Super trooper

Well it was finally time to say good bye to Maks' tonsils and adenoids. Goodbye to snoring and apnea and hello to better sleeping!

We prepared Maks using CHOP's kids galaxy website. It is an awesome little site filled with information and games. It really helps kids learn what to expect. He loved all the little games. Alek and Maks both had a great time with the card concentration game.

The day before surgery was my birthday. The boys had spent saturday night at Grammom and Poppy's. I picked them up Sunday morning and we headed to MeMe's for a visit. We headed back to our house and enjoyed a nice lazy day. I headed to the store to stock up on favorites for Maks post op.

We had a nice early dinner and some yummy cake! They had given me my birthday present on Saturday-a new camera! I love it, it is exactly what I wanted and the high shutter speed is perfect for baseball games and hockey.

I was sitting with Alek and thanked him for making my birthday special. He said thank you for making my life beautiful mommy. Maks followed up with his daily, Your my best mom.

That was definitely the best birthday present ever!

So we headed to bed, I said some extra prayers for a safe and smooth day for Maks.

We woke up the next morning and Maks and I dropped Alek at LL. Maks got extra hugs and good luck wishes from his teacher and we headed off to the surgery center. I was telling Maks of all the goodies I had for him after surgery, especially his favorite chocolate pudding. He was excited about that!

Daddy met us there just as we were getting situated in the room. He loved his new bright yellow slipper socks and was extra happy when he heard he would get to bring them home! After getting his measurements (ht 41 inches, wt 40 pounds), he got to pick out a movie. He picked Dinosaur, which was the same one Alek picked a few months back when he was in for adenoids. Personally I think it is intense for a Disney movie, but I figured he would be getting the giggle juice soon enough and hopefully wouldn't remember.

I really wish they would hook the parents up with a shot or two of the juice. It is pretty stressful letting go of your little one and heading into the waiting room. Mommy needed help with the separation. Maks was definitely loopy as they headed down the hall, we waived and he said, Bye! Are you going home mom? Everyone laughed and we said no we would be right there waiting for him.

We took our spots in the waiting area and had some food and coffee. The nurse came out to go over with us what to expect and also discuss post op care.

Pretty soon, the anesthesiologist came out to let us know Maks was in recovery and he did well. Such a relief to hear those words! The surgeon came out to tell us Maks did great. He said his tonsils and adenoids were huge and he also found 2 small polyps on his vocal cords which goes along with the hoarseness. He said they usually dont touch them surgically in children, but that speech therapy will need to work on his volume issues and better care of his vocal cords. Yea, that should be interesting! Maks definitely has volume issues, so it will be interesting to see who can get him to turn it down quickly!

We headed back to see him. He was waking up but very upset and restless. He had some blood in his nose and drool and mucous from his mouth. Around his eyes were red from the tape. He looked bad. He couldn't get comfortable, he was crying, trying to talk. He kept wanting to hug me. I thought back to when he was in for his circumcision, not long after coming home, at that time he wanted no parts of mommy holding him, he cried even more and only settled when daddy held him. Now all he wanted was me. While it broke my heart that he was so upset it did feel good to see how far we have come.
Maks tends to get focused on one thing, hyperfocused and will stay stuck on it until he feels it has been resolved. Well, he remembered me saying I had chocolate pudding for him. He wanted it and he wanted it NOW. He could not understand that there was no pudding there, I promised him and he was pissed. He kept asking for it and we had to slowly coax him into taking some water ice and a popcicle. He kept asking for that pudding though, any chance he could.

He finally did well enough to be discharged. Maks and I headed home and Daddy headed to the pharmacy to get his medications and some goodies. On the drive home, Maks asked for the pudding about 10 times. The nurse had told us that he probably wouldnt want to eat that day, but just to make sure he drank or took in fluids like water ice, etc..

We were no sooner in the door, he headed for the fridge and took out the pudding. He finally had his pudding. He was happy. He went on to eat 2 more cups of pudding, 3 jellos, 1 popcicle, 2 applesauces, 2 cookies, 2 yogurts, along with applejuice, water and some pink lemonade. And they said he wouldnt eat..Ha, they dont know our boy!

Maks continued to do well the remainder of the day. He ordered me around and I remained at his beck and call! I ran to pick Alek up and as soon as he saw me, he said, Mom is Maky ok? He said, he can play my DS if he wants, I know that will make him feel better. SO sweet!! Maks slept fairly well, better then I thought he would. He slept in our bed and Alek not wanting to be left out, camped out on our floor.

Day two has been a different story. Maks woke up crabby and definitely was alot more punky today. He was drinking but really didn't want to eat. He didn't want to do anything except lay on the couch and snug. Around lunch, he said he wanted some soup and chips. He had two bites and then I heard words I never thought I would hear from my son, "Mom, this is too much food for me". I almost fell over. But that was the extent of the day, a few bites here and there and just drinking some juice.

He musted up some energy to do Playdoh with Alek, but that didn't last too long. Hopefully he sleeps well tonight. We are keeping him medicated and trying to stay up on his pain. He is complaining occasionally of this throat hurting him, but otherwise he is a true Super Trooper. He is our little tough man and I am very proud of him for how brave he has been!