January 12 - Success

Conner had his adenoids out, one old ear tube removed, and 2 new ear tubes placed yesterday. He was totally calm when we got there (very early) and was excited that he had a TV in his pre-op room. That's all the kid needs to be happy, since he doesn't get to watch much at home and he's pretty obsessed with it at the moment. We got checked in and the anesthesiologist came to chat with us. They decided to give him a breathing treatment before the procedure, just to make sure his airway was good...he said sometimes putting a breathing tube in stirs up something in the throat (or something like that). Conner does fine for breathing treatments. I think the nurse was shocked. She asked if I wanted to hold the mask in front of him and I told her he would wear it...I guess that's not that common. Again, as long as the TV is on, Conner is pretty calm. They gave him some liquid medicine to "calm him"...although I don't know how much more calm he could get. Basically, it made him drunk.

David went back to the OR with him and stayed in the room while he was knocked out with gas. After he left, they put an IV in (judging by the marks on his hands, they tried at least twice) and intubated him. We went to sit in the waiting room...and while we were both nervous about the intubation, we were pretty calm. By the time we called our families, it was over. The whole thing (including intubation, IV and everything) took less than 19 minutes. The breathing tube was in for probably about 20-30 minutes total.

The worst part of the day was recovery. Conner woke up really upset and out of it (obviously...he got "calming medicine", gas, and IV sedation). He wouldn't drink anything but after about 30 minutes of him sleeping in and out on David's shoulder, they let us go home. He had had a whole bag of fluid so he was very well hydrated. Conner was not happy at home either...he just wanted to lay on me or on the couch the whole morning (we were home before 10 a.m.). Before his nap, he wanted a piece of toast. He ate half (nothing to drink still) and then went straight down for a nap. When he woke up 2 hours later, he was a new child. He was happy and running around. He complained of pain in his throat only one time all day and we gave him some pain medicine before bed...but that was it. He went to school today and had a great day. He is so tough. He has no desire to lay around for a day like I did yesterday!

Today Conner was fine except for he complained of some pain in his mouth...we aren't sure whether it's his cheek, jaw or teeth that were hurting so we are going to keep an eye on it. It was only tonight that it seemed to hurt.

We are glad to have this over with and hope for fewer sinus infections and ear infections in the coming months...and some better sleep. Last night, he still woke up in the middle of the night once, so we'll see.

Anyway, now that that is over with, we can post some more fun stuff...I have a bad headache tonight, so I will save it for another time.