Tonsils

Little J had a little surgery last week. He had his tonsils and adenoids removed. It's always sobering to have a family member "under the knife" and I have to admit that throughout the holidays, the thought of this possibly being our last Christmas with him did pass my mind. I know, horrible morbid thoughts, but also honest and mothering. At any rate, we woke up early - before the sun was up, to Little J's amusement - to head to the hospital.
He was "not happy Bob" about having to wear a "princess gown" as he called it.

The nurse scrounged up some lego stickers to help cover the peach color of the "princess gown."
We spent a lot of time waiting. And sweet friends had given Little J a small lego set to keep us entertained during the wait. He also enjoyed an airplane book from Grandma, and taking pictures with his camera that Santa had brought.
The remote control was another fun feature.

Little J was very calm and hugged and kissed us goodbye quite easily as they took him off to the operating room. I was less calm while waiting, and after I finished my book I was reading, Mr. Man talked to me constantly about who knows what just to keep my mind busy and full so I couldn't worry.

The surgeon soon came and told us that everything had gone smoothly and as expected, and we waited to be told we could go see Little J in the recovery room as soon as he was starting to wake up.

Well, the boy would NOT wake up.

Remember he was tired from waking up before the sun, plus it was after the holidays and New Years (the little guy ALMOST made it to midnight)... add a little (or a lot) of anesthesia and you've got a a VERY sleepy boy. The nurse called us after about an hour to inform us that he was "still" sleeping ... I listened carefully to hear if there was any crying or whimpering in the background... but still it felt like FOREVER before we could go see our little guy.

And then he was STILL sleepy. They wouldn't let us leave until he could both eat and drink... and the poor guy was so upset over his IV that I used that incentive to encourage him to take small sips and spoonfuls. We FINALLY got to the point where we could leave; his vitals were good, and we had a chatty nurse who FINALLY focused on our wants... and OFF we went... 7 hours after checking in!

Here he is post-surgery:

He's pretty dramatic and has a very low tolerance for pain, so it' s been a rough week for him. Yesterday morning he woke up without screaming, and merely asked for "the disgusting medicine that takes my pain away." Of course, he's also used his tears to enjoy getting whatever he wants. The other kids are getting sick and tired of me serving soups for dinner each night, and tomorrow he's back to preschool so we're hopeful that our "recovery" is over and that this solves a lot of his silly little medical issues.