Lucas and The Great Tonsil Escape

First off: Hershey's Syrup, I love you. More about that later, but here is the story of our great tonsil adventure.
Tuesday morning I was getting ready to leave, putting on my pink J Crew comfy pants and jacket. Lucas came in and said, "Wow, Mom, you look great!" He has a great sense of style, you know. I nervously packed my baby into the car and we got to the hospital at 8:15. At about 8:45 they called us back to the Pre Op room to get dressed and answer all the questions about fasting, allergies, and medical conditions for 4 different people. Lucas had a lot of fun playing with his teddy bear, Teddy, whom we brought, but he was definitely starting to lose it because he was hungry and bored. I tried to occupy him with my excellent dancing skills for a while, which was fun. I think they took him away at about 9:30. He didn't want to sit on the gurney, so he walked and the nurse let him push the button to open the fancy doors. They said he was talking a lot, cracking them up and that he was the sweetest thing ever. He did great "blowing up the balloon" at the end of the mask, which eventually put him to sleep. After he was asleep they put in the IV and did the surgery. I went immediately to our recovery room where we stayed the night.

The doctor was reporting to me by 10:00. She said Lucas did great and that his tonsils were huge and his adenoids were enlarged, but not as big. They came out too, though.

He was in with me by 10:45 or 10:30. And he was happy and sweet. He ate popcicles like it was his job - 7 in an hour or so. Ben and Evan came while we were playing in the toy room. Lucas had blue/green/orange stained lips/shirt and was quite the pitiful site for Ben to see when he walked in, especially since he had to pull his IV stand with him everywhere he went. We played a couple games. Lucas was a little out of it, but managed.

He ate a decent dinner and then when I thought he was ready for bed, chowed down on 3 more popsicles, a jello and half of a pudding. He fell asleep finally around 10:00, woke up in pain in the night right before his pain meds. He wouldn't take his meds, started crying, coughing, had some pink saliva, but luckily not bad bleeding. Finally the nurses wrapped him in a blanket, hugging his bear, and had to force the medicine down. The next time he woke up and started coughing and wheezing. He was having trouble breathing, which was a little freaky and had the nurses in a slight tizzy, but eventually he calmed down and took his meds. We also got up two times during the night to go potty, which was really fun - especially with the IV stand (which we finally figured out was just easier to ride than pull). I'm guessing I got a couple hours of sleep. Lucas got more, but was being woken up a lot. He was up at 5:30 ready to watch Veggie Tales. We were set free by 6:30 and left at about 7:00.

I was really worried about surviving Wednesday on hardly any sleep, but we did. Lucas resisted his medicine, but I managed to get it down him twice. Once plain, once mixed with chocolate syrup and a bit of ice cream. That night Ben went to basketball and I went to sleep in Lucas's room on the floor at 9:30. It was rad. I woke up at 10:30 for medicine time, which I gave to him mixed with chocolate syrup and a little water... with a spoon. It took forever once I finally convinced him.The second time at 2:30 he was so tired and out of it. We didn't get it in his mouth until 3:10 and we had to hold him down.

From the top: Lucas in Pre Op, our dance party, riding the IV stand, 2:45 am, family dinner, nappy nap.

Yesterday, Thursday, went better. He took his chocolaty meds in the morning by himself after several minutes of coaxing. He watched movies and played games with me most of the day. His lunch time dose of medicine was a tough one, finally I got the delicious batch of chocolate hydrocodone ice cream down his throat. Afterward I was exhausted and we both took a much needed nap later. The medicine battle really takes it out of me and makes me want to cry. The exhaustion I have felt the past few days has been almost as bad as having a brand new baby.

BUT, finally, FINALLY, last night Lucas turned a corner. He took his chocolaty medicine all by himself in the bath tub. We celebrated, hooted, hollered and danced for several minutes making him feel like the champ of chocolate. He managed to take his meds both times in the night w/o much resistance. It was great. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders!

Lucas seems to be doing great today. He's not eating a ton, but he's pretty happy. Tomorrow is day 5. Days 5-7 are supposed to be the most painful because the scabs start coming off and earaches are also expected. This is also when bleeding is most risky, so we have to watch for that. Hopefully we'll be ok and manage a little weekend fun.

Evan has been surviving all the chaos like a champ. He plays in the toy room while I cuddle Lucas and doesn't complain. He's sleeping better at night, thanks to Ben's intervention, and he's still cute as ever. Evan can crawl like a big man, but still scoots if he's in a big hurry. He has also started to cruise around a little, which means I could have a running maniac before too long. Evan also loves to clap.



I love my boys.