Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Eli had surgery....hopefully his last!

Hello again!
Today Eli had his tonsils removed and had his 3rd set of tubes placed. I thought I'd keep a journal/update going on his progress. Just like I like to listen to other parents talk about how their child did with surgery, I'm sure I would have read a blog/journal/update about a child's recovery. So, here we go!

Let's start with a brief history...

Eli Daniel Thomas 3/4/2008 7# 10oz. 
Not a happy camper. This should have given us some insight as to what our next several months looked like. Okay, so it looked like this picture above....except it got bigger (as babies generally do).


November 2008
Eli had a "plugged tear duct" starting from about 1 month until 9 or 10 months. (the really yucky picture I have was possibly too yucky for some...this picture actually isn't too bad). I was always told it was plugged. It would ooze green goo and he'd get a runny nose, but it was still diagnosed as plugged. He was treated for his 1st (diagnosed) ear infection around July 2008. He was a fussy boy until he was on antibiotics - his attitude would be better while on the antibiotics (until about the 3rd day off), and his eye would clear up. Could it have possibly been a really bad ear infection that was just oozing out his eye because it had no other place to go? Maybe. 

July 10, 2008
Eli's 1st set of tubes. It went really good! We were expecting that he'd freak out when they came to take him back to the operating room, but he didn't! They brought a warm blanket in our room, wrapped it around his shoulders, and the anesthesiologist took him back. We were transferred to the recovery room and barely got settled in and the doctor came to chat with us. My heart sank! I thought there was NO WAY it was done. Something had to be wrong! CHILL-OUT AMANDA! We got a great report! The surgery was in fact done (approximately 15 minutes) and it had needed to be done because he was full of puss! EEEWWW! Note: at his check-up with the surgeon about 5 days before the surgery, I was told that the ear that was full of puss "looked clear"! Oops! Yes it's possible that it developed in that 5 days....but I just think it was so deep that the infection couldn't actually be seen by the otoscope. By the end of surgery day, he seemed like his normal healthy self  :)

 July 13, 2010
Just before Eli's 2nd set of tubes. This time, his adenoids went! Same thing. I thought he was going to spaz when the anesthesiologist came to get him....but he didn't! YAY! He kissed us and off he went....telling some story about his little monkey. This surgery went a little longer - maybe 30 minutes or so - due to the adenoids. Everything went as planned in the O.R. He came back to us with an IV and had to drink around 8 ounces of fluids before we left. He was pretty groggy, but didn't fuss much. He drank his fluids, his IV came out, and we headed home. Recovery was great. He was to be careful when blowing his nose, but otherwise it was pretty simple restriction-wise.
Prior to this surgery he was on Omnicef. After surgery we were advised to finish out the antibiotic +1 day...which turned out to be 11 days. 3 days after the antibiotic was finished (7 days post-op) we got this:

 Head to toe hives! UGH! It was concluded that Eli is probably allergic to Omnicef. The chiropractor says it was probably his body reacting to the stress from the surgery (which I tend to believe - having had a previous experience with stress induced hives). Everyone else ( among the health care providers that we see) says it was most likely the Omnicef. It took a couple of days to clear up. It actually started out on his torso and spread all over the rest of his body over the course of 3 days. On the 2nd day, we gave him Benadryl and it seemed to help quite a bit! By day 3 it was nearly gone.

In between each surgery, his tubes fell out and he had around 5 ear infections (between each set of tubes).

Which brings us to today...
June 21, 2011
Before surgery:

After surgery:
3rd set of tubes and no more tonsils! His surgery lasted around 30 minutes or maybe a little longer. The doctor said his tonsils definitely needed to come out. They apparently were HUGE! He was crying as he was starting to wake up, so they calmed him down a bit and then brought him to us. He was definitely NOT a happy little boy! He was crying :( and just looked so helpless! I felt TERRIBLE! He said he was going to throw up (which is normal), but thank God, he didn't! The nurse said that Eli had to consume 10 ounces of fluids before his IV could come out and if he was stable, we could leave shortly after that. We thought 1-2 hours, tops! WRONG! Surgery started at 7a.m. and we left around 1:30p.m.
Eli didn't want to drink. Understandable. He wanted his IV out. Understandable. He was tired. Also, understandable. And, he just wanted to go home... .ME TOO! Poor little guy! He was given some medicine to help with the nausea, and some pain meds to control his pain.
He drank a little of everything, ate some jell-o, watched some cartoons, slept a bit, read some books, and drank some more. Finally, he met the requirements and we headed home. 
He gets a little fussy as the medicine gets close to wearing off...so we are trying to keep on top of that. He ate pancakes, jell-o, and pudding tonight. Healthy, I know! Powerade and water have been his drinks-of-choice. Whatever works! 
We were told to wake him up in the night, every 4 hours, to drink and take Tylenol. I just attempted. I got him to drink, but he totally refused his medicine. So, I guess I'll either try to slip a little in while he is sleeping or not, and let Trent try again at 4:30. Overall, I feel like he's doing pretty good considering what he's been through. Thank You, Lord, for bringing us this far!!!

Please, if you have taken the time to read this, take just a little more time and pray for Eli.....and all of us....

Thanks! I hope to continue giving updates on his progress. Maybe this will help ease the mind of an anxious mom, or just give someone a general idea of what this entire process sort of looks like....I don't know.... 
Anyway, it'll be here. :o)

Adios!  


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