No, literally, they are a HUGE pain in the neck when removed. I read about this in the little sheet that the dr. gave us, but GEESH, who knew it would be this bad.
D's at day 3 post op and starting to eat and drinking so much. However, it's the severe pain that he has in his shoulders and neck which are killing him. He's got knots all in his neck and shoulders. He just wants us to rub and rub. Today I tried to take him out for a short period to the play area mall. Within a matter of a few minutes, D was back crying and rubbing his neck. So, a trip to the mall was wasted.
As for him drinking, my wet bed is tell tale to that. Sometime last night he came into my room and asked to sleep in my bed. Anyone who knows me knows that there are only 2 reasons a kid needs to sleep with their parents - they're sick or scared. He's SICK, so in he crawled and kept me awake with his flailing limbs and snoring. UGH! There is another downside because at some point in the wee early hours of the morning, he took off his Pull-Ups and pants resulting in a HUGE puddle on my non-waterproofed sheets and mattress pad. 5:24!!
So yesterday was a wake up call at 5am'ish and today was the same. I may fall asleep in my soup - hmmmmm maybe I shouldn't have soup for dinner. I'm exhausted.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Ouchils and annoyeds
D went "under the knife" yesterday and had his tonsils and adenoids removed. Along with that, he had a thorough ear cleaning. We got to the ENT clinic at 8am, as told for pre-op stuff. I had to laugh b/c the nurse (who was young and definitely doesn't have kids) tried to have D take his temp with an oral thermometer. Ummm, he's 4yo. 4yo's don't quiet get the concept of putting something under their tongue - well, at least mine doesn't. At 8:25, they were ready to bring him back to the surgical room. Once again, the nurse really needs to have a better understanding of kids - she started walking ahead of D and he was just standing there holding onto my leg. Crying. Which was AWFUL!!! So, I asked her to come back and I had D take her hand. He stopped crying at that point and walked into the room with her. However, Mommy was on the verge of tears. That was one of the hardest things to do. Parents were not allowed into the surgical area.
At 9:05, we were told that D was done and that we could go back and see him in recovery. The recovery nurse we had was WONDERFUL. She has kids... D was asleep on the bed still with a breathing tube in him. Tina (the nurse - and yes confusing for D) said that they take it out when patients become more awake. At 10:10 we were out the door with our little man in Daddy's arms.
Yesterday was a day full of movies, begging D to drink or eat ice-cream, crying, whining and clinginess - most of that was from D. Getting him to take is pain medication is horrible. He throws a huge fit - yes, I know it hurts, but it does make him feel sooo much better.
Sometimes I wonder what goes through M's mind as a daddy. He told D that he could sleep in his room. I gave D his medicine at 9pm and went to bed myself. At 5am I had a knock on my door from M stating that D didn't sleep all night, he just cried and whined and wanted his neck rubbed. So, I asked M when the last time he gave D medicine. "when you gave it to him last night". WHAT?! "I didn't want to give him medicine unnecessarily" was the answer I got. So, at 5:30am, D got his medicine and laid in my bed for 2 hours dozing off and on. I took a nice hot long shower and when I came out D was awake, drank more than 1/2 of his juice, and wanted to go downstairs to watch TV. He's now sound asleep on the couch. Hmmmmmm - I wonder if the pain medication has anything to do with the fact he's comfortable and sleeping?
Unfortunately, the paperwork we got from the dr. stated that days 2-4 are the worst!! FANTASTIC! It's beautiful outside and I'm stuck in the house. All well, there will be plenty more nice weekends to enjoy.
At 9:05, we were told that D was done and that we could go back and see him in recovery. The recovery nurse we had was WONDERFUL. She has kids... D was asleep on the bed still with a breathing tube in him. Tina (the nurse - and yes confusing for D) said that they take it out when patients become more awake. At 10:10 we were out the door with our little man in Daddy's arms.
Yesterday was a day full of movies, begging D to drink or eat ice-cream, crying, whining and clinginess - most of that was from D. Getting him to take is pain medication is horrible. He throws a huge fit - yes, I know it hurts, but it does make him feel sooo much better.
