Goodbye Tonsils, Hello REM Sleep!

Okay here's the full story!

November 12th, 2008 A. finally went in to have his tonsils and adenoids removed. A. has suffered from sleep apnea since birth due to the difficulty he had breathing with his over sized tonsils. (Of course, we didn't know the exact reason for the troubles until he was nearly 1 yr old.) While tonsillectomies are common and almost always done as an outpatient procedure, no one wanted to touch a kid younger than 3 yrs old so poor A. (and I) have dealt with the constant sleep disruption, 30-40min naps and sporadic grumpy days for over 3 years now. I really wish I had kept track of the number of times A. and I slept in the big lazy boy because he was congested or Strep or whatever other complication kept him from breathing and thus sleeping. But NO MORE!!!

So we all went together to the Children's Hospital and got A. all checked in. He was excited to see the puffer fish and ride the elevator and I was already starting to feel guilty. This isn't a trip to the zoo you know! J and A were delighted to find a pre-operative play room with plenty of toys and A. got to go pick out what flavor (scent) he wanted for his gas mask. He had lots of fun "practicing going to sleep" with Daddy and his strawberry mask. A was so happy and cheerful as he walked away with the nice nurse to go get his tonsils out -- so trusting! I watched him go, feeling a little heartsick, and figured he would probably never trust me again and rightfully so! The op was quick and we'd barely finished lunch when the doc came and told us A was in recovery. His tonsils were determined to be a Size 4 (out of 4) and his adenoids had been blocking 80% of his nasal passage. Poor kid!

On my way to the post-op recovery area the nurse begins to warn me how very young children often react badly when first waking up. Often they cannot be consoled, may throw tearful fits and even vomit from the anxiety of the pain. Great! Thank you! Now I'm almost in tears and I haven't even seen A! And there he is - looking so small on the gurney with blood still trickling from his nose. He opens his eyes and tries to cry "MOMMY!" but its mostly a croak. I try desperately not to cry as he keeps croaking my name and attempts to tell me it hurts. The nurse helps lift him into my arms and I finally manage to soothe him as I tell him how Gold Puppy (his little stuffed dog) was soo worried when he got left behind and searched all over the hospital for A. Later I had to give Ken an earful about pain treatment for kids (given his carrier chose I think he deserved it). Here my child is coming out of surgery and he's given absolutely nothing for the pain! Tylenol (regular, not codeine) is all he is prescribed and he can't even take that until he is awake and able to swallow it! It's been 12 years since I had my tonsils out, but I still remember that awful feeling waking up.

Because of his age and the reason for the tonsillectomy, A had to stay overnight for observation and fluids. Not wanting to put him in an infectious area, A was admitted to a "Clean" ward where children needing/receiving heart and lung transplants are cared for. It was so sad to be there amongst those truly sick babies and children, caring for my healthy little boy with the bad sore throat. I did try to prepare him in advance for the surgery, but what could I say that he would understand - and how much did I want him to understand? We read a few kids books, but I pretty much stuck to "Your going to have an "owey" in your throat and then you will need to eat lots of ice-cream and popsicles to get better." So after A took a good little nap (in my arms)he woke up and started asking for popsicles and jello and chocolate pudding. We were all so surprised at him - he was talking and sitting up and perfectly calm now! Already ready to eat and only 2 hours after surgery? So he ate a bite of jello and some pudding but only a little into the popsicle he started crying, "It still hurts!". Oops... I did tell him the popsicles would help him feel better. He did alright through the afternoon and it was great to have all the kids cable channels that he'd never seen before. He did have a rough night though. Every time he started to arouse from a deep sleep the discomfort of his throat would bring him wide awake and into tears. I felt so bad for the little boy (and his mom) in the room with us -- not to mention all the kids in the ward that were too sick and too accustomed to the hospital to cause any noise at night. Of course, this did not overshadow the compassion for my own child who was scared and confused and began to recite, "I can't calm down...." through his tears. That did it - I finally broke down and cried with him, which I'm sure didn't help matters, but so what. We were both very happy to be out of there the next morning and the recovery at home went much smoother. J got pretty accustomed to eating popsicles as well and after a week or so the whole family began to enjoy solid day-after-day of uninterrupted sleep! I do miss hearing the snores that used to travel down the hall to my room and my little A that practically lived off milk (what a weird side affect to start disliking milk?), but we are all a lot happier now. Someday I may even retire the lazy boy chair.