Being Brave Is Best

On Friday Carter had the joy of getting his tonsils out.  We didn't know how much to prepare him or what he really could understand but we have spent the last few weeks getting him prepared.  We have been reading an old Care Bear book of mine called "Being Brave is Best".  It is a story about a little girl who gets her tonsils out and how she is brave and everything turns out great.  He has enjoyed this book and we read it one last time on Thursday before he went to the hospital. We tried to focus on the positives like the fact that he could eat all the popsicles and ice cream that he wanted.  This also seemed to be the thing that stuck the most with him. He talked about how excited he was to eat those things.  I did worry that he would be angry at us afterwards when he didn't feel good enough to enjoy it.  The day started off great.  Chad, Carter and I headed to the hospital at 6:45am.  We checked in and Carter got stickers and a note pad.  He also got some comments from the admissions lady that he was a really good boy and that most of the kids don't let her put the bracelet on.  The he got wheeled in a big wheelchair to short stay.  The nurses we had we really great and great with Carter.  They checked him over and he got into the gown.  Then we waited about 1 1/2 hours until surgery.  Carter got a preop cocktail of several drugs to dry him up and make him relaxed and sleepy.  The medication did none of this for Carter.  He was the 1in 5 kids that it made him a little bit more hyper.  He watched cartoons and played in his bed until it was time to go to surgery.

waiting in short stay before the surgery

Then when it was time for him to be wheeled away, my brave boy gave us a smile and waved and away he went.  I couldn't believe how brave he was!  When they brought him up to pediatrics to his room the nurses were telling us that he did great in recovery and was a really sweet boy.  We however saw a loopy, scared little boy right after surgery.  He was very teary and scared when we first saw him and it was hard to assess what was wrong.  But once he was calmed down a little bit, and realized we were there and were staying he started to turn around a little bit.  He did seem a little angry with us that we didn't prepare him enough that he was going to fell really yucky after surgery.  Here he is right after he got to his room.

in his rooms in pediatrics right after surgery

a sad and unhappy boy

It took about an hour before things started to turn around.  He was able to take some pain medicine after drinking some juice.  Then he really got into watching movies and eating popsicle slushies and ice cream.  

enjoying his first popsicle slushie made by mom

eating a snack and watching a movie with his new spiderman toy they gave him

He really started enjoying the back to back movies and loved that when he asked for more ice cream he got it.  I was hoping that it would work to get him to keep drinking.  The poor kid would not take a nap but did end up eating mac and cheese for dinner with more ice cream.  We then packed up our stuff to leave since he was doing so well.

enjoying the end of his movie before we headed home

Carter fell sleep on the ride home and was very tired and irritable when we arrived.  I tried to lay him down right away but he was overwhelmed with things going on at home and didn't understand why he had to sleep on the lower bunk.  (we put him there so it would be easier for me to give him medicine at night) Anyway I thought he has gone to sleep but instead came out of his room crying and upset.  We kept him up until 8, gave him his medicine and sent him to bed.  He slept good until about 11:30 when we woke up screaming and telling us he was going to throw up.  This is when things went a touch sour.  He threw up a few times in the night and spiked a 102.5 fever which didn't help matters.  He and I went down stairs to "sleep" the rest of the night so I could keep an eye on him.  He was very restless and upset a lot of the night but even when he would fall asleep I could not because he was snoring like a gutted wild boar.  Needless to say it was a bad night for us.  But the good news is after throwing up one more time this morning, he has been pretty good.  Not much of an appetite but he is drinking and taking his "yucky" medicine like a champ.  We are so proud of Carter for taking this all in stride and making us proud to be his parents.  We can only hope that his recovery is on the up and up.  He will have to take it easy for 7-10 days so that his throat doesn't re-bleed.  Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers for him!