.no more tonsils.

Before we left on vacation we found out Gage needed to have his tonsils removed. He's not one to get a ton of sore throats, but when he does...they are bad. The last time we went in before this his Doctor said to bring him in again awhile after he starts feeling better so he could see what his tonsils looked like 'healthy'. I had looked at them at home a few times and they were just ginormous!!! He snored a little when he sleeps and he actually would talk funny some days because they were so big. So, I scheduled him for surgery and we had them removed on March 2nd. I was going to wait till spring break since I didn't want him to miss much school since we took a week off for California. I couldn't wait till school was out because it would have been too close to baby time. After talking to his teacher she suggested the week of March 5th because they had that Monday off for a teacher prep day and the semester would be changing and she felt like he wouldn't miss to much then.

Josh was attending a 3 day class on confined spaces in Salt Lake and would be home that night from that. We needed to be at the hospital at 6:00am. I had TJ take care of things in the morning, getting ready for school, feeding and dressing himself and Brynn and then taking her over to Rachael's when he left for school! He did great and I was so proud of him for helping me out.

We had preregistered at the hospital so once we checked in we were taken straight back. He had all his vitals taken and then we were showed back to a room where he was instructed to get dressed in a gown. The nurse was very nice and made him feel very special with lots of souvenirs and even gave him a new blanket and stuffed animal. His surgery was scheduled for 7:00am and so we had to wait a bit. He and one other surgery were the only ones booked that day. Dr. Lish came in as well as the anesthesiologist to tell us what would happen. They then gave him some 'silly juice' and we waited another 20 minutes or so to let that kick in. I videoed Gage once the medicine started to work and he was talking a million miles a minute! Pretty funny! He got sleepy and they came and wheeled him back to surgery right on time.

The surgery was to take only about 30 minutes, once he was done Dr. Lish came and told me everything went well and they would have him back there for another 30 minutes or so before he came back to recovery.

He was already awake when I saw him. He whined immediately when he saw me, but really was doing good. The nurse brought in a DVD player where we started How to Train a Dragon for him to watch while she brought him in a Popsicle and sprite. He did well with the Popsicle and ended up getting another one and eating a slushy before we left. He got up to use the restroom and we got him dressed after that. We were cleared to go home at 10:00am. The nurse wheeled him out in a wheel chair and I pulled the car around to pick him up. He moaned on the drive home and then looked like he fell asleep once I pulled into the garage. I decided to run in an get my bedroom ready for him and by the time I came back out he was out of the car and crying at the door. He immediately ran into the bathroom and got sick. I tucked him into bed and he did okay the rest of that day.

He survived on Popsicles, yogurt, and ginger ale for a few days. By the time Monday rolled around and the kids were off school playing in the sunshine, he wanted to go outside with them. I knew better and kept him in much to his dismay. He was very sore that next day. I was religious in giving him his pain medication and set my alarm to wake him up each night when he was due. We started to taper off around day 5 and once his follow-up came around a week later, he was given the OK to go ahead and play again.

I kept him in my room that whole week so I'd be there if he woke up. We pulled the mattress off the bed and put him on the floor at night. I missed him so much when we put him back downstairs, I was used to having him in there with me at nights and kept me company since Josh works at night.

I'm happy its all over. I told him that's the good thing about having your tonsils removed...you'll never have to do that again!