Porter’s Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy

Porter had been having lots of trouble sleeping and never seeming adequately rested, night terrors, snoring, gagging on food when he ate, etc. etc. etc.  We took him to see our pediatrician and he told us that Porter had enlarged tonsils and he was wondering if that was what was causing some of his troubles.  We were then referred to see an ENT (Ears, Nose and Throat Specialist) where we found out that he most likely suffered from Obstructive Sleep Apnea because of his enlarged tonsils and that he hasn’t been able to get in the level 4 deep sleep at night.  On July 9th, Porter had his tonsils and adenoids removed at Primary Children’s Hospital in Riverton.  When we first arrived at the hospital, they had Porter change into a pair of hospital pajamas.  They then pushed him in a little cute wagon to the waiting room/ children’s play room where there were tons of fun toys and cute activities for kids. 

It was kind of sad seeing him having so much fun playing with all of the fun things, because he had no idea of what was too come.  After he played for a while, the anesthesiologist came to talk to us, and then came to get Porter.  Porter was so brave and did everything that he asked him to do.  It was so frightening for me to watch him take Porter away.  They let him follow the anesthesiologist driving his little car.  We weren’t allowed to be with him when they gave him the sleepy medication to make him fall asleep.  But what they did was have him choose a yummy flavor such as strawberry, rootbeer, blueberry etc.  (Porter chose rootberry..haha) and then they put that flavor in a little mask that Porter had to put over his mouth.  The minute he breathed it in, it would make him fall asleep.  The anesthesiologist spoke to us afterwards and commented that he couldn’t believe that Porter was only 3 and that he was so cooperative and friendly.  Yay Porter.  The surgery only lasted 25 minutes.  As he started waking up from his anesthesia, they came and got me and brought me to the surgery room.  It was so dramatic for me to see.  Porter was screaming on the top of his lungs.  I was able to hold him while 4 nurses held him down trying to get his pain medication into his mouth.  It was so sad.  Poor little guy was in so much pain.  It took a long time for his medication to kick in and where he started to feel more comfortable.  After we were transferred to the recovery room, Paul was able to join us. 

The most important thing for Porter was to have him get as much liquids in him that he could.  When the medicine started kicking in, he was able to eat a couple of licks of a popsicle which helped his throat to feel better.  Poor little guy did not feel good at all. 

After just a couple of hours at the hospital we were able to take Porter home.  Porter was so excited to see Aunt Natasha and Uncle Colby at our home.  (They had babysat Kaden while we were at the hospital.)They were wonderful in helping Porter forget about the pain he was feeling. 

Porter was so brave when we got home even though he didn’t feel good at all.  He is such a little trooper.  We bought him a little Leap Pad Explorer to help take his mind off of everything that was going on, and that seemed to help a lot.  

The first couple of days actually went fairly well.  Every 3 hours, he rotated between taking lorotab and ibuprofen.  We bought him lots of fun treats and drinks to help make sure that he was getting the liquids that he needed and he did a pretty good job and drinking.  And he also was sleeping fairly well.  Then, about 3 days after his surgery, we found out that he had a temperature of 103.5… poor little guy.  We found out that he had an infection and was put on antibiotics.  For the next 4 days or so he was waking up at least every hour of the night just screaming, and was refusing to drink or eat and take his medicine.  It was so rough.  We were so scared that he was going to get dehydrated and had to basically force his medicine and liquids down him.  Poor little Porter.  This is how he looked most of the time.

It was so sad to see him feeling so horrible.  At least that didn’t last very long and he is doing awesome now.  We just saw our ENT a couple of days ago for Porter’s follow up appointment and his throat was not quite done healing, but that everything looked great.  YAY!!  Hopefully this will help a lot of things.  So glad that it is over and that Porter is feeling better.  Thanks so much to everyone for all the support that was shown to Porter.  He is one loved little boy!!