Surgery day - November 14th!

Just wanted to let everyone know that my son's surgery (adenotonsillectomy) is scheduled for tomorrow morning. Please be patient with me as we get through the procedure tomorrow and the recovery in the next 7-10 days. Thank you for understanding and the well wishes you have sent to Alesh.

Updates:
11/14: The surgery went really well. Alesh did an amazing job in the recovery room. He's such a little trooper! Thank you for your support during this trying week!

11/15: Last night was very easy up until about 12:30 am when both kids woke up. Alesh because he was in pain and Lea because, well, she's Lea. She worked herself up into a midnight rage while Alesh was trying to go back to sleep after we managed to get him to take his pain meds. They both finally fell asleep at about 2 am. Alesh somehow ended up in hour bed and woke me up by snoring in my ear at 5 am.

The day was full of frustration for both Alesh and Lea. Alesh seems to be very angry and easily irritated. He's not eating as well as he was yesterday but he IS eating and drinking AND taking his pain meds. Today he called them "stupidhead yuck." And yes, that's exactly what they taste like. He is very congested but nothing is coming out which makes him really mad.

11/16: The night was much better than the previous one. The art of bribery got Alesh to take his medicine at night without waking up his sister. He loves his new trailer truck ;-)

He's still very easily frustrated. I took a peek at his throat. His uvula is very swollen and he has white patched where his tonsils used to be both of which is very normal. He has been very quiet all day today.

11/17: We had a bit of a struggle giving Alesh his pain meds last night again. We had to read a book to him to calm him down after he got really angry and refused to take the "elixir."

He went outside today for the first time since Wednesday to fly his new plane. I wish I had some photos of that. He had a really good time and I think for a while he forgot all about the throat pain. He is very excited about out trip to the coast over Thanksgiving (we are leaving on Wednesday) and started packing his toy bag already.

11/19: I'm happy to announce that we graduated from the yucky "stupidhead" pain medicine to meltaway Tylenol! I'm amazed how well Alesh is recovering! This was night 2 of not waking him up to take his pain medicine and he seems to be doing just fine with that and sleeps through. He is still extremely congested and can only breathe through his mouth.

The whole family went to the library yesterday and got a new batch of books and movies. The librarian commented on our huge book bag (thank you Laura Marriott!) saying, "I don't think I've ever seen such a big book bag!" Well, now she has!

11/20: We had another slow morning of movie watching and game playing while Lea was at preschool. We discovered Quack, Peep and Chirp of Peep and the Big Wide World, a hilarious animated series narrated by Joan Cusack. Alesh and Lea find is very entertaining and what's even better each show has some kids of scientific experiment woven into it. Very charming. We recommend it to all preschoolers!

Later in the afternoon we went on a "field trip" to the post office, the Russian store, pet store and shoe store. We mailed some letters, bought some Russian snacks, (no pets) and a couple of cool new shoes!

Alesh is doing really well. He even rode his bike in the evening! His food intake is still a bit limited and he's getting tired of all the mushy foods he's been eating. He cried, "I WANT CRACKERS!" today. So we gave him some Tylenol and that made him feel better ;-)

11/21: We had a bit of a set back with Alesh. Two nights in a row now the throat pain woke him up. He had a hard time taking the liquid medicine but also refused the meltaways which he normally loves. Even this morning, he said he didn't want Tylenol, he waned the "stupidhead" medicine because, "My throat REALLY hurts!" Poor little guy.

We're leaving for the coast this afternoon. He is very excited about that. He's had his toy bag packed for a week now!

11/22-11/25; We just got back from the coast. We stayed at a beach house with no internet access. What a treat that was! The house was right on the beach and the ocean was just a few steps away!

While at the beach house, Alesh woke up every single night crying from pain. Mind you, these were days 8 through 11 post surgery. We were back on the strong pain medicine per his request. During the day, Tylenol seemed to be enough but at night we had to resort back to "stupidhead." But... we noticed that he can FINALLY breathe through his nose which really is amazing! His snoring at night is also much less pronounced. But because of the pain, he wakes up crabby and remains crabby during the day. He has become rather "radioactive" little guy! One minute he'll be happy and cuddly, and the next he's screaming at the top of his lungs to leave him alone!

11/27: Day 13 post surgery. I *think* we are pain free at last! Alesh went to preschool for the first time after his surgery. I kept asking him throughout the day if his throat was hurting and he kept saying, "No." He's eating mu better as well. Picking him up, you can really tell he's lost some weight but with his growing appetite, I'm sure he'll bounce back to his normal weight in no time!

Thank you all again for your ongoing support!

11/28: OK, one more update regarding Alesh's recovery. Lesson learned today: If your child has adenotonsillectomy, do not give him, even on day 14 post op, any pineapple or kiwi!!! Poor Alesh, these acidic fruits made his throat really burn. I tried to have him drink some milk to even out the PH but he was so upset it was to no avail. He was fine after about 15 minutes...

1/15/2008: It has been 2 months since Alesh's surgery and I thought I would post one more update for those who might be considering this type of surgery if they suspect their child might have sleep apnea. Alesh grew 3/4" since the surgery!!! Amazing!!! Those who have met Sean and I know that we're not the tallest people, but we are both kind of tall-ish (Sean at about 6'4" and me at 5'7"). So we go to Alesh's (and Lea's) 5-year check-up and she said, "Hm, with you both [us parents] being so tall, I'd expect Alesh to be a bit taller. I guess he'll catch up when he's a bit older." I should probably give her a call now and let her know that he's nicely catching up already. His body is getting the oxygen it needs to grow. Also, there is no more snoring at night. His speech improved (which might or might not be related to the surgery).

Anyway, if you suspect your child might have sleep apnea, please see an ENT doctor. We saw 3, before we were able to make a decision to proceed with the adenotonsillectomy.