Tonsils Out... Adnoids too

On an early Monday morning, Benn and I took Mason to the hospital to have his tonsils and adnoids out. What we thought would be a simple, quick procedure, with a week recovery turned out to be everything we didn't plan for.

We were told Mason's procedure would take about 15 min. and he would be in recovery for about an hour. He would be pretty miserable for a couple days but by the weekend he would be feeling better.

We arrived at the hospital at 8:30am, the time we were told to be there. We waited for about an hour before we were taken back to the out-patient surgery area. We changed Mase into his cute little hospital gown and waited. We waited another hour before the ENT and anethesiologist came to chat with us. Then Mason was off for his surgery. The worst part, though, was when it was time for Mason to be carted off. We didn't even get to be with him while the anethesiologist knocked him out. I felt like I was abandoning my little guy. While the nurse was letting him push the button to open the big doors into the surgery area, we made our exit quietly hoping that he wouldn't put up a fight.

Back into the waiting room, we waiting and waited. The 15 minute surgery took longer than planned. Once we were finally able to go back to one of the recovery rooms, my little man looked so sad. He was sleeping and had an IV in him. He had been given some pain meds and we were to wait there to make sure he didn't vomit from the anethesia. He looked cold and uncomfortable. My heart ached for him. That was the first time I thought, "Was this really worth it?"

Mason has had recurring sore throats for over a year now. He would get an infection about every 6 weeks on average. So the ENT said they needed to come out. His tonsils had some deep pockets where bacteria couldn't be whiped out by antibiotics, thus sore throats every so often.


We were at the hospital for a whopping 5.5 hours. Mason was in so much pain. He was on antibiotics and tylenol with codine round the clock. He didn't want to take his meds cause it hurt. He didn't want to drink or eat cause it hurt. We were told that kids get dehydrated in situations like this because they refuse to drink. We were threatening his life so he would sip water and eat applesauce.

The first night went well as did all the nights as long as we kept him medicated.

Tuesday morning came and so did the vomit. Mason threw-up five times that morning. I called the ENT. He told me he was dehydrated and needed to go to the emergency room ASAP. So off we went back to the hospital. While we were there, the ER doc said that he seemed a bit dehydrated but since he urinated while we were there, it seemed that the vomitting was due to a flu bug. NICE! We were sent home with some zofran to stop the vomitting and told to keep him drinking (which we had been doing all along).

Each day seemed to be a small degree better than the day before. By the end of the week though, I was worried about the congestion in the back of his throat that seemed to be lingering there. He would suppress coughing and then gag and spit up some super yummy stuff. It just didn't seem right that he would have all this crud in his lungs due to his tonsils and adnoids being taken out.

I finally took him to the pediatrician Sunday morning. BRONCITIS!!! Luckily, I had already started the albuteral with the nebulizer the day before in an effort to break up the mucas. His antibiotic was changed and days later there was much improvement. I just couldn't believe the odds! A flu bug and broncitis while recovering from surgery. I was so glad that Benn was around to help or else I would have gone crazy trying to care for him and the other kids too.

By the time Mason was eating and feeling better he lost some weight, four lbs. to be exact. But when he only weighs 41 lbs. to begin with, that is a lot to lose. He looked so skinny. His underwear didn't fit him and his shorts were falling off him. He looked like one of those malnourished kids you see in National Geographic. His appetite is now back and he wants to eat all the time. I am happy to feed him whatever he wants. Although, he now thinks that Wendy's frosty's are something we need everyday.