Matthew's surgery

Matthew's surgery went great yesterday. Dr. Shapiro put a new set of tubes in both ears and removed his adenoids. He had a good amount of fluid behind his right eardrum when the doctor put the tubes in; which has been pretty much the norm his whole life (with the exception of the period he had tubes the first time). Hopefully with the adenoids removed and tubes in place, his body will be able to drain properly. The tonsils looked good and weren't even a concern to shrink them, which was good to hear. He will keep an eye on them for the next few years. Recovery from having your tonsils out is much harder than adenoids and with Matthew being so young it carried a bunch of risk factors.

We arrived at the hospital at 7:30 am and started the pre-op procedures. Bronson does a wonderful job to make young children feel at home and comfortable. Once we got back into our pre-op room and Matthew changed into his yellow, fuzzy hospital jammies they brought him a Radio Flyer wagon filled with warm blankets and pillows. He was also able to bring a stuffed animal and blanket from home to make him feel more at ease. We took him for a few walks around the area until he decided he wanted to take Curious George for a ride. There were two other children there getting ready for surgery of some sort so we had a wagon parade with all the kids. After a few checks from the doctor, nurses and anesthesiologist, Matthew was given a relaxing medicine to help calm him once he got into the OR. It took about 15 minutes for that medicine to kick in and when it did he was hilarious. He was singing, laughing, making some funny sounds, and really getting a kick out of the ceiling lights in the hallway. Now that he was ready, Kathey pulled him in the wagon back to the OR and we went back to the waiting room. It was very calming for us knowing that Kathey was going to be by his side for this. She was also there for his last set of tubes. Once in the OR he was hooked up to monitors and given some gas to put him to sleep. Then they got his IV hooked up and put the tube down his throat to help him breathe. This part was different from the last surgery. He did not have to be put under last time for the tubes only. This time he had to be put under to take the adenoids.

While you are waiting, you are given small pagers with updates. We received an update that he was going well (about 15 minutes into the surgery) and updates when he was moved into the different stages of recovery. We were able to be with him once he was moved into Stage 2 recovery. I was actually pumping when he was moved, so Ryan went to be with him and I caught up once I was done. When I rounded the corner I could hear Matthew screaming before I even got to the recovery doors. As I walked into the area, Ryan was holding Matthew on his lap, dripping with sweat. The nurse was also holding him, she too dripping with sweat. Matthew was putting up one heck of a fight. They think that the gas initially given makes the young children have nightmares and he was basically freaking out. He was confused, scared and in some pain. Also, he was trying to rip out his IV, which wasn't ready to be removed. All this was a pretty normal reaction and pretty similar to his last surgery (minus the IV). They gave him Fentanol to calm him down along with some pain medicine and within a few more minutes he was relaxing, drinking apple juice and watching Scooby Doo on their portable DVD player. We stayed in recovery for about 45 minutes before we could get dressed and take him home.

Matthew stayed pretty doped up yesterday and was pretty low key for much of the day. He took a good nap and woke up in some pain, which was expected. Today he has pretty much been himself. He woke up with a burst of energy and played most of the morning. The only thing that seems to bug him today is his wrist and hand where the IV was. The doctor said this surgery is a three day recovery so we are waiting to see if it will hit him tomorrow. Matthew has a pretty high tolerance of pain, so who knows if he will show it. I don't know of too many kids that can have ruptured ear drums and carry on like he does.