7:30am - We arrive at Cook Children's Northeast for Noah's Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy.
8:00am - After the anaesthesiologist gets a medical history, we fight to get Noah to put on the gown he his to wear for his surgery before the nurse gives him some "Happy Juice". It's like Valium. Noah took it and about 15 minutes later, he was rolled down the hall to the operating room singing a song all about his Happy Juice while laying spread-eagle on the bed. (Mental note: Happy juice before changing into gown?)
9:00am (give or take a few minutes) - Dr Railsback (Noah's ENT and surgeon) came to tell us that Noah's surgery went well. However, he had discovered a polyp in Noah's nose. We're now directed to give him his Nasonex twice a day in hopes that it will shrink this polyp. If not, it will be back to the operating room to have it removed.
9:15am - We're led back to a recovery room where Noah is sleeping ... snoring. He wakes and starts crying. Thinking it's pain, the nurse gives him another dose of Morphine. It turns out, he was just very unhappy with the IV in his hand.
10:30am - Noah is given a little stuffed puppy in a little blue cape with the name "Cookie" on it (which he has decided is a hamster and his name is "Kirby") and then wheeled out to the car in a little red wagon. In the car, he's given his after surgery gift. You'd think that we gave him a shot of caffeine ... "IT'S MY DS!!" You could tell he was trying to do his high pitched excited voice but it just didn't come out that way (poor guy).
11:00am - We're home.
All in all, it went better than I had anticipated. It's probably because I imagined the worst. I try to be prepared for anything. Noah goes back to the ENT for his post-op Friday where we're hoping he will get the all clear for going back to school (he really wants to show his friends his new DS). We're also keeping our fingers crossed that the polyp will shrink with the Nasonex and we won't have to do this again. If we do, we'll be doing it before the year is up since we've already met the deductible on our insurance. We'll, of course, keep you updated.
Noah had a pretty bad allergy attack after getting home from Oklahoma. As a result, we've rescheduled his surgery for May 8th. I've done some research on the web and received a ... note? ... from the doctor with information on how to care for the "patient" before and after surgery. Honestly, I thought the more I read up on it, the better I'd feel. It's the complete opposite! The more I read up on it, the more nervous I get. All these things that could go wrong. All the unknown. All the "what ifs".
I'm going to set up a tour of the hospital for sometime this week. I'm hoping that will help ease my nerves. I'm sure he'll be fine and that it's just the mother in me coming though. Lots of kids have had this surgery and they're all fine. Did I mention I'm nervous?
A couple of weeks ago, we were driving down a hilly little backroad near our house. We went over a little hill pretty fast and it made me lose my stomach a bit. Apparently, Noah felt it, too because he exclaimed, "Whoa! That tickled my wee-wee!" We all laughed and forgot about it. Noah did not. A couple of days ago, we were driving over a backroad in Stillwater and Noah suddenly says, "Everybody hold on to your wee-wees because here comes a BIG HILL!"
Tragic ending for some chives in Davisville, TX this morning. While putting
up the kitchen gates, the two suspects, believed to be 23-month-old
Andrew Dawson and 20-month-old Jacob Tucker, snuck in through the back and each
grabbed a pot of herbs. When apprehended, one suspect placed the pot on
the floor while the other threw his at law enforcement. The victims
names have not been released but we are told that there are a multiple
number of chives. They were pronounced dead on the scene by the official.
Both suspects were arrested and placed in time out. They were later
released on good behaviour.
In other news,
The Eureka SmartVac (aka "The Boss") receives the highest rating from Christina Reports.
Note to self: Gates go up BEFORE the boys come in from here on out.
No ... it's a possible sprain in his ankle.
I got a call from Noah's school nurse yesterday morning telling me that Noah "fell or something on the playground and is now complaining that his leg hurts." She said that she didn't see any bruising, redness or even a bug bite. She said that he was crying and saying that he wanted to go home. I had Andrew and Jacob and a trunk loaded with groceries (first time and last time I take the babies grocery shopping) so since she didn't see anything, I told her to put some ice on him and call me if that didn't calm him down. Well, she didn't call but I was still worried. I called her.
She went and asked Noah how he was feeling and Noah responded "I feeling a little gooder." So I left Noah at school and continued on with my day. Around 2:15pm, I get another call from the nurse saying that Noah had just woken up from his nap and was crying again about his foot or ankle? I thought it was his leg. So I make arrangements for Myra, Emily, Andrew, Jacob and Josh while I go to school to take a look at Noah for myself. On the way there, I remembered that he had mentioned his ankle hurting over the weekend.
There's no swelling, no redness, no nothing. I call Josh and we decide to call the doctor. The doctor looks at Noah and decides that he must have a "small sprain" and that it should heal on its own in about a week. No wraps, no restrictions.
