was extremely thorough with us regarding the medications that he was going to use on Hunter. Through out everything Hunter's only concern was 1) he did not want to have any needles and 2) he did not want to stay at the hospital a long time like I had to. Once the questions were answered he was allowed to go next door to the play room and play until it was time for him to go back. He drew a picture of Mommy, Daddy, and Hunter and Stephen got a kick out of the picture because Mommy had a very large head! The nurse came in shortly after to administer versed to Hunter so that he would not have a hard time leaving us. He has never had surgery before therefore never had versed. Stephen held him and they watched Stuart Little together until the nurses came in to answer any questions about the OR. I knew it was time when I saw one of the nurse's put a blanket down in the wagon and I wanted to cry then, but I held strong for Hunter. Stephen layed him down into the wagon and we walked him to the double doors and they stopped and said "OK Mom and Dad this is where we say good bye". Stephen and I kissed Hunter and told him that we would see him in just a minute. They told us to expect 45 minutes from that point so we looked at the clock and it was 10:45am, so we started timing it. We went to the waiting room and ate some crackers and a drink and I checked my watch 11:12am and Stephen looked up and said "I know that is not the doctor that fast". Sure enough Dr. Griffin came to tell us that Hunter did well and we would be able to see him shortly. We had just enough time to sit down and the recovery room called for us to come back.
When I turned the corner and saw my precious baby laying in the bed upset because Mommy and Daddy were not there, I could not make it to him fast enough. It took a little while to get him to calm down because he woke up without us, but once he calmed down he did great. They tried to administer the IV in his left arm, but apparently could not get a good vein so they went into his left ankle. He was not concerned with the IV, he wanted the red oxygen light off of his finger. That was funny. On the way home he was hungry and wanted some macaroni and cheese. Stephen ordered some and he decided that he did not want that, so he just settled for some sprite. Once we got home he ate macc and cheese, a popsicle, and an ice cream sandwich. The rest of the week proved to me miserable for him though. He knew that he had to drink drink drink and that is exactly what he did.
Last night his scabs fell off and he almost choked on them. He was eating chocolate ice cream and went to swallow and they started to go down. He freaked out a little, but once I explained to him what they were, he was fine. Today is the first day that he has gone with out taking any pain medicine and he has done well. His entire classroom sent him get well cards and he was so excited to read each one.
I went for my 6 week check up on Thursday 4/22 and everything was healing great. Stephen and I both have said that we hope we are done with the hospital for a long time. Now, it is time to get back to our normal life.