For the Birds

Tate is post-five days from tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy surgery (plus cleaning out of old tubes in his ears).  This recovery can bite a big one.  It is HORRIBLE and we are only half-way through, according to the doctor and friends who have gone through this with young kids.  Here is Tate's journey... I don't want to re-live mine (I was 13).

We had to arrive at the hospital at 5:30 am, which meant leaving home at 4:45 am.  Thank goodness for friends who let Cole spend the night on the eve before his first day back at school after Christmas break.  We had to wait...

and wait...

and wait for the 7:20 am surgery time to finally arrive.

The procedure lasted 30 minutes. Coming out of anesthesia took a good solid hour of uncontrollable crying.  Poor baby.  Our ENT confirmed that his tonsils were beyond enlarged and took up almost all of his throat.  They had taken over so much room he didn't really have much adenoid tissue to even remove.  

Although he probably wondered what the heck just happened to him, he did great the first day.  Then came the rest.  I could sugar-coat this, but I won't.  It has been ROUGH.  A mom of one of Cole's classmates put it best when she said that most people downplay tonsillectomies.  HALLELUJAH!  She's had 3 kids go through it - I'm hoping this is our one and only.

We have had VERY small windows of time where he has felt good enough to play a little.  Most of the time, he is running low-grade fever (typical for this surgery), hurts too much to eat popsicles or ice cream, and cries in pain.  Funny enough, he's also refused to eat pudding, avocados (a usual favorite of his), and applesauce.  He will eat small pieces of cheese, yogurt, yogurt smoothies, eggs, and drink Capri Sun and milk.  He gags on his medicine, which is only OTC Tylenol and Advil, and an antibiotic to prevent infection. 

He has been up at night - last night being the worst so far.  I've heard from most moms having gone through this that it really takes a full 10 days. Awesome. :(

Cole looks sicker than Tate in this pic but Cole has been his typical active and sweet self - sitting with Tate when he is down and playing with him when Tate feels better. 

Honestly, this has been really tiring and rough on all of us.  I am grateful the procedure was successful and I am really looking forward to next weekend when things should actually improve.  Until then... 

On a positive note, Cole is loving the new in-ground basketball goal Santa brought and we [finally] had installed. 

We should nickname him "Shoe-less King Cole" because the child refuses to wear new high tops we bought him just for basketball or new running shoes.

His first game is next weekend, which I'm sure will be a sight to see as none of these kids have had instruction before, but he loves it and we are excited with him!