Jack's Surgery

Poor little Jack had his tonsils and adenoids removed and tubes put in his ears on May 12.  He woke up in such a good mood that day, ready to "go see doc doc".  We had it done at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville by the same doctor who did David's three years ago.  Dr. Jay Werkhaven is our ENT, and he is fabulous.  He comes highly recommended, and I've been more than satisfied with the care he's provided for the three procedures he's done on our boys.  He's friendly, efficient, and explains things thoroughly.  If you live in the Nashville area and need a pediatric ENT, I recommend him without hesitation.

After we checked in, Jack changed into his hospital jammies and played for a bit. 

All of the doctors and nurses thought it was a riot that he wore his UT hat the whole time.  And  I mean the whole time.  As you can see, even while being wheeled into surgery.

The procedures took about an hour.  When we were able to go back to the recovery area, I could hear Jack before I could see him.  He was NOT happy.  The poor thing had a very difficult time coming out of the anesthesia, and he was really upset.  He did calm down pretty quickly once I got back there, and I was very glad.  He was still pretty pathetic looking though.  And still wearing his hat.  What can I say?  He's a true Big Orange fan.

We were moved into his "room" pretty quickly.  One disadvantage to having the surgery done at one of the country's premier children's hospitals is that the hospital constantly is at over 100% capacity.  As a result, they've changed what used to be pre-surgical rooms into patient rooms.  It was about the size of a large walk-in closet and shared a half bath with the room next to ours.  However, it was adequate. 

He was very irritated at having the IV in, and he did not want to have it checked.  Ever.  Nor did he want to take his medicine.  The nurses we had - Sarah and Cindy - were amazing.  And Tony, the care tech was incredible as well.  Tony was with Jack before surgery, in recovery after, and was with us when he was moved to his room.  He even brought Jack a Toy Story coloring book after his surgery.  He was so attentive to everything and anything we could need.  The care we received was fabulous. 

Neither of us slept well the night we were at the hospital.  Jack was uncomfortable, there are near constant interruptions for one thing or another, and it just sort of sucks being in the hospital.  Jack was up nearly all night, which just compounded his discomfort. 

I was very glad the next day when we were discharged around 11:30.  We came home and promptly ditched the medicine they had prescribed.  Why?  Because Jack just spit it all over the face of whomever was administering it.  We tried Tylenol meltaways.  No luck.  The boy has had to have Tylenol suppositories.  Whatever works.  We went from this:

To this after we figured out how to get the medicine into him, and how to keep it there:

He is by no means back to normal.  Not even close.  He is still hurting and uncomfortable and has breath that will knock you out from across the room.  He's not drinking much and eating even less.  But he's fever free, and watching more television than he has ever watched before.  He's resting and getting lots of attention.  And all of this will be worth it next winter when he doesn't have strep throat for three months.