Bye-bye Tonsils

Dear Skogi-ogi-oh (you often ask us to call you this!),

On August 7th, you got your tonsils and adenoids out.  This was the first time that any of my babies have had surgery, so I didn't really know what to expect or how to prepare.  Luckily, you had your surgery at one of the best hospitals in the world, and they have a really great program for kids.

 The day before your surgery, you went to a class, specially designed for you and to teach you about your surgery.  A really nice teacher told you all about what would happen, where you would go, what it would feel like, and gave you some fun stuff to practice with at home.

 Your listened very well to the teacher, made your own doll named "Dolly Doll" that you and the teacher practiced the surgery on, and picked out a smell for the anesthesia the next day (this was probably one of your favorite parts of the class and you picked bubble gum smell).

We brought home a whole bunch of stuff and Klaasen and Maida helped you practice with all of it that night!

 In the morning, we woke up very very early, got dressed, and went up to the hospital.  We had to be there by 7:30 and you weren't allowed any food or drink after midnight the night before, so I wasn't sure how you'd do.  You threw a little bit of a tantrum for no reason walking into the hospital and refused to put on the wrist band and "pajamas," but none of that was out of the ordinary.  You can be pretty stubborn sometimes!

 Daddy put on a band, just like you (which is the only way you eventually decided to put it on).  Daddy also was able to go back with you into the operating room until you fell asleep, which was really cool.  They gave you some "happy medicine" before the surgery to try to calm you down and help you cooperate, but Daddy said it made you act drunk and crazy!  At least you were having fun!  You refused to lay down on the operating table once you were back in the operating room, but they let Daddy hold you until you were out and then Daddy laid you on the table.

 The surgery only lasted about 45 minutes and you were back in Daddy's arms.  You had trouble waking up and didn't really want to breathe, but Daddy helped hold some oxygen on you when you needed it.  As soon as you were able to open your eyes, the nurse was offering you popsicles and juice, or anything else you could ever want to eat.

 You had a little IV in your left hand and once you started waking up a little more, you kept asking for it to be taken out.  We distracted you by watching Cars 2 and A Gooffy Movie since they wanted to monitor you a little more before taking out the IV.

 You never complained about the pain, but we got a few doses of pain medicine before we left the hospital, just to make sure we stayed on top of it. You took one last little nap before we left the hospital and while you were sleeping, they removed your IV and all of the patches you were wearing on your chest.  You didn't even wake up or know that they were being taken off!

 You were discharged just five hours after the surgery!  You did so well eating and drinking that all the nurses were impressed.  Daddy carried you to the car and I think you loved all the attention you were getting!

 Once we got home, you and Daddy crashed!  It had been a long morning.  You spent the majority of the first day sleeping on the couch.  Mommy and Daddy slept with you in the living room for the next three nights, until you were able to go all night without any pain medicine.  

 It was hard to keep you laying down during the day, but luckily we had a stack of old VHS tapes of Scooby Doo that we bought at the thrift store a few weeks before and you and Maida enjoyed watching those over and over with Daddy.

 You were really stinky for the first two weeks after the surgery, but as those yellow scabs in the back of your throat healed, the smell got better and better.  It took you about the full two weeks to get back to your normal self, but I was impressed and surprised with how well you dealt with the surgery and the healing.

I hope if any of your siblings have to ever have surgery, it goes as easy as yours did.  You were such a big boy and I am so proud of you!  I'm also looking forward to you getting some good sleep, now, and being able to breathe and swallow without as much trouble as you have had since birth.

Love you Skogen,

Mommy