Sometimes I wonder what goes through M's mind as a daddy. He told D that he could sleep in his room. I gave D his medicine at 9pm and went to bed myself. At 5am I had a knock on my door from M stating that D didn't sleep all night, he just cried and whined and wanted his neck rubbed. So, I asked M when the last time he gave D medicine. "when you gave it to him last night". WHAT?! "I didn't want to give him medicine unnecessarily" was the answer I got. So, at 5:30am, D got his medicine and laid in my bed for 2 hours dozing off and on. I took a nice hot long shower and when I came out D was awake, drank more than 1/2 of his juice, and wanted to go downstairs to watch TV. He's now sound asleep on the couch. Hmmmmmm - I wonder if the pain medication has anything to do with the fact he's comfortable and sleeping?
Unfortunately, the paperwork we got from the dr. stated that days 2-4 are the worst!! FANTASTIC! It's beautiful outside and I'm stuck in the house. All well, there will be plenty more nice weekends to enjoy.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Mt. St. Helens
Yesterday I took a trip up to Mt. St. Helens. It's a place that I've wanted to go since moving here - you can see the mountain from our house, so yesterday proved to be the best time to go. I didn't have D for the day, so after a lazy morning, I headed up.
HOLY COW!! From my house we see the backside of Helens....the side that didn't blow apart. It is amazing to see the destruction caused and how almost 30 years later many parts still haven't recovered.
This last picture of a tree stump demonstrates the force of the blast. This large tree was snapped off like a matchstick. I met a ranger at one of the rest stops and she was saying that the tree stumps that you see (everywhere) some are flat (cut by loggers) and others are jagged. The jagged ones are the trees which were literally blown away by 300mph winds. There were tree stumps snapped off which were HUGE! Probably had a 4-5ft diameter.
Great day. Great weather. A great learning experience for me.
HOLY COW!! From my house we see the backside of Helens....the side that didn't blow apart. It is amazing to see the destruction caused and how almost 30 years later many parts still haven't recovered.
This last picture of a tree stump demonstrates the force of the blast. This large tree was snapped off like a matchstick. I met a ranger at one of the rest stops and she was saying that the tree stumps that you see (everywhere) some are flat (cut by loggers) and others are jagged. The jagged ones are the trees which were literally blown away by 300mph winds. There were tree stumps snapped off which were HUGE! Probably had a 4-5ft diameter. Great day. Great weather. A great learning experience for me.
Watch your penis' and queues
This morning D had me laughing very hard. He's been walking around lately holding his penis (oh, I'm sure he's going to LOVE that I'm blogging about this) and this morning was no exception. Generally the holding is on the outside of his pants, but today he had his hands inside his PJ's. I asked him nicely to remove his hands and then muttered under my breath that he was a typical boy.
He looked directly at me and said: "Mooom, I'm a boy. I will ALWAYS be touching my penis"
Yep, he's 4.
He looked directly at me and said: "Mooom, I'm a boy. I will ALWAYS be touching my penis"
Yep, he's 4.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Open wide and PUUULLLLL!
Ok, really gross title, but kinda funny. D is scheduled for a tonsil/adenoidectomy next Friday. I'm sure that I've complained endlessly about the amount of snot one child could produce in a short lifetime. After taking him through the school screening for his speech, they recommended seeing an ENT. The ENT noticed a HUGE amount of impacted wax in his ears, but also noticed the flood of boogies draining from his nose. He had D open his mouth and say "AAHHH" and the dr. was shocked that D hasn't complained about having a sore throat...ever. His tonsils are huge, his adenoids are huge and his ears are full of wax.
We did a week of at home wax removal treatments and returned for another exam. He still had TONS. They took a vacuum to his right ear and thoroughly cleaned it out. His left ear was not as successful. D cried and cried, so the Dr. stopped.
So next Friday, D goes in to have everything removed. They'll thoroughly clean his ears (it's really just his left ear now) and removed pieces parts. They say that he'll have about a 14 day recovery period, but most people I've talked to who have young children like D said that by day 2 the kids were acting and playing fine. I expect that he'll return to school the next week - Tuesday. OHHHH!! And after they got the right ear cleaned, they didn't see any fluid behind it, so doesn't look like he'll need tubes. YIPPPPEEE!!
