The story of the surgery

I know I've been MIA in blogland.  Last Tuesday Paddy had tubes put in his ears and his Adenoids cut out.  It was really the only choice at that point but it did not make for a smooth week.  So, here's the recap.  I worked on Monday.  To make up for the time I would take on Tuesday.  It was stinky and a little bit strange to be here all alone in such a giant building.  Tuesday we got up and headed off to the hospital.  Paddy looked insanely adorable in his little hospital johnny and was charming everyone in the processing area for surgery.  Jerry Garcia (or someone who looked just like him) came to talk to me about all the anesthesia and the surgeon was very comforting and then they took him away from me and I felt like I might die, and my heart might break into a million pieces and I might collapse from the terror of it all - all crazy simultaneous emotions - awful awful awful! 

I sat in the waiting area w/ my crochet hook, a simple pattern and some pink yarn named cupcake.  I counted to 3 over and over and over again.  A friend of mine who is also a surgeon checked on Paddy's progress and came to sit withe me for a few minutes.  Thank you Aimee!  And then I went back to counting to 3.  1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3...so mindnumbing.  And then I finished the simple pattern.  Crap, no scissors.  I turned to the tv in the background and watched the oil bubble from the ocean and looked at the clock every 45 seconds.

And finally it was over.  I went back to see Patrick who was in the middle of a raucous tantrum, I think due to the confusion of emerging from anesthesia.  He was flailing and screaming and all the while his eyes were clamped shut.  It was disturbing.  They tried to give him tylenol w/ codeine but he violently spit it everywhere and that was the last of the pain meds we could do for 4 hours since we didn't know how much he actually ingested.

They told me to take him home since he might be calmer there.

     And that he would take a long nap.

          And that when he woke up he'd be a whole new kid.

What actually happened was that he was starving but had no pain meds and couldn't or wouldn't eat or drink.  And progressively got more and more riotous.  He couldn't sleep, he couldn't swallow, he was soaked in unswallowed drool and snot from an overactive nose, traumatized by surgery, and in pain.  Finally I gave him more tylenol...and waited...and he continued to cry...  And nothing happened.

I called the Surgeon and she suggested he come back to the ER.  So, we did.  And they gave him motrin and he began to transform back into something that resembled a human child.  Then he got a steroid shot.  Understandably his throat was raw from crying for 7 straight hours after having been intubated.  After his steroid shot, multiple exams, an orange popsicle and a sippy full of water he was cleared to go home.

I was instructed to dose him w/ motrin alternating w/ tylenol every 3 hours around the clock for 2-3 days.  Apparently he either does not have the receptor for tylenol and so it may not work at all, or it simply isn't strong enough for him.

Tuesday night was as long as Tuesday day.  He woke up to eat.  I woke him to dose.  He woke up to eat.  I woke him to dose.  He woke to eat.  I woke him to dose.  And then he woke happy and ready to play.  He went to school.  I went to work.  broken, beat up, banged up and sore.  Yes, sore...  holding a flailing, hysterical 23lb baby for 10 hours will help you find muscles you didn't know you had.  Not sleeping will make it all feel worse.  And of course there was the stress involved. 

Wed was fine as long as he got his meds.  And Wed night was a teensy bit better.  He did not wake to eat...I only woke him to dose.

Thurs we saw even more improvement.  I continued to dose. 

Fri he didn't needs meds.  And this version of him started to emerge.  The old Paddy!  Back from before the ear infection days.  The version that we only saw on days 5-10 of the antibiotics.

Fri night he SLEPT.  Saturday we played and enjoyed the heck out of him.  And Sat night he slept again.  And yesterday we had our best day in months.

It was been an incredibly long week.  I can't believe it hasn't even been a full week since his surgery.  But I am already glad we did it. 

And that is the story of how Paddy gained ear tubes, lost adenoids and turned back into a happy kid!