Brody's Surgery Post

I would like to start this post by thanking those who have helped out this week, and called with the much needed moral support.
In this technology age where text messages and facebook wall posts are frequent and easy, it is comforting and refreshing to get a good ol' fashioned phone call to check in. I needed it this week, so again, thank you.

Brody went in for surgery Tuesday and had tubes put in and had his adenoids removed. It was emotional and I don't think I was prepared for him to fight and be so disoriented when he went under. I was able to be in the operating room for that part, and he breather the gas through the mask. He was kicking and flailing and trying to turn around to look at me, and when he did he was confused and scared and well let me just say as soon as I kissed that little boy and he was out, I needed the entire box of tissues to recover. I was prepared for him to have difficulty waking up, but not for going to sleep. It was rough.
Brody's surgery only ended up lasting about 40 minutes. When the nurse came to get us, she said he was awake and was asking for us. We walked back thinking he was just groggy. Oh boy were we wrong. Brody was hysterical. He was screaming at the top of his lungs, but was incredibly hoarse because of the tubes that were down his throat for surgery. He was screaming his mouth (throat) hurt "really bad" and was inconsolable. This went on for an hour. They gave him morphine to try and help, and eventually we got him to calm down a bit.
Other than these side effects and the emotional aftermath of it all, Brody's surgery went really well.
We were sent home, and he had a great day. Then the night came. It came with a vengeance. I should tell you Nathan and I have terrible colds/coughs and Brody woke up at night with what I can only describe as croup like symptoms. I have been acquainted with croup for nine years now, all my kids have gotten it, usually numerous times in a year, and let me tell you, I have never panicked. With Brody this time, I was panicking. I used all my instinctual croup trick, but the boy couldn't get a deep breath in. He was freaking out. Finally I called the hospital and tried to figure out if his throat could still be swollen from the tubes, and if maybe this along with croup was causing the problem. The doc on call said it could be. I finally calmed him down, and made an appointment first thing the next morning. We saw his primary care doctor, and he contacted Brody's ENT doctor who did the surgery to make sure giving Brody a dose of oral steroids was okay. They also discussed the extremely large size of Brody's tonsils, and informed me he would definitely need them out in the next year, maybe two.
Brody reacted the way you could expect from oral steroids. He was hyper for most of the day, and then screamed literally non stop for three hours before he finally went to bed.
I think because of the stress I've been under the past few weeks, I pretty much resembled the walking dead. Maybe I still do, but I've finally pried children off me long enough to shower, so that helps a bit.
Brody finally seems to be doing much better, although he is still complaining about his mouth hurting, and his breath (this is due to his adenoids being removed, and it is a normal side effect for the first 10 days after surgery) is rancid. I read it could smell like rotten meat. I would say it's more like spoiled milk, but maybe it will progress to rotten meat, who knows. It's bad either way. Have I told you how my sweet Brody boy loves giving kisses? Oh the things we do because we love our kids....

So there it is. Brody's surgery story. Now we wait and see if all this helps (God please let it help.)

In other blog news, I was contacted by a company that is interested in doing some giveaways. They have some great stuff folks, so let me know what you'd most like to win: a gift card for some home stuff, some cookware/bakeware, some travel (luggage) items? What would make you, my loyal, wonderful readers happy?
I do like you to be happy, and I'm not opposed to buying your friendship, as long as you tell me you love me every now and then. Okay it also helps when you say I look skinny. A little white lie never hurt anyone, right?

So tell me! What can I get for you?