Gametes In Love

It’s done! G is now tonsil-less (and adenoids-less).

He woke up and with his usual routine, waddled over to our bed where he proceeded to go back to sleep to an epic “teenager-worthy” nap. He woke up at 9:30.

Getting to the hospital was pretty un-eventful. He packed all of his friends for the trip. We were told he could bring a comfort item — he decided that his comfort item would be the entire zoo 🙂 So he packed all his buddies up in his sack.

As soon as his butt hit the waiting room seat he declared he was “bored” and demanded S’ phone so he can play Angry Birds. We let him at it — I’d rather have him zone out into a game, than over-focus on the environment. Plus it gave us opportunity to talk to nurses without a 5 yr old telling his tale of boredom woe to all in hearing range.

I feel super fortunate to have such a great hospital with staff trained with pediatric procedures. This is the second time we’ve been here (first being S2’s ear tubes). Each time the staff has made me feel really good to leave my kid in their hands. While we had the snaffu of last week where they needed to defer G’s surgery, it still ended up working out alright in the end.
In the pre-op room he got to “test” the face mask, and smell it. Even Moonka got to give it a try.

G walked off into the OR without much complaint. Anesthesiologist in the end said he was one of his best patients all year.

I had talked to him about going to sleep and needing to count to 10. I told him I could barely get past 1 before I’d fall asleep with anesthesia. I challenged him to see how high he could go. He claimed he went all the way to 10. I’m not going to validate this one with the OR staff 🙂

The time in the recovery room was rough. He opened his eyes wide, and I could tell in that instant he had no idea who I was sitting in front of him. You could tell by the sheer expression of his face and how his eyes opened that he was freaked out. Luckily he closed them and went back out for another few minutes. I hated that feeling. He woke up again a bit later, recognizing he couldn’t breathe. Because of the 3rd procedure (enlarging his nasal passages), they packed his nostrils with cotton balls. We weren’t expecting this, and accordingly failed to warn him, so he wasn’t either. He hated it. He cried, because he couldn’t breathe. And crying made his throat more uncomfortable. So he cried more. And got angry. It made me want to cry. I hated hat feeling too. Thankfully the cotton balls only needed to be in half an hour, and G dozed back off listening to his favorite new band, Big Bang Boom. The hospital had wifi, and S could stream it on his phone. After the cotton balls came out, he was much better. He stared off at my Kindle. But he drank water, and ate a pop-cycle within the first hour after surgery.

Taking his pain meds will be challenging.  Apparently kids Tylenol stings. Within 1ml of dosage he was waving the nurse off. S had the good thinking, to have him eat another pop-cycle to numb his throat. That approach worked, and they got the rest of the medication down. Now the trick is doing this again tomorrow… and the day after that.

As a whole G did really great, and we’re really proud of him. He was brave (or chose to be selectively ignorant of anything but the ice cream bit). He impresses me so much in these types of occasions.

S is spending the night in the hospital with G. I hope they both have a good night. I won’t lie, it stings a bit that G chose S. I mean, I knew he would — he’s a Daddy’s boy (right now). But it still hurt. On the flipside, I came home to find S2 declaring that he’s sleeping with me tonight because “Daddy is never coming back” So while I’m rejected by one son, I’m claimed by another. I’ll take it 🙂

I took some iPhone photos of G’s journey today. Enjoy! Now… let’s hope the rest of this week passes without much incident and his recovery goes smoothly and as pain-free as possible.

Oh! One last thing. G REALLY wanted to see his tonsils in the end. After having a tooth out (and consequent Tooth-fairy visit), he really wanted to know if he was going to get any money for his tonsils. He’s placated at least to know that he’ll be compensated for his tonsil jar contribution with a few days of non-stop ice cream consumption. While the surgery nurse couldn’t get the jar out to wait for him to wake up, she took some pictures. Be warned, that photo is in this set too… but I’ll be kind to you — it will be at the very, very end, and I will give you plenty of warning to turn away. But this is G’s story, and what he wants goes.

