Surgery and Christmastime

Here's poor little Neptune before surgery. Poor kid had no idea what was coming to him! He got up and went to the hospital with me and was in a great mood. The nurses just totally fell in love with him. The weather was awful, but we made it and were even there a little early. It was nice having the first surgery of the day 'cuz everyone was on time for the most part. It was very quick and uneventful. The dr came to talk to us afterwards. The poor kids nasal passages were more than half blocked by adenoid tissue. He's going to be able to breathe so much better. I can't imagine dealing with asthma and that on top of it!

After surgery he was obviously not feeling as wonderful. In fact he's had a much much harder time getting over this than Mercury did. And that amazes me. I thought Neptune would be the tougher of the two. The dr finally today agreed to call in a narcotic for the poor kid. We've been alternating Tylenol/Motrin every three hours and that only does the trick for two out of those three hours. And nighttime...is a nightmare. He's up every two hours screaming his fool little head off. We'll probably only use the prescription stuff at night, and I sure hope it helps.

When we got home from the hospital I set him down so I could go to the bathroom. Well he decided he was
gonna get up and walk. Poor kid
was still so doped up he fell into a
dresser and bruised his head. The cut under is eye is something his brother helped him out with the day before. Nice, huh? Anyway, I was so looking forward to a nap with Neptune before Mercury got home from daycare. No such luck. Neptune waited until Mercury was home, then passed out on the living room floor. Thanks kid. How come I always get screwed?

As for Christmastime? I learned an important lesson this year. No matter how strange a present is that ends up on my kids list to Santa, I must listen. Mercury had put a telescope on his list to Santa. I kinda blew it off. Till yesterday. 'Santa' sent him a video email and mentioned that he was sure Mercury would get that special present he had asked for. When I asked Mercury what that present was I was informed it was the telescope. What 4-yr old asks for a telescope? I asked Mercury what would happen if he didn't get it from Santa. He looked at me with all seriousness and said, "I would cry".

Well guess what kid? Santa didn't get you a telescope! So I've had this huge internal battle all night. Do I hunt down a telescope on Dec. 23rd or let my 4-yr old be disappointed on Christmas. Am I spoiling him if I get one? I wrestled with this all night. And I was up basically all night 'cuz Neptune was screaming his head off. So this morning I start searching the Internet and calling around to stores. 'Cuz if I'm gonna do this I'm not getting a 4-yr old some $70-300.00 telescope. That's for darn sure. Well my SIL suggests calling Dicks Sporting Goods. I now owe my life not only to her, but to that store as well. This morning...that's right this morning they clearenced a bunch of telescopes down to $20.00. So I called Jupiter and he ran right over there. The thing comes in a case with a stand and a microscope. Mercury is going to be sooo excited come Christmas. Now I'm sure it's not some extremely powerful telescope, but it will be more than enough for a 4-yr old.

So what did I learn this year? PAY ATTENTION! lol

Surgery? Again?

I knew it was coming. I did. I'm just surprised at how fast.

Back story. Neptune was born a month early. He had blood sugar problems in the hospital and we had to give him glycerin water quite a few times. He had breathing problems while in the hospital and was monitored very closely. He had to stay longer 'cuz here in this part of the world, he was considered premature. I had a wonderful OB (well I had a midwife, but she could not do my delivery 'cuz Neptune was premature) that wouldn't release me from the hospital until Neptune was released. And for that I am eternally grateful. At three days old Neptune had his tongue snipped. He was born tongue tied. At one week old he had his first ear infection. From then on he had 'on average' one ear infection a month. He was tested at 11 mo old. He was almost totally deaf from the infections and fluid in his ears. They put tubes in three weeks before his first birthday. Five days later he started walking. Two weeks or so after his tubes were put in he had another ear infection. Since then (January of '08) he has had 5-6 ear infections. With tubes. He just had another one about 12 days ago. I took him back to the ENT today and they are going to take his adenoids out. Mercury had his adenoids out last November ('07). He had chronic adenoid infections. He was on an antibiotic every other month or so in the winter since birth. In the past year since his surgery, he's been on one antibiotic. It's been amazing! So yes, I am a little bummed my baby has to go through another surgery, but I am so very hopeful that this one will correct the ear infections. I feel so bad for that poor kid. His ears have been infected almost as much as they have not been infected during his almost two years of life. He's very sensitive about people touching his ears. I really pray this fixes things for him.

The ENT wanted to wait until his next ear infection and then schedule the surgery. But as we talked, he realized what a help it had been to Mercury to have this surgery and with Neptune's past, it was bound to happen at some time. So he let me just go ahead and schedule it. He had wanted to give me time to get used to the idea of my 'baby' needing to go under the knife again. But once he realized I knew it was coming and was as o.k. with it as I was going to be, there was no need to put it off. So next Friday (the 19th) is the big day.

And us, well Mercury started us off in October of '07 with the first of our family's surgeries. Since that one, this next surgery will put us at...6 surgeryies in just over a years time! But I'm glad to get this one in before my outpatient co-pay goes up next month!