Under the Knife

So my Chunk was not doing well, he was literally sick every other weekend.  It was horrible.  He was miserable and there wasn't and rhyme or reason that we could see to make sense of why he was sick so much.  So we make an appointment to take him to the Dr. where I demanded to find out what is wrong.  That was when we went to the allergist.  There wasn't mach progress that was made beside learning my son could no longer eat some of his favorite foods, tomatoes.  Still after adjusting our life to make his better- his life still wasn't better!  It was so sad to see him sick so much and just plain yucky.  So the Dr. (Dr. Craig DeLisi is awesome!)  called an ENT, an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor.  We made an appointment.  Such a nice guy!  He immediately talked to Chunk and tried to make him feel at ease, and then he talked to me and addressed all my questions!!  It was amazing!  He talked to me and with me and not down at me or at me.  He checked out his ears and said they were fine!  (Honestly that was kinda bittersweet because Chunk would complain about ear aches and so i was happy they were fine, but sad that we still didn't know what the problem was.)  he then looked in chunks throat and said: "Humph.  Well the explains it."  And then proceeds to tell me that my sons tonsils look like a bunch of grapes.  And they are huge.  and that they are like a 'diry wash rag collecting bacteria and periodically making him sick'.

Wow.  Awesome.  Sure made me feel like mother of the year for letting him live like that for so long.  (please read the previous sentence with much sarcasm).  Dr. Eric Reed then continues to tell me how Chunk is only running on like 10% of normal because he is just constantly sick.  And when Chunk is sick every other weekend its because he lost that 10% for the time being.  But he really wanted to see him while he was sick.  luckily for us his "schedule" for being sick was that coming weekend.  So while I wait for the inevitable sickness- I decide to gather all the dates and medical history of when he was sick and with was and for how long.

Sure enough chunk starts getting sick Thursday night.  Friday morning we go into see Dr. Reed and he looks in Chunks throat.  He then looks at my list, goes slightly bug-eyed, and then starts discussing when to do a tonsillectomy and probably adenoidectomy (we cant see the adenoids, the tonsils are blocking them).  Naturally my motherly worries kick in along with the attached water works and we start to schedule and plan on my Chunk-Of-Love spending the morning with a scalpel down his throat.

I hate the thought honestly, but I trust Dr. Reed completely and I know this needs to happen.

so we start the process.  He was to  get them out on July 28, 2011.

 First my poor boy here is getting his blood work done on the Tuesday before.  So they have an idea of how his blood will react to the anesthesia and stuff.  He was NOT excited at all.  I had a friend Kayla come with us, she has spent much time in hospitals getting blood work done, so she was great to talk with him and stuff.  Such a doll.

Here we are waiting.....

and here we are after.  There was minimal crying!!!!  He was such a rockstar!!!!  Kayla even had gotten him a prize (a Transformer) for being so awesome!

and because he was so great, we went and got ice cream.

(see the circle under his eyes?  so sad)

Anyway, he was MUCH happier after the ice cream.

I then had the task of getting myself and him mentally prepared for his surgery.  I did my best to tell him what was going to happen, without freaking him out.  I told him it would hurt A LOT afterwards, but I think that it was is easier to hear about then to live.  His surgery was to be the second one of the day at a surgery center about 1 hour away in Sulfur Springs.  Joseph couldn't take work off, and Laura was going to be home with the kids, and I KNEW I shouldn't be waiting there all by myself.  So a friend from church, Mauna Kirkahm came along.  I picked her up bright and early at 5 am and we head out!

Here he is about to go into the surgery!

He looks so happy and.... unaware!  I felt so bad that he was in such a good mood because I knew he would be absolutely miserable when we were done!

Taking his temperature while getting to wear the AWESOME hat!  He loved the hat. lol

and after he had his gown and special socks on, they gave his his 'piolet's mask' He thought that was the coolest thing EVER!  lol  They were so good with him! The people at the surgery center were so awesome to work with and so great with him!  We were impressed with how great they were!

They then gave him a glove blown up and then had a face drawn on it.  He thought that was the funniest thing!! He got the biggest kick out of it!

Here he is just before they wheeled him away.  They were very fast with the whole thing so he didn't get a chance to freak out and before he could see me freak out.  lol  And they knocked him out before they did the iv and everything.  it was so "easy for him"  at the beginning at least.

And then I waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

Mauna was great in keeping me distracted.  But man that was hard waiting to hear.  The sad part is, they were awesome in keeping me updated on how they were progressing.  It just wasn't enough for me.   And I know that its rather minor compared to like brain surgery or something, but still that is my baby being sliced upon.

Anyway, the nurse finally takes me to a room where Dr. Reed would come talk to me about how things went.  He said that Chunk was a star patient and things went so well, and that what he removed was about 4 times larger then what they should be.  His adenoids and tonsils were bad and therefore removed.  But he was really pleased with how it went.

Phew!

So then I just had to wait for when he started to wake up.  That didn't take too much longer, and man he was so unhappy!!!  Not that I blame him at all, I just felt so bad!

Here he is when he's waking up.  See the super sad face!  =(  

This is the nurse who was with him the whole time and Dr. Reed.  Again, they were phenomenal!  Poor Chunk was miserable.  After he finished the mandatory popsicle, we headed right home.

And this is where he was for the next 4 days.  Since the meds had to be given every 3 hours (technically every 2 hours and 50 minutes so it has time to kick in before the previous batch can wear off), he was there so when I had to wake up I didn't have to stumble up the stairs.  lol

Anyway- needless to say, he wasn't the easiest of patients.  The surgery was on Thursday, and Friday he was ok.... mostly.  The surgery center did call to see how he was doing and to see if I had any question.  At that point I was ok, but come that night, he was so miserable he wouldn't swallow.  He would hold all liquid in has mouth and then dribble it out slowly so he wouldn't have to swallow it.  Because it hurt so much.  He would just cry because it hurt.  It was so pitifully sad!! But not swallowing wouldn't let it get better.  He needed to be swallowing every 15 minutes.  Yeah.  Right.  Finally I had to threaten him to take him back to the Dr. office and he would have to get a shot and other medicine.  That kinda freaked him out.  So he finally started to swallow and he quickly improved.  Sunday I took Jellybean and Monkey to church, while Joseph stayed home with Z and Chunk and when I got home, the hunger had finally prevailed and he was eating ice cream and jello.  Once we got to that point I could relax a bit again.  I was starting to see my little boy emerge again.  It was a relief.

Since then:

He hasn't gotten sick with more then a cold!!!!  it has been sooooo great!

He has been eating almost double what he had been and therefore is gaining weight!  Again so awesome considering his BMI was under 5%.  He also has soooo much more energy and life to him.  It's been a huge blessing.  Makes me very grateful to a small prompting to push to get him looked at more closely and then the comforting Hand at the Dr. selection and during the surgery.  It was so nice to be able to have the priesthood power exercised for my son and have such a great example for him to live up to.