As some of you may remember, I had the opportunity to get my tonsils surgically removed four years ago this month. It was, as I recall, one of the worst months of my life. Not only was I in absolute pain and unable to function for two and a half weeks, but Steve and Jack took that golden opportunity to get miserably sick, as well. Suffice it to say that we only survived with the grace and help of my family, our ward, and a loving Heavenly Father (I'm only kind of exaggerating).
With that month under my belt, you may wonder why someone who had had such a rough experience would voluntarily put her 3-year-old child through the same experience, wouldn't you?
Let me explain.
No, there is too much. Let me sum up.
We'd always known that Clark's tonsils were basically ginormous, but the matter was settled for me when we stayed the night in the same hotel room with him for my marathon in October. Several times during the night, I would hear him stop breathing for a moment, and then suddenly catch his breath. The doctor had told us that he probably had sleep apnea with tonsils that big, but actually hearing my son's breathing stop several times in one night was much more frightening than hearing about it, and so when we got back from Utah, I took him in for a consultation which ended up with him being scheduled for a tonsillectomy.
Everyone I talked to let me know that children handle surgery much better than adults do, and having seen the positive aspects of my personal experiences with getting my tonsils out (before I got them out, I would get either tonsillitis, bronchitis, or strep throat at least four or five times a winter; since getting them out, I have yet to come down with any of those three illnesses in the last four years), we thought it would be best to do it as early as possible.
Plus, you know, we wanted the whole "he stops breathing in his sleep" thing taken care of.
The nurses who were in charge of him at the hospital were wonderful, and because we let them know that he'd had previous trauma with hospitals and doctors (thank you, broken femur of 2012), they gave him some oral medicine before they ever even hooked him up to any kind of machine, and the results were, quite frankly, hilarious. Ever seen a drugged up three-year-old attempt to clap his hands before? If not, go check my husband's Facebook page. You'll thank me.
We took him home about an hour after his surgery was finished, and he was eating ice cream and pudding all day long. The next day he acted pretty miserable, but two days after the surgery was over, he was eating, and within 4 days, he was pretty much back to normal behavior, so long as he had some Tylenol in his system.
Today is a week after his surgery, and he hasn't had a dose of any pain medication for the last two days.
I am SO glad that we did this.
And he will be, too. Eventually.
With that month under my belt, you may wonder why someone who had had such a rough experience would voluntarily put her 3-year-old child through the same experience, wouldn't you?
Let me explain.
No, there is too much. Let me sum up.
We'd always known that Clark's tonsils were basically ginormous, but the matter was settled for me when we stayed the night in the same hotel room with him for my marathon in October. Several times during the night, I would hear him stop breathing for a moment, and then suddenly catch his breath. The doctor had told us that he probably had sleep apnea with tonsils that big, but actually hearing my son's breathing stop several times in one night was much more frightening than hearing about it, and so when we got back from Utah, I took him in for a consultation which ended up with him being scheduled for a tonsillectomy.
Everyone I talked to let me know that children handle surgery much better than adults do, and having seen the positive aspects of my personal experiences with getting my tonsils out (before I got them out, I would get either tonsillitis, bronchitis, or strep throat at least four or five times a winter; since getting them out, I have yet to come down with any of those three illnesses in the last four years), we thought it would be best to do it as early as possible.
Plus, you know, we wanted the whole "he stops breathing in his sleep" thing taken care of.
The nurses who were in charge of him at the hospital were wonderful, and because we let them know that he'd had previous trauma with hospitals and doctors (thank you, broken femur of 2012), they gave him some oral medicine before they ever even hooked him up to any kind of machine, and the results were, quite frankly, hilarious. Ever seen a drugged up three-year-old attempt to clap his hands before? If not, go check my husband's Facebook page. You'll thank me.
We took him home about an hour after his surgery was finished, and he was eating ice cream and pudding all day long. The next day he acted pretty miserable, but two days after the surgery was over, he was eating, and within 4 days, he was pretty much back to normal behavior, so long as he had some Tylenol in his system.
Today is a week after his surgery, and he hasn't had a dose of any pain medication for the last two days.
I am SO glad that we did this.
And he will be, too. Eventually.
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