CHEESE!

Sam is tolerating cheese!  Here he is eating his first grilled cheese sandwich.  A momentous occasion for him.  I am so thankful he is doing well…each day is such a gift.

Snow day!

The boys were SO excited to have a “fire” in our gas fireplace.  We hadn’t used it in 3 years, so they had no idea it was actually meant to have a fire.

Suggested amendment to the patient handout.

When we scheduled Sam’s surgery, they gave us a cute little handout complete with cartoon illustrations entitled: 5 things to expect after tonsillectomy.  The five things were: sore throat, bad breath, fever to 102 for up to 3 days, ear pain, and white scabs at the surgical site.  We were told there is a wide range of recovery experiences, depending on the individual child.  I think it would be helpful to expand the patient handout to include the following:

Pain: Caregivers should plan on sleeping 1-3 hours per night for the first 10 days after surgery.  You will be holding your child upright who is writhing in agony for most of the night.  Your child will be unable to sleep due to coughing and choking on secretions, in addition to high fevers.  The liquid pain medicine provided by your surgeon contains the alcohol equivalent of Bacardi 151.  It will burn like Hell’s fury on the 3 open surgical wounds in your child’s throat.  Two adults will be required to successfully administer the medication to your child.  Expect your child to scream, gag, vomit, and have bleeding from the surgical site as a result of trying to swallow the medicine.  Any therapeutic benefit that can be realized after such administration will last up to 2 hours after which time the writhing in agony will resume.  Administer the medication every 4 hours around the clock.

Fever: In excess of 104 degrees for 5 days or longer.  Due to increased bleeding risk, medications like Motrin may not be used to reduce fever.  You child will refuse to drink due to intense pain at the surgical site.  Plan on coming back to the hospital 18 hours after discharge due to dehydration. 

So Sam went back to the hospital on Thanksgiving day.  It was actually a huge relief to us after a horrible night at home with him.  We were blessed to have family in town to spend time with our other children.  Jason and I enjoyed a delightfully peaceful meal brought from the family gathering to the hospital while our little boy was zonked out on IV morphine.

What does a 2 year old recovering from tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy want to eat?  Popsicles?  Applesauce?  No, just potato chips dipped in butter of course!

 

The whole gang came to cheer Sam on- this was the night before the final discharge.

 

Thankfully Sam has made a full recovery in every sense.  He seems to be breathing better at night and shows no sign of the obstruction he had before surgery.  We are so thankful the Lord has brought him through this difficult recovery safely and pray he will continue to grow be as healthy as possible.  Thank you to all our friends who prayed for us and little Sam through this time.