We did a week of at home wax removal treatments and returned for another exam. He still had TONS. They took a vacuum to his right ear and thoroughly cleaned it out. His left ear was not as successful. D cried and cried, so the Dr. stopped.
So next Friday, D goes in to have everything removed. They'll thoroughly clean his ears (it's really just his left ear now) and removed pieces parts. They say that he'll have about a 14 day recovery period, but most people I've talked to who have young children like D said that by day 2 the kids were acting and playing fine. I expect that he'll return to school the next week - Tuesday. OHHHH!! And after they got the right ear cleaned, they didn't see any fluid behind it, so doesn't look like he'll need tubes. YIPPPPEEE!!
Thursday, May 14, 2009
ENT visit
So about a week ago, I had D tested through the school district for his speech. They found that he had a significant hearing loss in his right ear and recommended seeing an ENT. The appointment was today and some interesting facts.
D has HUGE amounts of wax within his ears, so the Dr. took a scraper and got lots of it out. For the next week we have to use Debrox to help soften and remove the remaining wax. Then D will go back into the dr to see if it's clear, then a hearing test will be administered. Dr. thinks that there may be fluid build up behind the ear, but can't even see that far with all the wax.
He also noticed D's extremely runny nose and asked me about it. I said that D has it practically all winter long and I think that it's an allergy of some sort. The Dr. felt D's neck and then had him open wide. Looks like D needs his adnoids and possibly his tonsils taken out. Dr. stated that when kids have cronic stuffy noses (like D) most likely his adnoids are not functioning properly and he'll be better off having them removed.
If D needs tubes in his ears, they'll do all the procedures at one time. Sooooo, in a week we'll have a better understanding of D's hearing and where we'll be proceding next.
I'm off to clean the house b/c the people are back for a 3rd look!! I knew they'd be back. Never let your parents decided on the house you love!!
D has HUGE amounts of wax within his ears, so the Dr. took a scraper and got lots of it out. For the next week we have to use Debrox to help soften and remove the remaining wax. Then D will go back into the dr to see if it's clear, then a hearing test will be administered. Dr. thinks that there may be fluid build up behind the ear, but can't even see that far with all the wax.
He also noticed D's extremely runny nose and asked me about it. I said that D has it practically all winter long and I think that it's an allergy of some sort. The Dr. felt D's neck and then had him open wide. Looks like D needs his adnoids and possibly his tonsils taken out. Dr. stated that when kids have cronic stuffy noses (like D) most likely his adnoids are not functioning properly and he'll be better off having them removed.
If D needs tubes in his ears, they'll do all the procedures at one time. Sooooo, in a week we'll have a better understanding of D's hearing and where we'll be proceding next.
I'm off to clean the house b/c the people are back for a 3rd look!! I knew they'd be back. Never let your parents decided on the house you love!!
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Evaluation
D has a pretty significant lisp and I have noticed recently that I've been translating a lot for him to other people, so I decided to have the school district evaluate him. On Friday morning, D was subjected to many "tests", eyesight, cognitive, hearing, speech...etc. We received the results of their findings that afternoon.
D is average or above average for everything....except...his hearing in his right ear. They said that there is a significant loss and it is recommended to visit an ENT to rule out anything medically wrong (wax). YIKES!! So, come Monday morn., I'll be on the phone with his pediatrician getting names of ENT's they recommend. OH! And he doesn't qualify for speech therapy.
D is average or above average for everything....except...his hearing in his right ear. They said that there is a significant loss and it is recommended to visit an ENT to rule out anything medically wrong (wax). YIKES!! So, come Monday morn., I'll be on the phone with his pediatrician getting names of ENT's they recommend. OH! And he doesn't qualify for speech therapy.
Rain Train
Yesterday was a cloudy but pretty nice day outside and we had a showing of the house in the afternoon, so I took D to the zoo. Just as we were approaching the seals (the first exhibit) it started to sprinkle. Up went the hoods, not a big deal, we put up our hoods and continued. The rain stopped and we dried off. The polar bears were quite active, the elephants were not. After a snack it was time to head home. D had the choice of seeing the alligator or taking a train ride. He chose the train (high-insight is 20/20).
