Surgery Day and Post Surgery Coping

A little background first...The boys have absolutely HUGE tonsils/adenoids! Our dentist alerted us to this and we made an appointment with an ENT doctor. She was shocked! So, we scheduled surgery for one week after school ended because we didn't want them missing any school. They were also having their tongue cut because they cannot stick it out far and it should help with speech. Josh was also getting an ear infection very frequently. He actually got one a couple weeks before surgery!

The boys were nervous, but they did great. The doctor was taking Josh back for surgery first, and then she would do Jack's surgery. The nurses gave Josh a drink that was to make him a little loopy, but the child refused the medicine (a taste of what was to come)! When they took Josh away, poor little Jacky started crying. I think the nerves were getting to him.

Chris went back to the recovery room to wait for Josh and I sat with Jack. It was his turn for the loopy medicine and he took it all. I have the FUNNIEST video of him afterwards. That medicine is hilarious! He acted the same way when he was little and had his corrective circumcision surgery. Here is his pic. You can tell he is totally out of it.

Here's how different the boys are. Josh came out of surgery and did great! He woke up fine, but a little groggy. I went back to him and he was good. Jack, on the other hand, woke up and freaked out! Chris was with Josh in recovery and I was with Jack. He was crying, screaming, trying to get his IV out. Chris could hear him in the other room! It was insane! They put him in my lap and finally he calmed down. Then we all went to the recovery room.

The nurse was super nice and gave them popsicles, water, etc. After some time, we were allowed to go home. And that is where the fun started. These boys took a full 2 weeks to recover.

The boys refused any type of pain medicine. We bribed them, tried force. Nothing worked! They are old enough to understand that if you do not take the medicine, you will be in pain. We did mix it in with Gatorade once, and poor Jack had a reaction to the meds. His eyes swelled up. From then on out, it was Motrin, which he rarely took.

Add into the mix a girl with 2 broken arms who needed to be fed and taken to the bathroom! I was running an infirmary!

The most important thing was to keep the boys hydrated. We tried as hard as we could. Sometimes, they would drink half a bottle of water, other times they didn't. We did Gatorade as they never drink that and it was a treat. They barely ate and you could tell they lost some weight. Mornings and nights were the hardest. Jack would often wake up in the middle of the night crying. I would have to rub his back and get him back to sleep. I don't think he even knew he was doing that.

Abby also had Girl Scout camp and the boys were troopers for going with me to drive her to and from. Chris was working so it was just me. It was a rough 2 weeks, but I am glad we did it.

Here's hoping that we have no ear infections and sore throats!!!