Saturday 20 October 2012

Wombat has grommets! And no adenoids.

It appears that my body has finally adjusted to waking up at 5:40am during the week. So much so, that I can't sleep in much past that time on the weekend. Unless I deliberately push myself to stay up late, and if I do that, I pay for it the next week.

As I was snuggling in bed next to my Wombat, it occurred to me that I hadn't yet gotten around to blogging about his surgery, so I figure I may as well do it now while the day is quiet and all my boys are still sleeping.

Wombat had grommets put into both of his ear drums and also had his adenoids removed. We had to be at the hospital at 7:30am for admission and Seagull had to be dropped off at childcare on the way. It takes about 30 minutes to drive from the childcare centre to the hospital Wombat had his operation at, and the childcare centre opens at 6:45am, so the timing was always going to be tight. Fortunately, Seagull woke up early by himself on Thursday morning and after the most brief of power struggles, he chose to dress himself rather than have me do it for him.

We managed to make it to the hospital right on 7:30am and found out where we had to go. Wombat was the first surgical patient for the day. There was a few forms I had to sign, then we went to a waiting area where I was provided with a gown, head, and shoe coverings, then the anaesthetist came to discuss his role with us.


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Wombat playing with Thunder Maker's phone pre-surgery

Soon afterwards, a nurse came to collect Wombat and I to take us to the operating theatre. Once we were there, she asked me to hold Wombat in my lap so that he was facing to my right. The anaesthetist then came to put the mask over Wombat's face. He didn't like it and really struggled, but myself and the nurse held his hands out of the way. He was crying, but after a few seconds I could see that the gas was starting to work. After a few more seconds Wombat stopped crying and went all limp. I helped the anaesthetist and the nurse get Wombat onto the table, then I gave him a kiss and said goodbye, and went to wait with Thunder Maker in the waiting area.

After about 45 minutes, a nurse came to get me. He took me to the post operative recovery area. As I walked into the room, I could see that Wombat was crying and he was being held by the Nursing Unit Manager (NUM). Once I got to them, the NUM handed Wombat over to me. As soon as I gave Wombat a cuddle, he stopped crying. I was provided with a comfy chair, so I sat on it and continued to give Wombat cuddles.

Wombat seemed to be really fidgety and was rolling his face back and forth over my chest. The NUM explained that the anaesthetic can make the nose itchy, so Wombat was just trying to scratch it. She explained that Wombat was getting paracetamol through his IV line, but asked if I thought he needed something else, as she had a stronger pain killer drawn up that she could put into his line. I felt that he looked like he could do with it, so the NUM found an access point in the line near Wombat's foot (which is where it had been inserted) and gave him the medication.

Wombat seemed to settle down after that and went to sleep on me. Until I needed to get up to go to the toilet about an hour later. I thought it would be safe to transfer the sleeping Wombat onto the bed. I was wrong. He woke up and started howling. When I got back, the male nurse (who shall remain anonymous) who worked in the post-op recovery area was cuddling Wombat. Apparently he had thrashed around so much, they needed to get the male nurse to hold Wombat as he was the only one with enough strength to hold him.

It was about the time I got back that Wombat discovered the IV line in his foot. He then spent the next 20 minutes trying to get it out with the nurses and myself trying just as hard to stop him. Wombat and I got moved to an area around the corner where there was a TV. The nurse put on ABC 4 Kids for Wombat and went to get him some green jelly.

Once Wombat ate all of the jelly, the NUM came to take the IV line out of Wombat's foot. Once that was done, we got to move to another recovery area where Thunder Maker was able to join us and I was able to de-gown. We got to sit on reclining chairs in front of a TV, and Wombat was given ice cream and more green jelly. After about 45 minutes, we were allowed to go home.

Wombat fell asleep in the car on the way home, and we were able to move him into bed without waking him, where he slept for another couple of hours.


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Sleepy Wombat. His sticker says 'Star Patient'. Wombat likes stars.

We have to make sure that we keep Wombat's ears dry, so I went and bought some ear putty that afternoon. We will be getting custom made earplugs made for him, but the lady who makes them in our area is on holidays and won't be back until late next week. In the meantime, I figure that ear putty will do the job just fine. I had bought Wombat a silicon swimming cap from the centre where the boys have their swimming lessons, and I decided to put it on Wombat as another layer of water protection in the bath.

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As you can see, Wombat is really thrilled about his swimming cap.




About 30 seconds after this photo was taken, Wombat ripped the swimming cap off. As he didn't seem to be too worried about the ear putty, I just made sure he didn't get his head wet and let him stay in the bath.

We have this weekend off swimming lessons as neither of the boys are allowed to swim. Seagull's reason for not being allowed to swim is a whole other post for another day.

2 comments:

Jacqui Honeywood said...

All three of our boys have gone through the grommets saga. Our eldest ended up with his tonsils out as well. It's amazing the difference it makes. Looks like little Wombat recovered well from his surgery and here's hoping he thrives with the grommets in and adenoids gone xx

Unknown said...

Thanks for shairng dear
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