Fast forward to this morning. I take Noah to school and he throws the BIGGEST fit he has thrown since ... well .. I can't remember. I drag him across the parking lot into the school hoping that maybe his teachers can help convince him to stay. He cries that he doesn't "need to go to school" and wants to stay home with me. Long story short, after about 10 minutes (felt like forever), I decided to take him with me to drop off Myra in hopes that he'll change his mind about school. He didn't. He threw another fit as I was pulling into the driveway. I ended up leaving him in the car (he didn't want to get out) screaming "I want to go to the doctor!" (Last night, it was a fight to get him to go to the doctor.)
Right now he's doing well. We'll be heading out the door in a few to get Myra and Emily from school. Noah has requested to ride his bike. My thinking (after him napping both Saturday and Sunday and after him eating 2 cereal bars, 3 peach sauces, a bowl of chex and a bowl of mac & cheese all before noon ... this morning) is he's actually having his first experience with growning pains and he's not quit sure what to do about it. He can't explain what he's feeling to anyone so no one else can do anything about it either. He's frustrated with it all and that's why he's acting out. He just doesn't know what to do with this pain he's feeling. Maybe? Then again, it could be a small sprain in his ankle and him just geting ... terrible for some reason or another. I like the growing pain idea better.
In the mornings, I take Noah to his school, pick up Andrew and then drop Myra off at her school. If I time it just right (7:19am), I can catch a bus stopping traffic on Main Street for me. There's normally several kids getting on so I have plenty of time to cross all five lanes. This morning, the bus stopped and went in the blink of an eye! I told Myra "That bus wasn't stopped for as long as it usually is" to which Myra replied "Tis the season to be sick." She was dead serious too.
(Warning: The following is a long post to cover the longer week we've had visiting doctors.)
Saturday, October 4th, Noah is playing in the front yard while Josh and I cook dinner. I keep the windows open when the kids are out by themselves so I can easily check on them. I hear a blood curdling scream (I've been hearing a lot of those lately) and run outside thinking the worst. I found Noah by the front door just screaming. He won't talk to me he just screams. So I'm yelling at him "Where does it hurt? ... What happened?" I look down and there they are ... ANTS!
By this time the neighbor's are over wondering what's going on. Josh and I are frantically dusting ants off Noah asking each other "Do you see anymore?" Noah's still screaming. We get the little man clear and take him inside to ice him down. Little blisters all over his right ankle with a little swelling. That's nothing out of the ordinary.
Fast forward to Tuesday. Noah wakes with blisters the size of dimes on his ankle and his leg all the way up to his knee is swollen and purplish red. We decide to skip school and head to the doctor's office. We get to the doctor where a culture is taken (she said it didn't look infected but she wanted to be sure) and an antibiotic is prescribed (just in case there is infection). The swelling looked much better Wednesday but we still keep him home because he's still swollen enough that we can't get shoes on him. Thursday, it's back to the doctor.
Noah woke up Thursday with one HUGE blister. It was about the size of a ping pong ball and it looked like it was about to explode but it just wouldn't. By the time we get to the office, it's finally popped but it looks disgusting. Noah had to see a different doctor because his regular is out that day. This second doctor takes one look at it and says "I know exactly what that is and I bet the test results will verify." He looks at Noah's chart and realizes there's no test results.
The doctor leaves the room to call the lab. He didn't want to prescribe medicine without them. He comes back into the room and says "Let me explain how insurance and labs work ..." Basically, they had to send the culture to the lab my insurance would pay for. That particular lab hadn't plated the culture until that morning (remember the culture was taken Tuesday and this was Thursday). We wouldn't have any idea if bacteria was present for at least 24 hours. The doctor decides to place Noah on the antibiotic anyway ... for Bulbous Impetigo ... to be taken with the antibiotic he was given Tuesday.
Fast forward again. Monday, we were able to send Noah back to school. We made sure to wrap his blister good hoping that his bandage wouldn't need to be changed. Josh happened to have meetings all day upstairs from Noah's class so that helped put my mind at ease ... I little bit. We still didn't know what exactly was going on but he was improving and that's all that mattered.
Yesterday. Noah wakes with a rash all up and down the right side of his face. Of course, we have to keep him home again from school until we find out if it's contagious or not. By the time we get to the doctor's office (he got to see his regular doctor this time) he's covered in little red spots. Turns out he's allergic to the second antibiotic which he had been on for five days by this point. She said the reason we didn't see the reaction sooner is because the first antibiotic was counteracting it. (For the record, Noah is "allergic to sulfa drugs including Bactrim.")
Noah's back at school today ... rash and all. I'm hoping he's having a good day. I'm hoping the kids are nice to him. They all got this look of horror when seeing his face and you know how little kids can be. I left some Hydrocortisone with the nurse telling her, Noah's teachers and the day care coordinator to call me if need be. So here I am, praying that the phone doesn't ring. We're so ready to get off this crazy ride.