Ok… here goes

look away

really…. look away

this is another warning that a tonsil picture is coming

and it’s not black and white

which means you might find it gory

cuz it’s red, and you know what red means

have you looked away yet?

are you having one of those “curiosity killed the cat” moments?

alright, don’t say you weren’t warned!

For reference, we were told they were the size of grapes. And no, A — don’t know if it’s Champagne or other variety ;p

G has sleep apnea.

At his last dentist appointment his dentist observed the size of his tonsils, and asked if he snored a lot. While the answer had been “yes”, we’d never thought much about it — I mean, people snore right? There’s no age where it’s supposed to officially start. She proceeded to ask if he stopped breathing at night. This one had us go “uhmn… dunno!” She recommended we record him sleeping at night, and if we discovered he did, in fact, stop, to reach out to his pediatrician and talk about next steps.

At the time, it was peak allergy season, and G blessed with seasonal allergies was downing Claritin nighly to keep his snot in check. We didn’t think too much of it, I guess? But S dutifully snuck into his room, and recorded him sleeping (thank you, iPhone). Sure enough, he stopped. So a short email exchange later with Dr. M, we had an appointment to be seen.

We walked away with an upgraded prescription for Flonase and a referral to an ENT.

We, luckily ended up at the same ENT that did S2’s surgery a few years back. She referred us to a sleep study.

G and S spent a night at a sleep clinic with G hooked up with all sorts of wires. He looked something like this:

Ok, I realize he looks kind of pitiful, but what you don’t see, is that he’s actually staring at an iPad, as part of his bed-time routine.

The sleep study showed he does, indeed, have apnea. So we’re off to the next step: surgery. G is having his tonsils and adenoids removed, along with his nasal passages scraped a bit to be enlarged. And it’s happening tomorrow.

I have trepidation, but it’s not about the surgery itself. I know it sounds strange to say that, but my concern is three-fold: 1) having him taken to the OR/waking up without us there; 2) recovery; 3) will this surgery change him?

While it was the same with S2, when he has his ear tubes inserted, the idea of seeing G walk away with a “stranger” to an OR all on his own makes my heart hurt. OR’s can be scary for an adult; what will he think? I also remember S2 waking up. He cried, and it was so tough to hear, because while he was waking up, he wasn’t himself, and he didn’t recognize us. Will G do the same?

I’ve had my tonsils removed. S has as well. But while I remember the ice-cream consumption for the day/day after, I just don’t recall being in pain, uncomfortable, or on a restricted diet for a whole week. We’ve been advised this will be his reality this upcoming week. I’m not thrilled to be around a grumpy G for that long, and the idea he’ll be in pain… ugh. They also advised that he be only moderately active for a few weeks? Have you met this child? Moderately active is only possible with a tranquilizer dart. He’s the kid that will kick anything that rolls, around the house, come 7pm… and that’s WITH a day at pre-school. Can you imagine a day of rest? Me neither!

We are very fortunate to have Grammy out here with us for the week to stay with him. He’ll be in good hands.

The last one is a little strange to explain. As much as his constant fidgeting can be perturbing at times, it’s also who he is — he’s a ball of energy. If sleep deprivation (brought on by apnea) has an effect of making him hyper, what happens when he’s finally able to sleep through the night un-interrupted? Will he stay hyper-active? Stay himself? I can’t help but wonder if this will change his personality in any way.

So there you have it. And it all happens tomorrow.

…Ok, I lied. Maybe I am worried about the surgery too.

From our trip to GG two week-ends ago. The last time we were here was for Holiday Lights, with Jennifer. We went on what was supposed to be a scorching day. It ended up being quite tolerable, actually. The heat warning was enough, though, to keep others away. Worked out great for us — lines were short and we got to do a lot of rides quickly. The boys got to do the car ride twice. S and I were each chauffeured around. We had a fun morning and headed home after lunch. Next time, we’re considering making a full day of it, and doing the park in the morning and then hitting up a community pool in the afternoon.

