Day #5

Jack continues to do well but has occasional bouts of pain that surprise us every time. I was amazed at how well he did the day of the surgery and even the next day. Day three, as promised, was not so good. Jack woke up at 5:30 AM and was at the top of the stairs sobbing when I got to him. A dose of pain meds and snuggling with Mommy seemed to help. The rest of the day he felt pretty good most of the time. Yesterday we did a little more than we have done. I was in desperate need of an eye exam and contacts so we went to visit Miss Stacie. We stopped at Chic-fil-a for lunch and I let Jack play for about 10 minutes which he really needed.  We stopped by to see Paul at his office and by the time we got ready to leave he was getting cranky and telling us his neck hurt (he either tells us his neck or his tongue hurts).

Last night after dinner Paul said he didn’t feel very well.  I was feeling kind of yuck but chalked it up to broken sleep, early workout and a LONG day with Jack. After Jack went to sleep, we hit the sack and then at 12:30 I woke in a panic when I heard Jack crying and raced to the top of the stairs. By the time I got there, I felt like I might pass out. Luckily Paul came up with the medicine and I felt like I couldn’t move. And let’s just say I was up on and off all night…

To add to everything, poor little Carson has been fighting a cold. I feel terrible sending him to school when he’s not 100% but he hasn’t been running fever and he gets so bored at home all day. And you should see him when Paul starts to leave, he runs to the basement door and waits for him! If Paul gets out of sight, he starts to whine as if he’s worried he has been left behind! This morning was no exception. He practically jumped in Paul’s arms and started waving bye-bye to me. If we ask, “do you want to go play with your friends”, and name some of them, you can see the expression on his face change. Here’s hoping his cold is on the way out!

I’m bracing myself for several more days of Jack being in pain. I’ve heard from several mom’s that these next few days are rough as the scabs are forming in his mouth and he feels a “pulling” sensation. Ugh…can’t even think about that. Ugh.

Hope everyone is having a great week. I really am cherishing this week off with Jack, even though he has been quite trying at times! The medicine doesn’t knock him out but makes him cranky at times.

More later…

Tonsillectomy Update

Thank you to everyone who prayed for us yesterday! I’m happy to report that the whole procedure and the hours since then have been relatively smooth and easy.

Yesterday morning we arrived at Children’s South (a smaller hospital) at 7AM and were in a room by 7:15. Paul took Carson to school and met us in the room around 7:30.  Jack got upset every time someone new came in the room (nurse, anesthesiologist, doctor, another nurse, etc.). I held it together very well which was hard at times because the look of fear on his face each time really got me! Finally around 8:20 they took him back. It was amazing because at that point he seemed relatively at ease as long as I could carry him to the double doors. Then the nurse nonchalantly said “ok Jack, let’s go blow up a balloon and Mommy & Daddy will go get you a popsicle”. He seemed fine with this and walked off with his little green dino-underwear-hiney hanging out of his gown…and THEN I cried!

It seemed like a million years {was actually about an hour} before we saw him and when they wheeled him in, he had the STRANGEST look on his face. A scowl of sorts and a very freaky gaze. He was sitting straight up on the bed and just looked at us, almost as if he didn’t know who we were at first.  It took another 20 minutes or so for him to come out of the Demerol daze and then he had some juice while we waited for the nurse to release us.

At one point he was saying his throat hurt and I couldn’t hear exactly what he said but he seemed annoyed that I didn’t understand. I said “Jack, are you mad at me?”, he responded “I told you you shouldn’t have bringed me here”. I almost laughed out loud but just smiled and repeated it to Paul and the nurse. She thought it was so cute, she told all the nurses in the hallway.

They gave him a dose of lortab before we left which I thought would knock him out. He somehow kept his eyes open on the drive home and then out of the blue, as we neared the house, he said “Mommy, this is the best way home!”. 

The rest of the afternoon was NOT what I expected. He only complained about his throat one time. He ate 4 pancakes, some gummies and popsicles. He never took a nap so the “may cause drowsiness” warning on the lortab bottle does not apply to him!  He was determined to get the toy we promised so we made a quick trip to Wal-Mart for some little Bakugan toys and some Spiderman PJs. He ate a great dinner and then was OUT by 8PM. I woke him once in the night to give him a dose of pain medicine but he slept all night!

This morning has been great! He said his throat only hurt when he “gulped” and when he talked. He is taking his meds with no argument and just ate some melon. The doctor said day 3 tends to be the worst, so here’s hoping Jack continues to be the exception.

Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers! They are so appreciated! I’ll post another update soon!

I shared this on Facebook, but this was taken at dinner last night:

Prayers for Jack

Just a quick post to ask everyone to keep my little Jacky Smacky in your prayers tomorrow. We’ve been keeping a watch on his tonsils for some time now (since he was 2- 1/2) and they are still very large. The ENT called them “kissing tonsils” and said we’ll see a big difference in him once removed. He will probably have a growth spurt since growth hormones are produced during the deepest sleep-which Jack probably doesn’t get much of because he snores and has apnea episodes. 

So off we go tomorrow. We have to be at the hospital at 7AM. We talked to Jack about everything tonight and at first I thought he was going to get upset, but Paul and I did our very best to down play everything. The doctor gave us a little pamphlet that looks like a comic book that explains the whole process in kid terms. Thank goodness he loves books because once we started talking about the story, his mind seemed completely at ease.

So please keep us all in your prayers. I want to make sure I stay as unemotional as possible so that Jack doesn’t sense my apprehension!

Thank you for your prayers! I’ll update soon!