Recovery Day Seven

Everything I've read and everyone I've talked to say that the recovery is a good 7 - 14 days.  And while I knew I was on Day 7, I was just hoping to see some improvement by that time.  Instead I felt like we were going backwards.  After the 5:45 a.m. episode (listed on Day 6 recovery), he slept fitfully for two hours.  Moaning in his sleep, twitching regularly until he finally woke up around 8:00 a.m.  Again crying in pain. It seemed like his jaw hurt because he'd barely open his mouth.  Got some ibuprofen in him and attempted some food since I'd loaded up his system all night with medication not supposed to be taken on an empty stomach.  Rice pudding is his favorite so tried that first.  One bite and he spit that out too.  (Side note: there will be some serious sheet washing today).  Finally got some applesauce in him but he refused everything else.  Laid around and watched cartoons for about an hour when suddenly he popped up and asked for a maple bar.

From that point forward, he was like a new kid. Asked for chicken nuggets for lunch, giggled regularly and even wanted to play in the pool for the first time in a week.  After playing in the pool for over an hour, it was clear we had turned the corner.  Still had energy to fight with his sister, was singing and dancing and in general good spirits.  I can't tell you how nice it was to see him returning to some sense of normal.  Given all this, we decided to back off the every three hour schedule of giving meds through the night and just respond to pain as it happened.

Recovery Day Six

This day started out by far the roughest.  And as much as everyone warned us, it honestly caught me off guard. After the 3:15 a.m. pain episode, he woke up again at 6:30 a.m. crying pretty hard again that he was in extreme pain.  Gave him some ibuprofen and watched him writhe around in pain again.  After 10 minutes of trying to comfort him, I finally decided to go a little early on the oxycodone and got a dose ready.  While I was in the bathroom, he fell back asleep and slept peacefully until about 8:30 a.m., again waking in pain and crying.  Gave him that dose of oxycodone and 10 minutes later he was talking and asking for food.  So glad the stronger pain meds bring relief for him.  Enough relief that by 10 am he was asking for a maple bar.  Funny kid.

He spent most of the day relatively pain free.  We kept up on our every three hour routine but nothing stronger was needed.  Since it was our 13th wedding anniversary, my parents were gracious enough to take both kids (we also have a 10 year old) for the evening so we could go out to dinner.  With the exception of being a little quieter than normal, he did well. So, when we went to bed, I was hopeful for a more peaceful night than before.  Unfortunately, he woke up at 12:30 a.m. crying in pain.  Gave him some ibuprofen and oxycodone and 10 minutes later he was back to sleep.  When 3:30 came around, he was sleeping so peacefully that I didn't want to wake him up.  Big mistake.  By 5:45 he was up again, crying hard, and in so much pain, he wouldn't even swallow the Tylenol so it came all back out all over our bed. So, back to oxycodone, which seemed to bring some relief.

Recovery Day Five

Fortunately, skipping the 1:00 a.m. dose went without incident.  I felt a mom of a newborn when I woke up feeling "refreshed" at 4:00 a.m.  Amazing what a bigger chunk of sleep does for the body. In an effort to tempt fate, we stuck with the 4 a..m. and 7:00 a.m. doses and let him sleep in until 10:00 a.m.

He started out the day fine but very quiet.  He ate, said he was not in pain, but also really not speaking.  He had a slight temperature of 99.4 in the morning but the nurse said it isn't unusual to run a fever afterwards and they're only concerned if it gets over 102.  Sort of wondered if this was the beginning of the scabs falling off stage, which they said could happen between days 4 and 8.

We tried going out to Red Robin (his favorite!) for dinner thinking that some soft macaroni and cheese might be just what he needed to get something other than ice cream and pudding in his system.  He ate about half of his mac n cheese (which he normally gets refills on) and then started to cry that his throat hurt.  That was the first time I've seen him actually cry since surgery and that should have been foreshadowing of what was yet to to come during the night.

Hard to get him to bed this night... he was stacking his pillows and rearranging his stuffed animals for at least an hour.  Still happy and in good spirits but barely speaking.  He finally fell asleep around 11:00 p.m.  Woke up him at 1:00 a.m. for that dose and had planned to skip the 4:00 a.m. in an effort to get everyone some more sleep.  Unfortunately, he woke up at 3:15 a.m. in extreme pain.  Crying hard that his throat hurt and could barely swallow water.  Gave him some of the oxycodone and watched him writhe in pain for 10 minutes until it finally kicked in.  Really hoping this is the scab falling off issue that the nurse warned us of and hoping that it really only lasts 24 hours like she promised.  So hard to watch your child in pain.

Recovery Day Four

Well, we were due.  I was feeling like this was all a little too easy.  At the 1:00 a.m. dose, he did not want to wake up.  No really, he did not want to wake up. Acted all floppy, whiny, and would not sit long enough to drink the Tylenol.  So, to make it easier, I put the medication in a syringe.. What it did was make it easier for him to spit it out.  And so the battle began.  After a bout of screaming, we ended up only getting about half the dose in with the rest going on the floor. In the moment, he said it was because his throat really hurt.  So, we gave him a dose of oxycodone, which was also quite the battle to get in him.  Now, in the light of day, I'm not so sure his throat really hurt that bad or if instead he was just super tired.  I don't blame him.  This getting up every three hours is getting really old.

Fortunately, the took the 4:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. doses much easier and woke up just before 10:00 a.m.  Fatigue seems to create amnesia in my little guy and he barely remembered the bad night.  We, on the other hand, were quickly seeking coffee.  With boredom setting in, little guy asked to go to the aquarium.  I was honestly a little worried that going out would be too much but also felt like it would do the entire family good to not sit around and watch him (or the TV).  So, we packed up and headed off the Pointe Defiance Zoo and Aquarium.

