Thursday, February 24, 2011

David Goes To The Hospital

Morning, all.


So, yesterday, I did something that every parent dreads: I took my darling 8 year old to the hospital for surgery. He had his adenoids removed, and while it was a minor surgery, he's my baby, and no one likes to see their kid suffer. As I see it though, he's been suffering from sleep apnea for a long time, and one day of discomfort seems like a small price to pay for a lifetime of healthy sleep.


To get prepared, last month we visited the hospital to find out what we could expect.  They showed David some pictures, and talked all about what he could expect. It really helped for him, because when the day arrived, he wasn't nervous at all.

Yesterday was the big day.  We arrived at the hospital half an hour earlier (oops!) and checked in.  Then we headed up to the day surgery ward, checked in there, and went to the day surgery waiting room. 

We'd been waiting a little while when we were told that the doctor was running behind, but that was ok, as Mom is a self contained entertainment unit. My bag was filled with so many toys that it's ridiculous.  Froot Loops the sock monkey came with us, so we amused ourselves by taking pictures of him in various places.

After the first waiting room, we were taken to the surgical waiting room, where the boy amused himself by playing old school video games, and I took more pictures of Froot Loops.  While there, we spoke to the surgeon, and the anaesthetist. 

We waited in that room for about 45 minutes, at which point a nurse came for David, and he happily marched away, and I headed to the post-op waiting room. He looked so strong and tough, like it was no big deal, and, I am proud to say, I DIDN'T CRY!! I'm still impressed about that.

David woke up from surgery really easily, and it was only about 20 or 30 minutes until they moved him from recovery to the ward. On the ward, he did get sick and throw up, but they gave him some Gravol, and he had a nice sleep. While he was out, sock monkey snuck into his bed!

We came home shortly thereafter, and D camped out in bed all night, watching television, and eating me out of house and home. Hungry boy!  He's feeling good this morning too, not having very much pain. I suspect he'll be back to his old self in no time! 

All in all, it was a bit of a rough day,  but we made it through. We can handle anything now!

Cheers!
Tara






9 comments:

  1. I'm glad it is over for both of you. Although this is a common procedure, it's not fun to hang out in the hospital. Ice cream is a great medicine as well as all these little candies from 7-Eleven....do they still have those?

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  2. I'm glad things turned out ok! My five-year-old went through it this year. For a couple of days she was throwing up from the anaesthesia, but there was no bleeding or pain. She sleeps much better now, it was great to see almost right away she was breathing through her nose instead of her mouth at night.

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  3. It's awesome. Already his snoring is much reduced. The past few nights, he's been restless though, and had a low grade fever because he just can't sit still. Other than that, he's healed well.

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