adenoids

both natalie & daniel had problems with ear infections. they have tubes placed in their ears. the tubes worked great for natalie. i think she had one more ear infection after getting tubes. daniel's tubes worked great as well, but he was still getting sick a lot.  now i know that kids get sick, because they put everything in their mouths - even now at 6 & 4 i have to tell them not to out stuff in their mouths.  just this past summer i had to daniel not to lick the sand at the beach. TWICE. i had to tell him that twice.  so no wonder the kids gets sick. but he would get sick for long periods of time, he would hang on to a cough for at least several weeks. he would cough so hard he'd get sick. when he was sick he'd get no sleep at all cause he was coughing all night long.  it wasn't good. and then we had our overnight at the hospital.  

so we made an appointment with a ear, nose and throat doctor. the doctor suggested and we agreed to have daniel's adenoids removed. surgery was not something that we wanted to do - but it was the best decision. 

daniel knew that he was going to see dr. rankin and that dr. rankin was going to remove his adenoids.  other than that, i'm not sure he fully understood what was going on. his biggest worry was that he was going to get a shot and would not be able to sleep in his own bed. 

the morning of the surgery, since daniel was not allowed to eat, no one did.  we brought natalie to school and then headed off to the hospital.  i have found it is very helpful to know some of the nurses!  after we arrived, grandma's friend, sue mckay came down to check on us.  the nurse that looked after daniel in recovery, martha, is a good friend of grandma's as well. i'm pretty sure we received special treatment. 

keeping daniel entertained and his mind off his empty stomach, was hard to do in the waiting area.  i brought the camera and let him take pictures and video.  

new slipper /socks

 

sue's feet

"Smile Mom"

Daddy

 

Sue McKay

dr. rankin and the anesthesiologist came in to let us know what was going to happen and answer any last questions that we had.  i then suited up to be able to walk him down to the surgery room. this was the scary part.  but daniel did great.  he hopped right up on the table, blew up his balloon and i gave him a kiss on the check and left.

everyone loved his angry bird PJ's

the waiting was the hard part.  in total it too about 25 minutes. dr. rankin came and told us that everything went very well and that daniel was just waking up.  daniel isn't much of a morning person - so waking up from anesthesia was not fun.  but mark & i were there to snuggle and talk to him. 

martha brought him ice pops, apple juice and a movie player.  daniel was in heaven!  after two hours and drinking plenty, going to the bathroom and walking down the hall, we were able to leave. 

happy to get the okay to go home!

the doctors said that daniel MIGHT be sluggish and tired the rest of the day, while all of the anesthesia wore off. they also said that we should offer him soft foods - since his throat might be a bit sore.  on the way home we stopped and daniel ate a whole egg, cheese sandwich on a bagel. once home he ate a bowl of oatmeal, couple of cheese sticks, banana, pasta for dinner, yogurt....he made up for not being able to eat in the AM.

that afternoon, daniel and i waited for natalie to get off the bus and since it was a nice sunny day we stayed outside and played.  we took a hike in the back yard, made a snowman, went sledding.  the surgery did not slow him down at all. 

we are all proud of daniel and hopeful that the surgery was worth it!