Goodbye tonsils

On Friday 1st December James and I got Daniel up nice and early to get ready to head to Chatswood Private Hospital to get his tonsils removed and to get new grommets put in. Since Daniel's last operation last year his tonsils have grown in size and he had started to have ear aches again. 3 weeks ago Daniel had another follow up appointment with Dr Naidoo and he said that he was to get his tonsils out. We had planned to do it in January after preschool had finished and after Christmas but before Kindergarten started, however Daniel wasn't able to fly with the fluid in his ears so he squeezed us in for Friday. 

Before we left Daniel gave Eliza and Alexander a hug. Eliza was so beautiful and asked him if he wanted to take one of her toys with him - the girl koala to match the boy koala with him. She then gave him the biggest hug. Too sweet!

We then headed to the day surgery hospital. They admitted him and then we went upstairs to the waiting room. Daniel then got an id band on his ankle and was measured for his weight and height. He then got to play in the waiting room for a bit longer. When they called his name, he decided that he wanted Daddy to go with him into the operating room. James got dressed into the hair net, shoes and gown and headed off with them while I went downstairs to wait. James said that Daniel was so good. When putting him to sleep they had Daniel blow into a machine which blew up a balloon and he then drifted off while James was chatting with him. The operation went for around 45mins. During this time I went for a walk around the shops (which were all closed) but it was nice to stretch my legs.

When they called for me I headed up to recovery. The nurses said that Daniel had woken a little bit but then fell back to sleep. He was so peaceful and quietly snoring still which made me chuckle a bit.

He woke up after a little bit and looked at the tv that was on and straight away said 'It's Play School!' I had to laugh. He looked watched it for a little bit and one of the nurses offered him an iceblock. He said yes and had a few sucks on it and then drifted back off to sleep.

The next time he woke up was because the monitor clip had fallen off his toe. He told me that it had come off so we clipped it back on and then he rolled over and went back to sleep. What a good patient!

Again he woke and he was shaking. He told me 'I think my body is a bit scared.' One of the nurses came over and asked him if he was ok. He said yes. They asked him if he was in pain and he said yes. They went to give him some more medicine but then asked him if it was a lot of pain or just a bit. Daniel said just a bit so they held off giving him anything. I asked if he wanted to hold my hand and he said yes please. It was beautiful to just sit there and hold his hand. He then went back to sleep again. 

The nurse was a bit concerned about his oxygen levels when he went to sleep. It kept going up around the 130 mark. She went to put the mask back on his face but he wriggled and they dropped back down so she held off. Because the monitor clip kept on falling off the nurse moved it to his finger. This gave a much more accurate reading.

Daniel then woke up and was quite chatty. He was watching Mr Maker on the tv and was talking about the different activities they were doing. Each of the nurses commented on how well he was looking which was good. James messaged asking how Daniel was so I asked him to smile for me. He obliged while still watching the tv. My darling boy.

Such a different wake up experience to last time! He was so calm, so attentive, so chatty.

After a bit longer the nurses decied that he was well enough to move over to Recovery 2. This was basically a section on the other side of the room. They asked if Daniel could walk over but he wanted to be carried so I carried him over. He then sat on my lap and continued to watch tv. Dr Naidoo came over to say how the operation went - he said the tonsils were massive and that there was a lot of fluid behind the ears so his hearing should improve a lot now. He said that the operation went well. With recovery he mentioned that everything that you think might be abnormal isn't. The only time to worry is with excessive bleeding. If that happens go to emergency straight away. The nurse then brought him another iceblock and also an apple juice and a muffin. Daniel after the iceblock with no problems which was great and also slowly sipped his apple juice. The wasn't so keen to have the muffin. James was able to come up and sit with us in this room which was nice. He basically sat there and watched tv like he'd never seen a tv before.

The nurse said that for him to be able to go home he needed to eat some food, go for a walk and go to the toilet. If he could do all those things then he'd be fine to go home. Daniel didn't want to stop watching the tv so I told him we'd go for a walk to see if the different tvs had the same thing on them. Half of them did and half of them didn't. We then went to the toilet and he went fine which was great.

We sat back down and he ate a little bit more while watching tv. The nurse came over the discharge him and said that Daniel was so good, he was her favourite patient for the day (I'm sure she says that to everyone). He had a big smile on his face when she said that. James then went to get the car and Daniel and I then headed downstairs to be picked up.

The rest of the day was spent sitting on the couch watching ABC Kids and the racing cars. Dr Alexander also had to check him by listening to his breathing with his shirt up.

He really enjoyed eating jelly and ice cream as well as yoghurt at dinner time. He also slept really well at night and was only upset when taking panadol when we got him up to go to the toilet.

Daniel is such a trooper! He's being so calm. He was such a good patient and so helpful for the nurses. He has taken this in his stride. I'm sure he is in pain but he has barely complained about it. I'm so proud of my little guy!