A Visit from the Tonsil Fairy

So, for those of you who didn't happen to check the blog within the past 24 hours, you'll want to scroll down and read my previous post first. Of course, I know most of my readers feverishly check this thing every half hour around the clock, despite no activity in the past month . . .

Anyway, right before Christmastime, Connor caught a cold. No big deal, right? Except a few days later, his ears plugged up and he couldn't hear me very well. I figured it would pass in a few days, but it didn't. So, the day before New Year's Eve, I took him downtown to his pediatrician to see if he had an ear infection or something. The doctor pretty much asked Connor a few questions, then said, "He can hear me just fine! He's okay." And sent us home with a bill. I wasn't very happy about such a cursory examination, but I figured I had just been imagining things - either that, or it was something mild that would go away on its own soon anyway.

Well, two months later, he still wasn't hearing things well. His teachers at Joy School noticed it, too, so it wasn't just me being paranoid. Besides general ignoring of our non-shouted requests, I'd try to tell him stories at bedtime without waking up his sister, and he'd yell, "What? I can't hear you!" He couldn't hear whispers at church, either, which was awkward. So, I decided to try a different pediatrician, one closer to our new house. This doctor was great. He dug all the wax out of Connor's ears, looked at the eardrums, and informed me that they were both completely full of fluid. We spent almost an hour talking about Connor's ears, as well as concerns I've had about his tonsils. Connor snores like crazy at night, and he mouth breathes all day, which leads to a lot of slobbering. The doctor was worried that Connor wasn't sleeping deeply enough because of such an obstructed airway, and that was why he sometimes seemed so tired, even after a full night of sleep. They did a quick hearing test, and told us to come back in a month (Connor's regular checkup date, anyway) to see if anything had improved. In March things hadn't improved with the ears, so we were referred to an ear nose and throat doctor. To make an already long story short, we saw two - one in Provo and one in Glendale - and they both said to get rid of his tonsils and stick tubes in his ears for drainage.

So, that brings us to Thursday morning. Ryan took the day off, and we went down to Children's Hospital in Hollywood around 10am, and eventually found where we were supposed to be.This hospital is amazing. They have huge play areas, and volunteer readers on the main floor who read books to the kids and give them free ones to take with them. The smaller waiting room in the outpatient surgery area had a separate "playroom" next door filled with tons of high-quality toys, videogames, and videos. At first, there were quite a few other small children in there, but, since the surgery scheduler puts youngest kids first, Connor was one of the last to have his "turn". There was a really sweet lady whose job was to talk to each child about their surgery and what they'd see before and after. She brought a kit full of sample equipment to show Connor, with stuff like an IV, anaesthetic masks, doctor's hats and masks, and blood pressure cuffs. All he had to do to be put under was breathe anaesthetic gas, so there were no shots or pokes until he was asleep. They even had him drink a sedative about a half-hour before he went in to help the separation from parents be less stressful, but I don't think it affected him much. He was climbing all over the pre-op bed and jumping around like a nut until they wheeled him away to the OR (he's only pretending to sleep in this picture).

He thought it was pretty cool that his bed had wheels, and let them roll him away very cheerfully. Then we were taken into the parents' OR waiting room, and instructed that one parent had to remain there at all times. We had about an hour, so Ryan (who had eaten earlier with Elise) brought me up a salad from the cafeteria, and we spent the time eating, watching TV and chatting with one of the other families who was there for tonsils and ear tubes.

I had assumed all the kids were there for the same doctor and surgery, but I was wrong. Towards the end of our wait, I (through eavesdropping, of course) learned that two of the little ones we had seen earlier were there for something called retinal blastoma. It's a cancer that can develop in the eye, and affects kids from birth to about age three. I guess Children's Hospital is a world leader in treating it. So, so sad. Those families have been in my prayers since Thursday.

When the nurse took us into the recovery room, Connor was half-awake and wrestling with a recovery nurse, trying to rip his IV out and crawl out of bed. He was crying and coughing alot. It was pitiful to look at. I went over and held him in my lap with a blanket and did my best to comfort him. The nurses told me they all pretty much act like that when first coming out of the anaesthetic, and that he'd fall asleep again soon, which he eventually did. The doctor came to talk to me, and said that his adenoids were in even worse shape than his tonsils, so they were removed, too (which we expected.) We were in recovery about 2 hours, then were allowed to get him dressed and take him home. Elise was so, so good the whole day - except when we put Connor in HER stroller, at which point she started wailing louder than any patient in the room. The nurses rushed over to check on us, and thought it was kind of funny. Funny and loud.

Since then, Connor hasn't really wanted to take his medicine or drink or eat anything, and I guess I can't blame him. We still have to make him do it, though, and he doesn't appreciate that. But, he can hear us! And he's been keeping his lips closed to keep his un-swallowed spit from running down his chin, breathing through his nose in the process. So, all in all, a success!

A couple days before Connor's surgery, I finally made the family growth chart I've been meaning to do since October. The plan is to take pictures of the kids each time I measure them, and glue them around the border as they grow. I think my kids are pretty dang cute.