There are things you do for your children, things you don't want to do, but nevertheless have to be done. You know in the long run it will be worth it! Some of these things might include shots, time outs maybe even shoving them into nursery and shutting the door before they can run out :) Well for me, January 25 was one of those times. I had an appointment for Dylan to see an ears, nose and throat doctor (ENT). I had a feeling Dylan's tonsils were large. Mostly because he was a loud snorer. Even when he was awake, he was STILL snoring. John and I thought this was kind of cute, but not a big deal. My mom kept telling me to take him to an ENT to get his tonsils looked at, but I dragged my feet because I thought he was too little. Well, in the beginning of December I decided to get his tonsils looked at. Our pediatrician told us that Dylan's tonsils were big, but since he tested positive for strep the day before, it was hard to tell how big they normally would be. But he did say, while Dylan was sick, his tonsils were almost touching! :) He recommended an ENT specialist, but warned me that it is hard to get a doctor to take tonsils out now. Not like when I was little and everyone got their tonsils out. Dylan had to show a real need to have then taken out. Other then this winter, Dylan had never really been sick, so in that aspect, his tonsils weren't creating a problem. It was really just his snoring, oh yeah, and his cute, deep, raspy voice that melted every ones heart ;)
Anyway I made an appointment for the first available date was January 25 (a month in a half later!) I thought no big deal, I can wait. Well as the day approached I was sure dreading it. Then the night of Jan 22 came, and everything change.
Around 2 am John and I heard this horrible cough, we quickly go up are ran to see who it was. We found Dylan coughing, it was a horrible cough, the dog bark or otter cough. I quickly put him in his bathroom and filled it full of steam. I also gave him a breathing treatment while John was googling his symptoms. We decided to wait it out. Sunday morning Dylan was fine!! I thought great, just a weird night. Not so, Sunday night was just as bad. John and I were up all night with Dylan trying to figure out how to stop this horrible cough. Well, Monday morning I dropped Jacob off and headed to our pediatrician's office. One of the other pediatricians examined Dylan and turns out Dylan was perfect, not so much as a runny nose. However, she could hear Dylan wheezing, she listen to his lungs, but she said they were clear. I told her this is always how Dylan sounds. He is just a loud mouth breather. Not so, I was informed that his tonsils were making it hard for him to breathe, oh the cough he had a night was caused by him not being able the breathe, this was how is body was waking himself up. Great!! Tell that to an already tired mom that her 3 year old was having trouble breathing. She wanted to prescribe Dylan some steroids to shrink his tonsils but didn't because his appointment with the ENT was the next day. So she told me to run a humidifier and give him triaminic while he slept to help dry him up. Well after hearing this, my dreaded appointment could not come fast enough.
John and I did not sleep that night, we were just listening to Dylan snoring, waiting for him to start coughing, knowing it was hard for him to breathe. Also, I was worried what the ENT was going to say to us. Well, Tuesday morning John and I got the boys ready and headed out the door for a 8:50am appointment. As the nurse was mentioning how everything works and asking Dylan some questions, she said if the Dr decided to take out his tonsils, the earliest it would be was in two to four weeks. He was pretty busy and only did surgeries Tues and Thurs mornings. Well the Dr came in and started asking his normal questions like why we decided the have his tonsils look at. John told him about the coughing at night. He could tell we were worried, but did say that Dylan wouldn't actually die from this. He said that the process for Dylan to get his tonsils out was about 2-4 weeks, just like the nurse said.
He sat down to examine Dylan, he put on his funny glasses and told Dylan to open wide. Dylan did, he put down his glasses, looked at us and said Thursday Dylan's tonsils were coming out. He said not only were his tonsil wide, but they were deep as well. He had John and I both look down his throat to show us his tonsils and the little slit Dylan had to breathe through. Poor kid, so John took Dylan back to get his blood taken, while I filled out papers. Oh and the entire time Jacob was trying to remove his skin so he could see if his skeleton looked he the ones on all the cool pictures on the wall! :)
In the long run I was glad I only had a day to get ready for this. So Wednesday night, we packed up, head a few miles down the street and had a sleep over at nana and grandpa's house. Well first I should say we met them for dinner at Cafe Rio, where Jacob told my mom he was going to play with her tomorrow while Dylan went to the Dr to have his arm cut off! That comment about put me over the edge :) John, Dylan and I got up early Thursday and headed to the hospital's out patient surgery center. We had to be there be at 6:30 am for an 8am operation. A little before 7 they called us back to get Dylan signed in at explain the all the scary stuff to us. John actually knew one of the nurses. He works with her husband, small world!
