Tonsillectomy

Dave had his tonsils and uvula (hangy ball in the back of your throat) removed on Monday. Ouch! We are hoping that this will cure his frequent sore throats and obstructve sleep apnea. We got up around 3am in Oregon to make it to the hospital by 7:45am, and yes, we ran into snow in the mountains, in April! We made it just in time, and he was soooo nervous. I think it is because he has seen too many of these procedures done, and has never been under anesthesia before. Dave started asking the anesthesiologist questions and she quickly figured out that he must be in the anesthesia profession. She simply said, "Well just tell me what you want!" And only Dave would be talking about possible job opportunities while in the pre-op areas! The anesthesiologist invited us back to meet the group and have dinner!

Here he is awaiting surgery. He was also the oldest person there by about 26 years! It was mostly little kids having ear tubes or tonsillectomies.

When they called me back to the recovery room after everything was done, Dave was pretty out of it still. He could not have been sweeter though! The recovery room nurse told me that he asked for me at least 5 times before she came to get me. He was in a lot of pain right away, but felt like he could "sleep for days." I think he told me he loved me about 1000 times and told me that he was lucky to have me there to take care of him. How sweet! He also asked, "How's my hair?" at least three times. I thought that was pretty funny. After he was recovered, we had to put him in the truck and drive 4 hours back to Rexburg. Luckily, he slept the whole time.

Once we got to Rexburg, the anesthesia wore off and he felt like absolute crap. That is an understatement. We had a night of pain, vomiting blood, nausea, and ineffective pain meds. Even as a nurse, I was a little scared about my love, and we both woke up very frequently throughout the night. Dave's Dad and brother, Nate, came over and gave him a blessing and he was at least able to sleep comfortably. Day 2 was better, as he was able to eat some mac and cheese, popsicles, and scrambled eggs. We thought things were much better until this picture.

This was at 1am, when he was still in so much pain that he couldn't stand it. He has been taking Vicodin every 4 hours and ibuprofen in between (although not recommended because it increases his chance of bleeding). We decided to ace-wrap two icepacks around his neck to see if that would help. It provided some relief, but not much. Poor guy! No more nausea or vomiting though! The back of his mouth is absolutely black. The kids think it is pretty disgusting. He also has trouble eating or drinking without things going up his nose. They say this takes 3-4 weeks to go away. To make things even more pleasant, Dawson woke up at 5:45 and everyone else at 6:30am! Are you kidding me? We are all pretty crabby and all three babies (Dave, Maddy and Dawson) are napping right now! :)

They say that having your tonsils out when you are an adult is harder, but this is ridiculous. Moral of the story: Keep your tonsils unless you absolutely, 100% need them out. If you do undergo this procedure, be prepared to be in the worst pain of your life. I haven't had a baby personally, but I bet this recovery rivals that pain. I hope he gets better soon! What a good sport!