At his 3 year well check-up Daniel's pediatrician noted that he had very large tonsils and referred us to a pediatric ENT doctor. The ENT recommended removal of the tonsils and adenoids to help Daniel's breathing and sleeping.
We debated about it for a few months. On the one hand, he wasn't visibly suffering. He doesn't really get sick much and other than snoring and heavy breathing the large tonsils didn't seem to bother him, so why put him under general anesthesia for elective surgery? On the other hand, we know how essential restful sleep is for a growing child so knowing that he was snoring and possibly even suffering from sleep apnea concerned us. His teachers had commented on his heavy breathing as well. And our friends whose kids had had their tonsils removed all said their kids had had dramatic improvements in their sleep, breathing, and energy after their surgery, but the older the kids were when they had the surgery the harder and longer the recovery, so we could see that if we were going to do it it was better to do it sooner than later.
Finally we decided to do it. We scheduled the surgery for October 11. My mom came up from Austin to help watch Rebecca so we could focus on Daniel. He was excited to have her here and the night before the surgery she got to watch his swim lesson.
Daniel couldn't eat the day of the surgery so we did our best to stuff him full of food the night before with a Fuzzy's quesadilla and some treats afterward. We worried he'd wake up too late to early but early enough to have time to kill before the surgery but luckily he woke up with just enough time to get up and get in the car. We let him wear him pajamas so he'd be comfortable.
We got to the hospital, which specializes in pediatric day surgeries, and waited to be called back to the pre-op room. Daniel was given some "silly juice" to mildly sedate him. It made him pretty wobbly and he couldn't stand up without support.
After the silly juice had worked its magic a nurse came and took him to the back where he was put under general anesthesia and taken into surgery. Our wait between leaving him and getting to see him again post-surgery was probably less than an hour but it felt longer. After it was over the doctor met us to confirm that the surgery had gone well. He noted that Daniel had a lot of blockage in his airway and that he expected Daniel to breathe much better afterward. A little later we were called back to see Daniel in recovery. He was pretty tired and obviously still feeling the effects of the anesthesia.
After some popsicles and juice in the recovery bay it was time to go home. For the next few days he ran a fever on and off, an expected side effect. We had him on Motrin round the clock to help with the fever and inflammation. He didn't complain much during the day but he was pretty listless for the most part. He was tired and didn't have much of an appetite. At night he woke up screaming several times a night and had to be comforted. The fever ran its course within about 5 days but the listlessness and lack of appetite persisted for over a week. I think it was partly that his throat was hurting but also an unfortunate vicious cycle of not eating so not having any appetite and so not having the energy to eat.
He wanted to be held a lot which is definitely unusual for him. He napped in our laps for hours at a time.
But sometimes he'd want to play and show no signs that it was bothering him.
We kept him home for the most part that first week. He tried school for a few days but didn't stay long either day. He even had to miss his school's field trip to the pumpkin patch which he had been looking forward to. But his teacher got him a pumpkin anyway and he enjoyed decorating it.
We had been told to expect the recovery to take 10-14 days and it definitely took until then for Daniel to get back to his normal self. Since then we can definitely tell he is breathing more easily and not snoring anymore at night. As time passes we may see improvements beyond that; it's too soon to know right now. He had his follow-up checkup yesterday and the doctor said his tonsils have healed well and everything looks good. We're glad it all went well and hopeful that the improved breathing and sleep will bring further improvement.
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