Will it be enough...

The day has finally come, Emmett's surgery. No parent is ever excited for their child to have surgery. But in this case, I have to say, that I am happy Emmett is finally going to be able to breathe easier. After his second sleep study results with no improvement from the first sleep study, the Pulmonologis recommended that Emmett have his adenoids and tonsils removed.

So we made our appointment with the ENT. She agreed that his adenoids were too big. Back in November when we met with the ENT about Emmett's first sleep study results, the ENT said that Emmett's adenoids were fine and he was too little for them to be removed. So I didn't push the issue. The ENT then pointed the finger over at the Gastro doc saying that the acid reflux is what's causing the sleep apnea. The Gastro doc is convinced that Emmett will grow out of the acid reflux, and we should repeat the test in 6 month. So again, I didn't push the issue.

So 6 months later, we repeated the test and still no change. Well that isn't entirely true, Emmett registered not only obstructed sleep apnea, but central sleep apnea as well. Central has to do with his brain. A completely other ball game that we aren't playing yet.

Back to current day. We met with the ENT, she looked up his nose and said that his adenoids are at 90% and back in November they were registering at 60%. WHAT??? Emmett's adenoids were at 60% back in November, you mean to tell me we could have taken care of his sleep apnea back in November. So my blood is starting to boil a little as we are talking with the ENT. So she says, the adenoids need to come out and that will help him to breathe a lot better.

I then suggested that his tonsils need to come out as well. Again, with the answer, he's too little. The ENT suggested that we take only the adenoids. I persisted that the they both come out. I didn't want to do another surgery in a month, two or 6 months down the road. Just get it all over with in one swoop. She was trying to negotiate with me, but I held strong. I wanted both out.

So now for the surgery day. The ENT came out 20 minutes after the nurse took Emmett into the OR. The ENT said that Emmett's adenoids were so big that they were actually blocking his nasal air way. Oh and his tonsils were rotten. WHAT? They were rotten and had grown up onto his dangle thing that hangs down to your throat. You know what I am talking about. Don't know the technical term and I am not looking it up. She explained that when she removed his tonsils, they just fell apart. She also said that WE made a good decision to take them out. Are you kidding me? If you remember right, you didn't want to take them out. I didn't say it to her, but I sure thought it. The ENT was concerned that Emmett had toxins in his lungs from the rotten tonsils, so we are keeping an eye on him for that. PHEW!!! We are over one hurdle.

Before surgery the nurses told me that I wasn't going to be able to be with him in the recovery room since he was spending the night in the hospital. I was devastated and tried again and again for permission to be with him. No such luck. Recovery didn't go as well as the nurses hoped. Emmett didn't do very well coming out of the anesthesia. So they brought me back to calm Emmett down.

While I was holding Emmett and calming him down, he started to choke, then he stopped breathing, and in my arms turned blue. The nurses panicked and said for me to get out of the room. Absolutely not, I am not going anywhere. They suctioned him out and I talked him through it. They were surprised how calm I was. Calm, I wasn't calm on the inside. I needed to be level headed for Emmett and the nurses. The one nurse that stayed with us for the rest of the recovery was awesome. She didn't feel comfortable sending us to our room until Emmett was stable and able to remove the flem on his own. So 2 1/2 hours later, we headed to our room.

We've had so many stays in the hospital that the nurses all remembered us. How sad is that?! Well it's good in a way as well, because they took good care of us. We were able to go home the next day. Even though it seemed easy in the hospital I knew that coming home was going to be whole different story. And it was.

Emmett had several episodes of where he stopped breathing. So I set up the pack-n-play in our room and I slept on the floor next to him so I could be there to make sure he kept breathing. Along with the breathing issue, Emmett would refuse to take his pain medicine and drink. It got the point where he was running a fever, and starting to get dehydrated, so we had to force him to drink with a syringe in his mouth.

After a lot of crying and sleeplessness, the sun rose and it was a new day. Phew, we made it. The recovery has been hard, but I have to say it's getting better. Emmett is starting to drink on his own, which is half the battle.

So will it be enough? We won't know for 8 weeks when we can repeat the sleep study. I hope and pray that as he heals, his sleeping pattern will get better.