Surgery Day

Yesterday was Timothy's surgery day. The plan was to do a CT scan of his ears & his chest, then move him to the OR to remove his adenoid (yes, there's only 1 -- did you know that?) and do the bronchoscopy. Things went mostly according to plan.... Timothy did WONDERFULLY between 6 a.m. when we got there and 8, when we took him down to CT. Happy as a lark! The CT scan was something completely new to us and it was something I hope to never experience again. In the past, we've always handed an awake, mostly happy Timothy off to an OR nurse. With the CT yesterday, we walked him all the way down to CT and were "allowed" to stay while he was being put to sleep. That was something I never want to see again. Timothy's heart started racing, I could hear him crying even though they had the mask on his face, and once he fell asleep, you could see him almost gasping for breath. Scary stuff, I tell you! That was right at 8 so Jonathan and I went and had breakfast together and then parted ways. Jonathan headed off to work and I headed off to the surgery waiting room. I wasn't there long before a doctor from radiology stopped by to tell me that there was some mis-communication...something about you can't do a chest CT with him intubated but you couldn't do the ear CT without him being intubated. I don't think I quite understood it all but it basically boils down to the fact that they got a decent ear CT but not a decent chest CT. Haven't heard any results from the ear CT. That doctor told me I'd have to return for a new chest CT later on. Then, just minutes after 9, Timothy's ENT came in to tell me his part was all done! He said that Timothy's adenoid was huge, that we had definitely done the right thing removing it. Then he said that Timothy airway looked wonderful!! Still a small airway but growing in proportion to his body size. The good news just kept coming -- he told me that he wants to see Timothy in 6 months but that if he's still growing well, eating well, then we can just keep putting another bronchoscopy off into the future until we need to do it but that there's a good possibility he'll never have to have another one! And, as if that wasn't good enough, he said that since Timothy's bronchoscopy went so well, he doesn't see a need to repeat that chest CT after all! If, however, we were to need to do a bronchoscopy in the future, then we'll repeat that CT. He said that he thinks Timothy will eventually outgrow the noisy breathing he has when he's sick. Maybe around age 4 or 5, he said. They called me back to recovery to sit with Timothy (something else I had never done before) and that was nerve racking for a while. He was clearly uncomfortable and he kept trying to get in positions in my arms that I couldn't hold him in. After several minutes, they just decided to go ahead and give him some morphine but by the time they got back with that, he settled down so we didn't give it to him and we really didn't have any problems after that. They went ahead and moved him to a room and told me I could try to give him juice around 11:30 but only a little at a time. Yeah, right! Timothy was STARVED! He drank 8 ounces of juice very quickly so I ordered him some mashed potatoes and green beans for lunch (his fav foods). He didn't eat very much but he did eat and didn't seem to have any trouble. He took another 4 ounces of juice and then slept off and on between 12 and 3:30. He was very aggravated with the IV tubing and the Pulse Ox monitor tubing that kept getting entangled. But his breathing was perfect and he didn't even have any real "side effects" that we were told to expect like a snoring sound or nausea/vomitting. I tried to take him to the playroom at 4 but he was sooooo mad because he couldn't pick up any toys with that IV still in his hand. So we were there less than 10 minutes. Good thing, though, as we hadn't been back to the room but about 10 minutes when his doctor stopped by (we had been told to expect him between 5 and 6 and this was barely 4:30!). Then the best part, the dr cleared us to go HOME! After they got those 2 tubes off of him, he was his happy little self. Ate part of a rice crispy treat, drank some more juice, had a few bites of mac & cheese (that stuff was NASTY!), and polished off pudding. We left at 5 and were home around 5:30! It was so nice to bring him home and not have to be stuck in that tiny room all night! You'd never know he had anything done! He's as normal as it gets. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!