Tonsillectomy

I haven't posted to this blog in so long I doubt anyone reads it anymore. I usually tell little stories on Facebook but this story is so long, I wanted to write it here so we won't forget the details.

Thomas had his tonsils and adenoids removed on Thursday. We wanted him to have it done at Cook's and are so happy we did. Everyone there was SO nice and great with children. Thomas was not scared at all. The surgeon had done a great job getting him excited about it by telling him he'd wear a gas mask like fighter pilots do, choose the flavor of air he wanted to breathe during the surgery, and then have to eat 10 gallons of ice cream afterwards.

The day of surgery, anesthesiologist came in and asked him if he understood how he was going to be put to sleep for the surgery. Thomas said he did. The anesthesiologist said, "Great! I've got my baseball bat and I'm going to hit you over the head really hard. And then if you start to wake up during surgery, I'll hit you again. But don't worry because I've never actually knocked anyone's brains out of their head." Thomas really giggled at that one. He asked Thomas what flavor of air he wanted to breathe and Thomas asked for chocolate. They didn't have that so he selected bubble gum.

Later, a nurse was asking Thomas what flavor of air he selected and he told her he originally wanted chocolate but they didn't have that so he went with bubble gum. She said, "Well, you are really lucky to be here this week. Last week, we didn't have fruity smells. All we had was Stinky Socks, Wet Dog, and Spinach."

A separate nurse asked him if he'd removed his belly button ring and other piercings. And before we left that day, a doctor told him that he hated to tell him this but that it was really important: Thomas wouldn't be able to drive or operate heavy machinery for 24 hours.

We were so proud of Thomas. He wasn't nervous at all so they didn't give him a premedication called Giggle Juice. The dr. said if he didn't need it to relax, that would make it even easier for him to come out of the anesthesia after surgery. The other kids we were with in the Game Room before surgery all had Giggle Juice. The Game Room was a cool place for kiddos. Once he got his gown on, he had the choice of staying in his room or going to the game room. He chose to go play. So while he was waiting for his turn, he played Wii. Pretty cool. When it was time for his surgery, they wheeled a bed to the game room, called his name, and he jumped up on the gurney without any fear.

After surgery, we had to wait a while until he was ready for see us in recovery. When we went back, he was really tired and kept apologizing that he couldn't wake up. He was a very brave boy and we were proud parents. And while he's recovering, he's being such a polite patient. He's being a much better patient than I would be. :-)

One thing I forgot to mention is when the surgeon came out to talk to us after surgery, she said, "The tooth fairy came to visit!" and gave us a small case with his tooth inside and a dollar. One of his top teeth was so loose they were afraid it would come out either during the procedure or afterwards when he was coming out of anesthesia so they removed it. We let him have the dollar from the surgeon and then he left it under his pillow for the real tooth fairy because she always gives him golden dollars.