Under the Knife

Andrew had his surgery today. You may remember his sleep study showed severe sleep apnea. A diagnosis of laryngomalacia was given and today the surgery was to correct that.

Going in we knew that there would be at least one surgery for sure and a list of possible others. The possibles would be assessed after a scope of the airway was done. The doc was unclear as to whether the tonsils and adenoids needed to come out. That was one of the possible “others.”

We had to be up very early to make the trek down to the hospital. I really never understood why they tell you to be there so early. We had a 7:30 arrival for a 9:30 surgery, which was moved to 9:45, then 10, and I think we finally were back in the OR by 10:30.

Sam’s aunt came over and watched Ella for us while we were there. We were very grateful for her coming at the last minute. Some other family issues came up that forced us to change plans.

We had smooth sailing all the way to the hospital. Once we were checked in, the waiting began. There were plenty of people in the waiting room – kids and adults.

Andrew is not a patient kid. He likes to be walking or running or exploring. He is not going to sit still. So, Sam and I took him and walked around the halls a bit while we waited to get to the prep room.

Once in the prep room, he was gowned up and the Child Life folks brought in some toys. They kept him occupied for a short time, but he hated being confined to the room.

They told us that there were some wagons/cars in the hallway and eventually I walked him through the halls.

By this time he was exhausted from the early morning wake up and he fell asleep on Sam.

I was the one who went with him to the OR, so they could put him under. They brought me one of those white “bunny suit” gowns to wear in the OR. They did this for me when Ella had her ear tubes, too. This time, thanks to my 40+ pound weight loss, I could actually zip it up!!

Sam passed him to me so I could take him down. I had hoped that since he was sleeping, they could just put the mask on him and he’d stay asleep. He didn’t. He woke up and I held him while they put him under.

After the scope, the doc came out to say they were just going to do the one surgery because the tonsils and adenoids looked ok. After that surgery, he came back out and asked if he choked on his food or drink. Lately, he had been doing this, so we said yes. He found a small abnormality that he was able to fix while he was still under.

The doc came out afterward to say that all went good and it would be about 30-40 minutes before we could go back to see him. While we waited Sam got a text saying that he was doing well in the recovery room. We continued to wait.

Finally, they let us back. If you have never seen a child waking up from anesthesia, it is not pretty. When Ella woke from her “twilight” she was head butting, fighting and screaming like we have never seen her before. Andrew was similar, but he was mostly squirming and screaming. It was not easy to see him that way. Nothing seemed to calm him down.

They wasted no time getting us up to our room, which was already set for us. The nurses on the floor were a bit surprised that they didn’t keep us down there longer, but we all rolled with it. Andrew eventually fell asleep on Sam and that extra sleep helped him a lot.

Sam noticed that they must have had a difficult time getting an IV. He had two pokes in both hands, and the IV was in his foot. Not that it mattered much – he pulled the IV out when he woke up. We thought they were going to have to put a new one in, but the nurse said if we could get him to drink some fluids, we may not have to do that.

Well, the poor kid hadn’t had anything to eat or drink since 9pm the night before. So when he was handed a sippy cup, he drank from it. When handed a popsicle, he chowed it down. When he was offered Jello, he ate it like it was a gourmet meal! No need for another IV!!

He had three EKG leads on him to monitor his heart. He also had a pulse oximeter on his toe to watch oxygen levels. These basically had him tied to the room. He didn’t want to just sit. He didn’t want the equipment on him either. He promptly starting ripping those things off. We pressed the nurse call button and waited for 30 minutes. Finally we just took him to the hallways to walk.

He squirmed in our arms, so we let him walk on his own, which led to him running through the halls and into rooms. Sam and I got our steps in today. It had to be a sight watching us chase him around!!

We’re glad the surgery is over and now we wait to see if this helps with his sleep. Next step is his echocardiogram next week to see if the apnea has caused any damage to his heart. We pray that all is ok.