Our little trooper

Friday our little trooper went in for a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy to solve his sleeping difficulties. Blake was so brave. His Grandma Mower had given him an “Elmo Goes to the Doctor” DVD. I think that this may have helped him understand the stethoscope procedure but that was about it. When we got there we had to fill out a bunch of paperwork. Alli and I were glad that the surgery center had a big TV with “The Incredibles” on. Blake was all over the place even though it was 6:45 in the morning. He loved jumping up and down on the chairs. The first thing they did with Blake was take him in and weigh him. Then they took us to a room to speak with the doctors before his procedure. The nurse had to come in and take Blake’s temperature. He did not like that one bit. Then we got to change Blake in to his gown. The nurse could sense that Blake was going to have a hard time with all of the monitors they had to hook up so she gave him some “magic” medicine that made him act as if he were drunk. It was pretty cute watching him go from totally upset and mad at the nurses to being super smiley and silly with them. Once the nurses were able to get his vital signs checked off the anesthesiologist let me take Blake back to his operating room where I was able to hold the mask over Blake’s nose to help him drift off to sleep. The anesthesiologist and the nurse kept warning me that his eyes where going to start to roll back in to his head. I think that they were worried that I would freak-out. I told them that I had seen that a bunch of times with my job. Sure enough Blake’s little eyes rolled to the back of his head and Dad’s eyes filled with tears. I guess it is much different when in is your child and not just another patient. I was very confident in the medical staff at the center. I knew that the nurses and all of the Doctors would take great care of our little Blake. Blake’s surgery took about 10 minutes, but it felt more like 30 to me. Blake was sure out of it when he came back to. He laid on my stomach and would whimper and cry for a little bit then fall back a sleep. After about 45 minutes of monitoring Blake’s oxygen level he had had enough. He kept pointing at the door and wanting to leave. The nurse finally let us goes home. Blake watched “Bee Movie” the whole way home and Alli and I thought,(and hoped), once we got home he would just crash for the rest of the day. Boy were we wrong! All Blake wanted to do when he got home was everything…Up the stairs, down the stairs. He jumped around pretty much all day. Night time finally came and we put our little guy to sleep. I had decided that I would wake Blake up at 11:00 to give him some more pain medication. BIG MISTAKE. My Dad has tried to teach me that you let sleeping dogs lay. This is one time I really should have listened. But being the softy Dad that I am, I couldn’t fathom letting Blake wake up in horrible pain. So I gently nudged Blake to see if I could just slip the sippy cup in to his mouth. He wouldn’t budge so I got him up and tried to take him to the rocker. He started screaming and I could not get him to stop. So I figured lets get the medicine in him quickly. I took the syringe and Alli and I held him down to put it in his mouth. Once we got the medicine in him he exploded with vomit, (of course all over me). I had the remnants of about 15 pounds of M&M’s and chocolate milk all over me. I froze and just stood there. Alli escorted both of us to the shower and we got cleaned up. After that Blake was up-and-at’em. SO I took him down stairs and we watched “Thomas the Train” for a few hours. Eventually he calmed down and drank his Lora tab-laced apple juice right down. I took him up to his bed and he slept pretty well until 7:00 or so. He whimpered on and off the whole night though. Over all I was very pleased with the outcome for little Blake. Since the surgery Blake has been sleeping more soundly, (as long as I don’t wake him up to take his meds), since his surgery. Alli and I think that this will really help him and us with his sleeping difficulties. He doesn’t seem to be snoring as much if at all anymore. Through this experience I have realized just how special our little trooper is. Thank you everybody for all of the visits and phone calls to check on our little guy. We are so blessed. We love you all.

(just a few pictures of Blake before his surgery, they are the greatest, but its all we got)