On the road to recovery

With the operation over, the night in hospital done and the road to recovery underway, I am feeling much better about the whole situation. Thanks so much for all the well wishes, they were greatly appreciated.

Everything went very well. We arrived at hospital at 7am on the Friday morning, got shown to our bed on the ward and by 8am we had seen the specialist and the anaesthetist. We were told we were first in line for surgery as he was the youngest of the day.

B was very teary and difficult when we first arrived. Crying over the tiniest of things. I’m sure children have a sixth sense about these things and he was not happy that we were in hospital. His angst was only increased when the nurse popped the old magic numbing cream on his hands to be covered with a clear sticker. He HATES stickers (a whole other post in itself!) and so that really upset him. However, once the initial checks were over and he was allowed to play with the toys, he calmed down.

Something which I thought was wonderful, was the welcome surprise of a ‘Play Specialist’. In this case, a lovely man named Alan whose job it is to manage and maintain the toy room but to also accompany the children to theatre. Alan arrived with an array of books and toys for B to keep on his bed. When it was time for us to be taken to surgery, B tentatively let me pop on his gown and we were ready to go. Alan arrived again, this time with a tablet full of games. B thoroughly enjoyed ‘the ride’ on the bed through the hospital and paid no attention whosoever to the surgeons who then wheeled his bed into theatre, Alan still in tow.

On the way to surgery. Poor little thing didn’t know what was coming

I won’t lie, putting him to sleep wasn’t pleasant. He didn’t want the mask over his face and when he smelt the gas shouted ‘Oh, Yuk’ before beginning to struggle. Between myself and three doctors we held him down as he drifted off. I then got the ‘OK, thank you Mummy’ from the doctor, to signal it was my time to leave.

Arghh, walking out of the room (with Alan) was certainly up there with one of my toughest parenting moments to date. You receive your little pager which will buzz when you can return and off you go. Bloody awful!

Waiting…

In all, we waited 40 minutes until it buzzed. I have never moved so fast!

You aren’t allowed to be there when they come round from the general anaesthetic. Something I found hard to get my head around. The thought of my little man waking up in pain, disorientated and surrounded by strangers didn’t thrill me but they call you quick and I jogged into the room to find B crying but in the arms of a lovely nurse. It takes time for the anaesthetic to wear off so B was teary, upset and subdued for some time, probably around half an hour. I cuddled him on the bed and I don’t think I let go of him for about an hour. Poor Daddy didn’t get a look in for ages (Sorry Daddy!).

A subdued little man after the surgery in recovery

Recovery from that moment on has been up and down but mainly up. He devoured the lunch on the ward as the general anaesthetic hadn’t warn off yet.

Devouring hospital food. He must have been hungry!

Watching the Lion King in an anaesthetic induced daze

The first night was tough, the painkillers wore off and he woke up screaming twice. He refused to drink or eat as it hurt and seeing him trying not to swallow was really hard. However, if the painkillers are maintained, then he is fine. The mornings are the worst when he wakes from a prolonged period of sleep and his mouth and throat are dry.

We left the childrens ward at 7am the next morning when Daddy was there to bust us out! So now we have 10-14 days of recovery. No nursery and the doctors revealed that it often gets worse before it gets better so we are taking it a day at a time.

Lets go home little man

Already though we can see the benefit as his breathing when asleep is much much better. Fingers crossed this continues to improve. It transpired he had Grade 3 tonsils, the largest are Grade 4 and very enlarged adenoids also. We’re happy to say that we made the right decision and all went well.

xxxx

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