"But mom, what are my adenoids?"

 

I kind of love this little man. He fills a place in my heart to bursting. And because of that it has been oh so hard to watch him have to deal with getting his tonsils and adenoids out this week. But he was and is a trooper. I loved to watch him process what he was going to have to do and to see his little mind try to understand it all. Like when he came to Reed, and asked him, "Will you pinch my arm and show me how much the shot will hurt?", trying to process the idea of getting an IV. I hated and still hate that the day of his surgery I was at home with his baby sister instead of taking care of him. But come to find out his RN mommy isn't the only one good at taking care of him: Daddy was an awesome advocate and support. The night before his surgery I slept with him (thanks again to a hero daddy who came to get me every time Myra woke up - don't ask why I couldn't just use a monitor - we have two of them), and had a priceless opportunity to cuddle with my seven year old all night. He was super silly about the surgery. When I was explaining to him what his adenoids were since we had mostly just talked about the tonsils he had us both giggling about him having balls behind his nose. In the morning when Reed asked him if he had any questions, he said, "No, mommy told me everything that was going to happen."  I love the confidence and trust he has in me as his mom.

The surgery went well and coco came home a little groggy, but didn't even take a nap. His doctor said his adenoids were huge. Those balls behind his nose turn out to be melons. I always get super nauseated from anesthesia, but he never had a problem with that. He spent most of the day pretty chill watching movies or playing the wii our neighbors let him borrow for his recovery.  He ate popsicles, yogurt, and his favorite was ice cream even though I thought he wouldn't like it. I was surprised at how well he was doing. And then the night came and it was it rough at first. He couldn't sleep and he didn't want to take his meds. I rubbed his back and again cuddled with him for most of the night. His sister woke me up at the perfect time to give him his next dose of pain meds. The night was a little crazy, but we survived. And now at post op day 4 we are just starting to be on the mend, and by that I mean things got worse before they got better.  He has spent the last few days avoiding his meds and any kind of food. And when the Lortab doesn't cut the pain he most definitely will not swallow anything, including his own spit. Even with Lortab on board you see periodically making a dash for the sink to drain the spit from his mouth - that kindof breaks my heart every time. He hasn't talked much for the last few days either which can be difficult when he needs something, but who would have known it, I am pretty good at reading his lips.  He often comes to tell me he is hungry, only to sit down to eat and decide it is not worth it.  Most of the time we have to bribe him to drink fluids. And probably the worst moment was when he came downstairs bawling this morning to tell me, "Lilly made me laugh." While anything that has to do with his throat is hard, most of the time the rest of him feels ok (unless we aren't pushing the fluids and he get dehydrated) and sometimes we have to remind him to take it easy (like when we had to hunt him down riding his scooter around the neighborhood). Gratefully we are past the worst and he is on the mend. I have loved babying and spoiling my little boy, who isn't very little anymore. We are grateful the surgery went well and hopeful that he will have less sick days and better sleep in the years to come because of it.