Under the Knife

Blake had his tonsils and adenoids removed on Thursday, March 3.  It surprised me that even though I have been through several surgeries with my kids (none with Blake though) I was still really nervous and apprehensive going in...I think I was more worried than Blake was! 

He was a real trooper, especially when you consider that this is the guy who pushed the nurse's hand during a vaccination attempt a few years ago, breaking the needle and giving himself a nice cut in his arm!  He held really still while they put in the iv and didn't squeeze my hand too hard.  The worst part was the numbing shot they gave him. 

He discovered that when he bounced the finger with the heart rate monitor on it he could get the lines on the screen of the monitor to beep and bounce and make cool patterns.  This kept him entertained for quite a while, which was good since we waited back there for a good hour and a half because there were some complications with the surgeries that were scheduled before his and they were running behind.  

 After they put Versed in the iv I could almost see the psychedelic swirly rainbows dancing in front of him.  Chad and I started asking him questions like "what's 13+17?" and "how old are you?".  I figured he might know how old Grandpa Mike is since we had a big surprise party for his last birthday, so I asked Blake.  He got this mischevious little smirk on his face and said, "Older than dirt?"  I think he and Grandpa Mike are definitely related!

When they came to get us when he was in recovery the nurse explained that he had come out pretty upset. They'd given him some pain meds in the operating room but they weren't cutting the pain enough so they gave him a large dose of tylenol through his iv.  Once that was done he was ready to go.  He insisted on walking to the car, rather than riding in the wheelchair.

Chad and I hadn't eaten anything all day so we decided to stop at the Taco Bell drive thru on our way to pick up Kade and Sophie at my parents' house (Thanks again for watching them!).  We pulled up to the window to get our food and saw this redheaded lady standing in the middle of the drive thru ahead.  Turns out my sisters Karen and Jennifer and my parents and brother David and some of my nieces and nephew were inside having lunch!  We got our food and went inside to eat, which was great since it saved us a trip out to my parents' house to get the little ones. 

Kade felt sorry for Blake and offered to keep him company.

We took Blake home after this and put him to bed.  He is doing really well, although since today is the third day he is really starting to feel rotten.  He got me up at 4:30 this morning for pain meds and was crying while he swallowed them.  It is so sad to have to watch our child suffer like that!  I can understand why people say that they would trade places with them...though having just recovered from Strep I am slightly more hesitant to say that!

Here he is today, playing the Tron video game that he got for his birthday:

He's pale and not too energetic, and I am hoping I can keep him from losing much more weight since he is practically skin and bones anyway.  Poor kid.  He is in pretty good spirits though...as long as he gets his meds on time!