It was 3:45 and the last train is at 4, so we were catching the last ride. As we stood in line for tickets, it started to rain again. It's OK b/c the train is covered. We get seated on the train - the metal train (it's important that I tell you this) and we're waiting for the last stragglers to get their tickets and get on board. When suddenly....
the sky opens up the flood gates and it is a down pour with high winds. While the train may have a roof, it has no sides - we were getting rained on. Then the flashes of lightning followed by thunder. I immediately had a 4yo scrambling onto my lap. Luckily D has a book called Drumheller Dinosaurs where dino's are the ones making thunder. He was fine with thunder once I reminded him it was just the Drumheller Dino's. So, the downpour continues along with the wind and then....
HAIL It was pea sized, but once it was all over, there was about 1/2 inch of the stuff on the ground. Remember, we're still sitting on this zoo train w/out any sides. We were being hit with hail. Thank goodness it had a roof - that would have been aweful! Once the storm passed about 10 min later, they made us all get off the train....UGH! Now the temps have dropped and we're freezing. Luckily they were giving refunds if you didn't want to take the train - which we decided against. We were wet and cold. D started crying b/c his hands were so cold.
The mass exidous from the zoo was incredible. They had all security and staff out and about making sure everyone was ok. All of us leaving looked as if we had been through a battle. At the Oregon zoo, there aren't many places to go that are covered, so I'm sure that some people got caught out in the open during that storm - those poor things.
Yes, I will return to the zoo. It's one of our favorite activities. We're supposed to get lions this year, so that will be VERY exciting. Next time, I'll be sure to check the weather report first.
It was 3:45 and the last train is at 4, so we were catching the last ride. As we stood in line for tickets, it started to rain again. It's OK b/c the train is covered. We get seated on the train - the metal train (it's important that I tell you this) and we're waiting for the last stragglers to get their tickets and get on board. When suddenly....
the sky opens up the flood gates and it is a down pour with high winds. While the train may have a roof, it has no sides - we were getting rained on. Then the flashes of lightning followed by thunder. I immediately had a 4yo scrambling onto my lap. Luckily D has a book called Drumheller Dinosaurs where dino's are the ones making thunder. He was fine with thunder once I reminded him it was just the Drumheller Dino's. So, the downpour continues along with the wind and then....
HAIL It was pea sized, but once it was all over, there was about 1/2 inch of the stuff on the ground. Remember, we're still sitting on this zoo train w/out any sides. We were being hit with hail. Thank goodness it had a roof - that would have been aweful! Once the storm passed about 10 min later, they made us all get off the train....UGH! Now the temps have dropped and we're freezing. Luckily they were giving refunds if you didn't want to take the train - which we decided against. We were wet and cold. D started crying b/c his hands were so cold.
The mass exidous from the zoo was incredible. They had all security and staff out and about making sure everyone was ok. All of us leaving looked as if we had been through a battle. At the Oregon zoo, there aren't many places to go that are covered, so I'm sure that some people got caught out in the open during that storm - those poor things.
Yes, I will return to the zoo. It's one of our favorite activities. We're supposed to get lions this year, so that will be VERY exciting. Next time, I'll be sure to check the weather report first.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
The Beach in April
As I mentioned we had GREAT weather when my mom was visiting, so we headed out to the coast to enjoy the beach. However, while I thought we were having great weather, my mom thought it was cold. She just doesn't understand PNW beaches, they're not warm warm, but windy and chillier than inland.
We got to the beach and while D and I played at the water edge, fog rolled in and blocked off the sun. The wind kicked up and off the beach we went. Onto the aquarium. It's fun to touch the various crustations, but the highlight is feeding the seals. On this day, one particular seal enjoyed getting attention and fish by splashing water at everyone. D got the brunt of his wrath!
This was taken after the seal splashing.
We got to the beach and while D and I played at the water edge, fog rolled in and blocked off the sun. The wind kicked up and off the beach we went. Onto the aquarium. It's fun to touch the various crustations, but the highlight is feeding the seals. On this day, one particular seal enjoyed getting attention and fish by splashing water at everyone. D got the brunt of his wrath!
This was taken after the seal splashing.
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