Going Under The Knife

About 4 weeks ago, I took Magnus and Jonah to an ENT because I was tired of Jonah getting strep throat so much (7 cases last year) and tired of Magnus having so many ear infections (8 total in his 14 months of life). Their pediatrician recommended Jonah have his tonsils out and Magnus have tubes put in.

After seeing the ENT, I decided to go ahead and do it. He said that Jonah had large tonsils, and he decided to also remove his adenoids as well. He noticed Magnus had a lot of murky fluid in his ear, and told me that it's genetic to have bad drainage. Jonah had tubes put in at a year old, and he only had a handful of ear infections over the next 5 years. I had many many ear infections as a kid, and Andy is actually partially deaf in one of his ears because of so much scar tissue from so many ear infections. The ENT also asked if Magnus was starting to talk at all. I told him that no, he only said about 3 words and had been for several months. He thought that the fluid might be contributing to his lack of speech. He didn't think he could hear very well, and that when Magnus heard people talking, it's like hearing as if underwater.

So, Monday morning, dark and early, we woke the boys at about 4 AM (they had to be bathed before going to the hospital) and got all ready to go. We had the other 3 kids sleeping over at friend's houses, so we didn't have that to worry about. We left by 5 AM and arrived at the hospital where their surgeries would be performed by 6. We got all checked in and were led back to our conjoined (by a bathroom) rooms. I helped Jonah while Andy struggled with wiggly Magnus.

What is it about kids in a hospital gown? They look so dang cute.

We had a few minutes to kill before the nurse came in to do pre-assesments, so Andy dressed M up in these adult size slippers and cap. I know it's a little silly, but I was so happy that Andy had the day off and we could be doing this together. He works a lot of long hours, and I was just glad to be with him :)

Mag wasn't quite sure what to think about all of the triage stuff.

Killin' some time, watchin' a little TV...

M came to watch Jonah get his pre-assesments done.

After we spoke with the doctor and anesthesiologist, the nurses came to take M away. She tried to lay him on the bed to wheel him away, but he wouldn't sit still.

So one of them picked him up (and of course, exclaimed how big and heavy he was), while the other wheeled his bed away.

He was only gone 10-15 minutes when they brought him back to us, sleepy, confused, and CA-RAZY! His surgery had gone just fine, but this kid does not do well with anesthesia. He was so confused and whacky, and was screaming so loud for a good 45 minutes. He kept trying to slither out of our arms, and we just kept passing him back and forth. We would put him on the bed, and he would writhe around and almost fall on the floor until one of us would catch him. It was awful. Andy left for about 10 minutes, and then I did. It was hard to see him that way.

While Andy was dealing with Crazy Boy, I went and stayed with Jonah until they took him away. Here he is showing the nurse which of his teeth are loose.

And there goes Jo. They moved us into a bigger room so the boys could recover together (and probably so we could shut the door and they wouldn't have to hear M scream his head off)

I went and grabbed soemthing to eat, and came back to this:

Mag had finally calmed down enough to watch some cartoons, eat some crackers, and drink some juice.

After about 45 minutes, Jonah was back, and his surgery had gone as planned also. He was so sad and so confused. It broke my heart.

He could hardly talk, but he agreed to eat a popscicle. After that, he was so cold and couldn't stop shivering. He had about 5 blankets on, but his teeth just kept chattering away.

We turned his bed around so he could watch cartoons for a little bit, but he was just so sad! I felt so bad for the poor kid.

After awhile, the nurse came in to check on him and take his IV out.

By this point, we had a Happy Magnus again, and he kept trying to (dizzily) run around the room. Andy kept trying to help him and hold his hand, but M would shrug him off, and immedietly fall over. They don't put those "fall risk" bracelets on patients for nothin'...

It was finally time to go after the boys were deemed fit to leave, and I actually got a smile out of Jonah when I mentioned that he would get to go home and play video games to his heart's desire.

Off we go!

Since we've been home, Magnus has been perfectly fine. In fact, he has even said about 4 new words in the last few days alone, including "love you!" Ohhh, so sweet. He must be amazed at how well he can hear now! Jonah is finally over the hump and the worst is behind us. The first couple days were really rough and he was pretty miserable. He refused to talk because it hurt so much, and refused to eat anything. Instead he had a liquid diet.

I got him anything he asked for, including jell-o, gatorade, slurpies, milkshakes, popscicles, and ice cream. He ate dinner last night for the first time in 3 days, and this morning, he tells me he feels great. Phew! I sure am glad that is behind us.

Here's to fewer doctor visits and sickness in 2012!