The truth about tonsillectomy

THEY SUCK!!!! 

When I took Michael, my six year old, into the Ear Nose and Throat clinic at primary children's hospital I was excited. He has been not feeling well for so long that we were willing to do anything to get him feeling better. The doctor was positive that what he needed was to have his tonsils and adenoids out. I was right there ready to go, he was all on board as well. And we were ready. It was a 30 minute procedure, we would go into the hospital in the morning we would be home by the afternoon and then he would start to get better. At least that is what the Dr. and nurses said would happen. I had a friend who tried to warn me but even then I just knew he would do okay. He is such a trooper, with an ability to understand things way beyond his age.  NOW 7 days later I am angry. Angry that I was not informed of how truly horrible this recovery would be. So here I am to tell the truth!!! 

Day One - We checked in at the hospital and he was taken back to surgery. I did not even have time to finish a coke before the doctor came out to tell me it went well. I asked a few questions like, When could he go back to school? What foods can he eat? And was told to just take things as they come and he could go at his own pace. That some kids even eat chips the next day. THE END OF OUR DISCUSSION. 

Day Two - He woke up fine and thought he would go to school. I decided to keep him home but, he did well and I thought for sure he would be able to go the next day. 

Day Three - All Hell broke loose! He woke up in the middle of the night screaming in pain. I shot out of bed thinking he was being tortured. He was kicking and screaming in his bed and poor Jordan took some punches as well so he was crying too. Then Abby started screaming because she got woke up. And Ora woke up from Abby's screaming. I then screamed "Joseph( (my husband) get in here!" sent him into the girls and I got Michael into the living room. In about AN HOUR he was calmed down enough to get some extra medicine and then he and I snuggled up on the couch for a few minutes while he fell back to sleep. I then proceeded to get into bed thinking we would make it till morning. We Did Not! Just a few hours later it was the same scene all over again. So I made him a bed on the floor in my room. Every time he woke up it was as if he was living his worst nightmare and I was stuck watching it unfold with nothing I could do to help. 

Day Four - During the day it was pretty normal. We were able to keep him medicated but he was acting kind of unusual. He was extremely sad and a little bit anxious. I get depressed when I take Loratab so I suspected this was causing some of his problems. I made a call to the Dr. to see if they could give him something else and the answer I received was "He is probably in pain so why don't we increase his dose and see if that helps." I know my boy and he was not getting anxious from pain he would have told me. I tried to get the Dr. again to give us something different with no luck. So I called a pharmacist and he helped me dose him with Tylenol and  Motrin. We survived day four barely!!! And the night again was like a living nightmare.

Day Five and Six - All the same to me. And extremely blurry, we have not slept since last Monday and we are seriously going insane. Now instead of waking up And running I have turned into some awful version of myself. I jump up and start shushing him because I feel like I cannot do it. Instead of comfort I find myself getting angry thinking "I cannot do this again!" "I am DONE" "Michael, just take your medicine and lay back down. Come on please!!" We have been spiraling out of control the last couple of nights. 

And now here I am ANGRY!!! Angry that I was not better prepared. Instead of saying "Oh some kids eat potato chips the next day." They should have said Most kids are layed up in bed for ten days or more in agony and confusion. I should have been warned that it could have been this bad. Not wondering if he was acting normal or not. I should not have had to go looking on the internet to figure out what was normal.I should have been listened to, I knew the medicine was making him worse, they should have helped me when I asked for it. I will never hear the words "mom. I think I am getting so sick I am going to die!" again. I am not sure my heart can take much more but, I think we are on the upswing of this nightmare. And at least now I have a cause to work towards from all of this. You had better believe I will be speaking to some higher ups over at the hospital and I will be listened to this time. No mother should have to go through this without the information needed to make better decisions than I did.