Cooper's Tonsillectomy

Well, we are in day 6 post-op and there is a reason that I haven't posted this entry yet. I have been CONSTANTLY (day and night) by Cooper's side - well, except for the 5 hours on Saturday that my mom relieved us from our parenting duties. :) Post-op recovery has been WAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY harder than I anticipated. I knew there would be pain. I knew there would be hard moments of whining. What I didn't anticipate was CONSTANT pain, constant whining, and constant worrying on my part. Let's start with surgery day....

We got to the hospital around 9:30am and got all checked in. We had some slight issues with keeping Cooper from eating anything all morning, but thanks to the helpful hints to Kaelyn to not mention anything food related we were able to do what we needed. Cooper finally went into surgery around 11:30am. He was only in surgery about 20 minutes when the dr came out and told us that is was a REALLY good thing we took everything out because they were huge. Here are some pictures from the day

Getting all checked in

Playing in the playroom down the hall while waiting for "our turn"

After taking the "happy medicine" which made Cooper so relaxed. It was HILARIOUS to watch him as he couldn't control his body at all. Jeff and I were laughing so hard.

After surgery - really wanting that IV taken out!

At home by about 3:30pm with his chocolate milkshake

So, it's all good after that day, right? Uh - SO wrong. Tuesday wasn't too bad. He played nicely through the day, although he did take two naps. Wednesday morning wasn't so good, but after a good nap in the afternoon he had a great afternoon and evening. Thursday all went downhill. He became whiney and refused all medications. What he had been eating in the two days before he started refusing. By Friday we noticed that he was starting to come down with a cold on top of the fact that he was miserable and in pain from the surgery. Of all the days, I really think that today has been the worst. I have a feeling that the scabs are starting to come off because he has been so clingy today, pale, and really, really in pain. We took a peek at his throat this evening and it is completely white and covered in white scabs (I know - TMI). It looks HORRIBLY painful and I can't believe he is even wanting to drink anything. He has been pretty good about getting liquids into himself although I think he could use a few more. He will only eat yogurt so we're giving it to him whenever he asks for it. I've read that a lot of drs recommend against milk products, but if it's what he wants and it's the only thing he'll eat - well, then, milk products it is. He is so congested from his cold and has snot coming from his nose constantly. It can't be comfortable. I can't wait for this whole thing to be over with. I'm anticipating that today through probably Tuesday will be pretty bad. We're hoping at that point in time we hit a turning point. I found this great post about toddlers and there recovery from tonsillectomies. It's pretty spot on with Cooper. http://http://typeamama.blogspot.com/2008/05/recovery-for-toddler-tonsillectomy.html.

As for myself - I'm starting to wonder if I'm ever going to get my happy-go-lucky baby back. :-(