A few weeks ago I discovered a juice bar close to work. In an attempt to eat better (the SurveyMonkey 15 is no joke!), I’ve been doing juice for breakfast… in lieu of the absolutely mouth watering food from La Boulange. And you know what? The juice has been great. It’s tasty… depending on what I get pretty filling too. But it’s also pricey. Yes, prepare to drop your jaw when I tell you that a 14.5oz bottle is $9.50. Yeah. It’s good. Just questionable if it’s $9.50 good. So I reversed engineered the recipe of my favorite one, and got a cold press juicer (thank you referral bonus money!). Here is the juice recipe. Makes about 4.5 servings (4 days worth of juice for me), which is perfect, since that’s about as good as the juice will last for.

Needed:

– 5 apples (I prefer green, but your favorite will do)
– 1 whole pineapple
– 4-5 sprigs of fresh mint leaves
– 2-3 sprigs of fresh spinach
– a willing juicer. I happen to have one in the 5 yr old boy variety. He labors for fruit and resulting juice, so he’s a pretty cheap date.

A bunch of mint and a bunch of spinach last me through 2-3 juicings.

Juice the above. I prefer starting with the veggies, and ending with the fruit. The above should produce about 5 1/3 cups of un-dilutted juice. Add 2-3 cups of water (filtered if your tap is yucky). I say 2-3 because it depends on how diluted you want your juice. Keep in the fridge, and shake before drinking (since it will separate over time).

You’re welcome 🙂

Most of the trips we take over the course of the year are about being and spending time with family. Aside from a Tahoe trip we did with the kids last winter, we haven’t been on a family (as in, not visiting) trip since… I can’t even remember. S wanted to take the boys to a water park. There’s a great place in North Carolina he’s been eyeing — The Great Wolfe Lodge. We considered doing some time there and then group it with a visit to S’ family, but ticket cost right now is way too prohibitive. We were looking at 4K easy. So we decided to go South to Palm Springs and stayed at the Las Palmas resort. It’s… a little toasty this time of year. By a little, I mean 104F (40C), so being outside was a challenge for me. But guess what? I kept it together, and I didn’t spew fire and brimstone the whole time we were there. We went to the pool in the morning, went back to our rooms for lunch/rest, and then back out t o the pool in the late afternoon. It was pretty sweet, and it’s a trip I’d actually love to do again… with friends. My only wish was that the resort offered daycare or babysitting services. While they had kid activities available, I would’ve loved some alone time with S.

I somehow fooled myself into thinking that I might be able to do some reading on this trip. Poolside too. Ha! Yeah, a 3 and a 5 yr old can’t really be left unattended, for reading enjoyment. Actually G totally held his own, because at this point he’s a pretty independent swimmer, and can comfortably swim the length of a pool if he wanted/needed to. Plus the pool was 3.5′ at the deepest, so it wasn’t too scary for him. S2 on the other hand? Has no fear, and the swimming skills of a soggy leaf (not quite a rock). Even with a life-vest in the pool, he needed a companion a few feet away. So I guess catching up on literature will have to wait a few more years.

G’s been pretty impressive with eating of late. He’s willing to try new foods, and is definitely gravitating to my diet (surprise!). S2 even blew us away by eating a peanut butter sandwich (we can’t get too crazy now… jelly has to wait). They behaved also pretty good. They were awesome on the drives to/fro, and no major tantrums while away: we didn’t tranquilize them, after all. I took naps every day, and even got to wake up at 9am one morning: a wake-up hour I also haven’t sen since pre-children.

My parents joined us on our first day in the desert, before we checked into our hotel. We did the tram ride up Mount St. Jacinto. It was pretty cool! Literally. There was a 30 degree difference between top of the mountain and the base. If S had to live in the area, he said he’d buy a membership to the mountain, just so he can escape from the heat.

S2: Mommy! Look! A new airplane. I’m going go to show it to some people I don’t know.