Tonsils

Who needs them anyway?

Certainly not Ethan, Ethan has had a lot of problems with his speech.

Being his mom I completely understand everything that he is saying.

My biggest concern has always been, WHY is he always sick with a cold. He always has boogers, and sounds congested. I have spent many mornings at the Dr with him and we have enough amoxacillin to last us a long time. The Dr repetitively says nothing is wrong just a cold.

When I went to sign Candice up for preschool last year the lady at the registry asked if I had ever had Ethan evaluated. I stared at her for a minute wondering what was wrong with my son. But also concerned to what she might see I asked her many questions. Then I made an appointment to have him evaluated. Great news came our way when I sat down at the evaluation center and was told Ethan has speech problems. (oh?? I understand him, he talks like he is congested and misses a few letters here and there) He started pre school a week after his sister. So he could start to get the help he needed. This year Ethan's speech has gone down hill. So bad that I have a hard time understanding him. So I thought many days and nights what I need to do. Read "symptoms" and came to the conclusion that he needs his tonsils taken out.  I called an ENT. They got us in nice and quick. As we sat down with Dr Page to talk about Ethan, he looks down Ethan's throat and says "dude them are some BIG tonsils, we need to take them out"  I so badly wanted to squeeze him!! Is this our solution? Just removing his tonsils...  I asked for the next and soonest appointment. They called and scheduled him in for the next week. Dr Page made Ethan so excited, that Ethan actually counted down the days until his surgery. When FINALLY the BIG day has come Ethan woke up and said "0" days mom. My nerves kicked in. I started to think is this the right thing to do? When we got there Ethan was so excited, there were so many scared kids, crying, clinching onto moms and dads. Not Ethan he was ready. As I was signing papers, that one dreadful paper came up "next of kin" I just about barfed all over the place. I wanted to change my mind. But I knew in my heart this is the best thing for him. The Dr had been so reassuring.  When Ethan's name was called, we went to the back to get him ready. He was more and more excited. Being one of the youngest kids in the office I could not believe how well he was taking it all in. He felt silly in his gown. Just before they came to take Ethan, The Dr came in and he says "Ethan do you remember why you are here?" Ethan responds "To get new medicine"

OH??!!  We all laugh and the Dr says Yes I will get you new meds.

After they took Ethan to the back, they took us to the patient recovery room, The procedure took a totally of 25-30 minutes. Dr said he did awesome! We went to his recovery room to find a very uncomfortable Ethan. Coughing,and moving around so I put my upper body on his to comfort him right away so he knew I was there. He calmed a little so the nurse asked me to quickly climb in bed and hold him. I was not going to deny holding my baby boy. So I climbed in and right away he reached his comfort zone. I snapped a picture of us together since I was not going to get any of just him in recovery.

UNBELIEVABLE! The Dr came to talk about his discharge and do's and don'ts. We were getting discharged at 10am only 1 hour after surgery. Ethan and I took a short nap together. I woke up to see the time was 9:45 so I climbed as gently as I could out of the bed, trying to quietly wake him up so we can get him to drink some before we left. He woke up and I asked "are you ready to go home" He said "YES" I asked the nurse for a Popsicle. I told Ethan you have to eat this so we can go home. He ate that Popsicle so fast, got dressed and walked out telling everyone "BYE"  He JUST had surgery!!! Get back in here and rest kid!! Geesh!!
 Once we got him home, he was awake and you would have never known that he had surgery. He sucked on Popsicles, and drank lots of cold beverages. Even ate noodles for dinner.
Everyone came over to see him and bring him (balloons, toys, flowers, and more Popsicles) He was so happy.  He slept without snoring, he has been breathing out of his nose, and his voice sounds different already and its JUST day 2!

 My heart is so happy to know that Ethan was on everyones mind, and prayers. A little thought here and there and calls, texts, and visits for Ethan. We are truly thankful for the wonderful people in our lives. The ones that took a minute out of their crazy busy lives to call or visit him.  I know this was the best thing for him.