He LOVED it.  We rented a stroller when we got there and tried to the ignore the sideways looks and occasional comments about how we had an adult in a stroller.  My little man is 57 pounds and 4 ft tall so I imagine it did look a little strange.  He rode in between exhibits and got out to have closer looks at the animals and sharks.  He literally was in heaven - especially when we bought him seed sticks for the bird exhibit.  He had so much joy having birds land on his arms, I knew immediately this was a good idea... for all of us.

After a relatively uneventful day, we decided to skip the 1:00 a.m. dose so that we could also get a better night sleep.  Here's hoping we don't regret that decision. 

Recovery Day Three

Waking up every three hours to give medicine is wearing.  Its amazing how fast three hours goes when you are asleep. Our efforts are paying off big time though in that we had another relatively uneventful night.  Our little guy does not like the taste of the ibuprofen so getting him to take at 4:00 a.m. was a bit of a challenge . He was so sleepy.  Like a champ though, he finally agreed and was quickly off to dream land.

He woke up again around 9:00 a.m. and, again, seemed pretty content.  Quietly asked for something to eat and snuggled in to watch cartoons.  I noticed he was getting really quiet by around noon time frame.  When I asked him if he was ok, he just said it hurt a lot to talk.  Figured it was time again for some oxycodone and 20 minutes later, he was a new kid.  By 5:00 p.m., he was playing BeyBlades with dad and sis and screaming "1, 2, 3.... let her rip!"

Appetite today was good and at 10:00 p.m., he said he was hungry for more and ate yogurt and a granola bar.  The granola bar being the first non-soft food he's had since the procedure.  He ate without complaint and then goofed around in bed for a good hour before falling asleep.  Not good news for parents that have to wake up at 1:00 a.m. for a medication dosing.  If that's the worst of Day 3 though, I'm grateful.

Recovery Day Two

After an uneventful night, likely due to our diligence in waking up every three hours to give more pain meds, our little guy woke up at 9:00 a.m.  If I didn't know better, I would have had a hard believing anything had even happened.  He happily got out of bed and headed downstairs for morning cartoons.  Before we knew it, he was jumping around, playing with big sister, and trying to wrestle the dog.  Biggest challenge of the morning was keeping him quiet.

The nurse from Children's called to check in around 11:00 a.m. and was happy with his progress. Reminded us that keeping him quiet was very important and that he'd likely have a tough day between day 4 and 8 when the scabs come off.

His appetite was good throughout the day and his energy level was good.  It wasn't until about 6:00 p.m. that he started using sign language because he said it hurt to talk.  This was about the time we noticed his voice pitch had changed slightly.  We gave him some oxycodone to make him more comfortable.  He honestly probably would have been fine but the oxycodone doesn't seem to make him groggy so figured we'd make him as comfortable as possible.  He ate a great dinner - ice cream, jello, applesauce and soup.  In fact as we were all about to eat steak and salad (which he hates), he bowed to his dinner and said "Thank you, tonsils, thank you".  Very pleased to not be forced to eat steak I guess.

After another dose of oxycodone and Ibuprofen around 10:00 p.m., we had to force him to go to bed. He was definitely not 100% on day 2 (or even close) but so much more comfortable, happy, and energetic than I expected.  On to Day 3!

Recovery Day One

With the first big hurdle past us, my attention was now focused on pain management.  Dr. Inglis and the nurses explained that they have developed a new pain management regime and asked us to record the medication administered over the next several days so that we could report back to them for their research.  Expecting something complicated, I was surprised to hear the regime is simply this: Give Tylenol and ibuprofen every 6 hours but alternating them every three.  So, first Tylenol, three hours later, ibuprofen, three hours later Tylenol, and so on.  Do this 24 hours a day for a minimum of 3 days, longer if needed. Oxycodone was prescribed for "break through" pain as needed. Although they said we would likely not need much of the narcotics.

I was skeptical.  Really? Tylenol and ibuprofen?  No way is that strong enough.  But these guys are experts so we figured it was worth a try.  And at 1:00 p.m., my little guy received his first dose of Tylenol.

For the rest of the day, my little guy lounged around, watched TV and asked often for food.  Prior to surgery, he had proclaimed that he was planning to eat ice cream for every meal and he took this mission very seriously.  As soon as we got home, he asked for ice cream.  20 minutes later when he saw us eating lunch, he was insulted that he had not received ice cream for lunch.  The ice cream he had 20 minutes prior was his "makeup breakfast".  My heart was singing at the quick return of his witty personality and big appetite.

We maintained the pain regime, offered water often and stayed attentive to him.  He would quiet down the last 30 minutes of each 3 hour stretch between medication but other than that, seemed relatively normal.  He seemed a little quieter than normal around 8:45 p.m. so we offered him his first dose of oxycodone before bedtime.  10 minutes later he was jumping and throwing stuffed Angry Birds at me.  Clearly not inducing the sedating effects promised on the bottle.

We set up him for bed in our room so we could keep a close eye on him.  My big snuggler had not problem with this arrangement.  We got the humidifier going as we had been told this helps keep the throat moist, thereby reducing pain in the morning. And, we set our alarms for three hours later.

It was an uneventful night.  And much, much harder on mom and dad than our son. We dutifully got up every three hours, gave him his meds and went back to sleep.  Without one peep or cry of pain from him.  I know there is a long road still ahead, but honestly could not have imagined a better first day.  On to Day 2!