tonsillectomy and adnoidectomy . . .

i took ethan to the doctor a few weeks ago for his "back to school check-up", where he managed to entertain the doctor and nurses. for some reason he really turns it on at the doctor's office. he has them laughing every time and last time dr. wilcox asked if ethan would come in once a week to "lighten the load". i thought most kids dread the dr.'s office. not ethan. he is in his element.

so when dr. wilcox did the check-up, he noticed that ethan's tonsils are unusually large. which i knew that i could never actually see down his throat because they were (yes, were) so large. dr. wilcox then asked me if ethan snores. which he does, and very loud. we can hear it in our room with both doors closed. but i then told dr. wilcox that the only time it really wakes us up is when he stops breathing and wakes himself up by gasping for air. yes, i really have been entrusted with four children!

dr. wilcox recommended us to see dr. denys. so a week later we were in dr. denys office. where we learned that because of ethan's overly large tonsils and adnoids, he has sleep apnia. because of this sleep apnia he hasn't been getting any REM sleep. apparently, when he falls asleep and gets into REM, his tonsils relax and close together, where it makes it hard, if not impossible, for him to breath. then he wakes himself up to breath and starts the whole thing all over again. so two weeks later we are in the hospital to remove ethan's tonsils and adnoids.

so early thursday morning (august 27), we checked ethan into the same day surgery at the american fork hospital. ethan was so excited to have kyle and i all to himself. he didn't have to share us with his brothers or sister, and he had our undivided attention. he was in heaven. we dressed him in his hospital gown, put on his surgery socks and then a dr. and nurse came in and gave us some information and asked us some questions, then they gave him his cool surgery hat. he chose the green one with footballs. they treated him so good and took such good care of him. a nurse that works with little kids came in and gave him "buddy", a surgery doll. he was able to color buddy's hair and face and then he got to put the oxygen mask on buddy and they were able to show ethan on buddy what they were going to do to him.

then while we waited for his turn, he got to play with some toys, one of his favorites was a view finder. i forgot how cool those are.

he was so brave and almost excited. until it came time for them to wheel him back. as soon as they showed up in the room, he asked me if he could put his clothes back on. and then as they were wheeling him away, he turned and looked at me and said "mom". it broke my heart.

true to their word, he was back in our arms in 45 minutes. we never heard from the doctor, so we hope all went well with his surgery. as they were wheeling him to our room, he was turning himself around to see us waiting. he looked even tinier in this big hospital bed. his only complaint at the hospital was that he wanted to get the i.v. out and he wanted it out now. once he finished his slushy, they took out his i.v. and we were back home by 11 am.

since then has been a little more exciting. i don't know if it is the tylenol with codine that he is taking or the fact that he has been eating a lot of popsicles, pudding, otter pops, jell-o and he is on a sugar high, but either way . . . he is crazy. they told us to keep him from running and jumping, and to try to get him to rest for the first three days and especially on the first day. he was climbing on the shelf in the family room and jumping onto the couches, running around the cul-de-sac, standing on the edge of the bathtub and jumping off then sliding down into the water, and he was trying to eat any- and everything. needless to say, thursday was crazy, i was so stressed and ready for him to go to bed.

he hasn't been sleeping very well since then, just tossing and turning and whining and moaning, and his mornings are pretty miserable. but really the rest of the days aren't too bad. he is getting his appetite back and he is back to tormenting davis. i'm hoping that by tomorrow he is doing well enough to go to his first day of school.