A little before 8 am 2 male nurses came to carry Dylan away. This was the hardest part for me. Dylan had NO idea what was going on. How do you explain this to a 3 year old? Dylan was actually excited to see where they were taking him. I think this is mainly because John and I had smiles glued to our faces trying to stay upbeat and happy. We were told it would take about 45 mins. We grabbed Dylan's sweatshirt and headed to the waiting room.
For about 45 min John and I played boggle on my I-pad (side note, if you have an i-pad get this game, it is so much fun). Finally the Dr came out, the first thing he said was "those were some pretty impressive tonsils!" He also said that the adenoids were just as big, so they came out as well. Then saw we had my i-pad and wanted to talk about how we liked it. Funny I wanted to know more about my son :) After another 10 mins we were allowed to go back and see a very tired and confused Dylan. Poor kid. He had to hang out for a few more hours before we could go home. When it was time to go home Dylan informed me we wanted to go to nana's house and play :)
I was able to hold Dylan for 2 hours after the surgery before he was allowed to go home. He slept the entire time.
He slept the entire car ride home!
Dylan cuddled with me the entire day. Poor Ryan was having a hard time with me not being able to hold him. Thankfully daddy was there to hold and cuddle with lil' Ryan :)
The first night, I was amazed by how quiet he was!
We have been eating lots of ice cream!
Nap time!
All better!!
Just for the record, Dylan never stopped talking. NEVER! The first day was pretty bad. He cuddled and slept most of the day. Later that night I took him on a car trip to drive through Walgreens. This turned out to be a bad idea! Anyone know how to get the smell of throw up out of my car?? Anyway, the next day Dylan was up and about. I had to watch him like a hawk after I had to dig a pretzel out of his mouth :) John went to work for a few hours and my mom came and pick up Jacob. Later that afternoon Dylan was out on his scooter. He ran a fever that night. We tried to keep him down on Saturday. Dylan was so frustrated because he had to stay home and only eat soft foods. This boy wanted to party! By Sunday I told John we need to take him to my parents house so that he could terrorize another place for a little bit! :)
I think it is amazing (and a blessing) how fast kids rebound. Dylan's low, scruffy voice has now been replaced with a high, clear voice. But the best part is that at night my home is completely quiet!!! At one time no matter where you were in the home you could hear Dylan breathing or snoring. Now when I hold him he is completely quiet! Even better at night he sleeps so quietly and peacefully. When I check on him at night I actually have to go into his room and lean over to make sure he is breathing :) A huge change!!
The dreaded appoint was the means to an end. I didn't want to do this, but I am so glad I did!
Sweet Ryan! Right after putting Dylan in the car (and looking for the first place to find a diet coke) I checked my phone and noticed a missed call from the pediatricians office. I called back and Ryan's pediatrician informed me that the radiologist thought Ryan still had pneumonia after looking at his x-ray. During the last round of anti-biotics we learned the Ryan has a penicillin allergy. Anyway, after starting Ryan on a strong, penicillin free anti-biotic I am so happy to say that this little guy is healthy once again!! He has a follow up x-ray in 2 weeks, but I think this time he will pass with flying colors. The third time is always the charm, right?!?
Jacob is as sweet and helpful as ever!! He received a letter in the mail the other day inviting him to register for kindergarten, tear!
At Amazing Jake the following week with grandpa! My brother Jeff and his family were in town for the coldest week ever!! (My dad is always happy to make the blog :)
Finally, two of John's sisters and two cousins are visiting us this weekend. So it is going to be a party here for a while!!
