Charlie’s tonsillectomy
It’s been two weeks since Charlie’s surgery. When we arrived at the hospital on the day of his tonsillectomy, we were surprised to hear that the surgeon would also be taking out his adenoids. Apparently, it’s a common practice to take both out, killing two birds with one stone. Honestly they probably told us that before and we forgot. Anyway, thankfully Charlie was in a good mood before the surgery. Doctors and hospitals used to be a big trigger for him. He would meltdown as soon as entering a doctor’s office. Not this time. He was relaxed and happy.
We were also afraid that he’d wake up angry after the general anesthesia, like had happened in the past. It’s something that professionals call emergence delirium, and it was heartbreaking to see last time so I was really relieved when Charlie woke up visibly calm. He was swollen but he didn’t seem to be in too much pain. Overall, the surgery went well. It only took like 20 minutes too! The surgeon told us that there were no food restrictions for afterwards too, which was weird, because I was expecting to be feeding him apple sauce and popsicles for a week! To our surprise, a couple hours after waking up, Charlie ate a croque-monsieur. That made me smile.
The recovery
We gave Charlie Ibuprofen and Tylenol alternating every 3 hours, waking at night to make sure we didn’t miss a dose, and it seemed to work well. Charlie was full of energy and didn’t seem in pain most of the time. I say most of the time, because we ate BBQ one night, and the spiciness was too much for him… though it didn’t prevent him from eating half a pound of ribs! Since he was doing so well, we started his therapy again after five days. He started using speech again quickly, and though his voice is quieter his articulation and intension are there. We’re now two weeks post-surgery and we haven’t seen a regression, which we were worried about, and we’re all so relieved.
Charlie’s breathing and snoring is starting to get a lot better. That’s why we got the surgery in the first place. Obviously, with no lasting negative effects, I’m happy we went through with the tonsillectomy despite the uncertainty of the effects on his speech. Right now his speech is as good as before and the health benefits of the surgery are already visible. Charlie doesn’t snore while he’s awake anymore, nor does he breathe solely through his mouth during the day. It’s exciting to see his progress.
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