T & A

Porter had his tonsils & adenoids removed and new ear tubes placed on Friday morning. Pre-op, he was happy and full of giggles.

He loved the long comfy pants, which prompted some peek-a-boo toes games. He and daddy played "super baby." Daddy was clearly the best at this game, because each time mommy tried to play, Porter said "daddy again."

Post op was rough. It took a few doses of morphine to control the pain and he was quite upset. As expected, he needed some oxygen. The anesthesiologist explained everything so well and had amazing bedside manner! For kids like Porter, with low tone and asthma, the road to pain management and happy, healthy breathing can be windy. Pain meds can depress the respiratory system. And crying creates mucous that can't be deep suctioned because of the location of the tonsils & adenoids. Taking all of this into consideration, we weren't too surprised that Porter needed some oxygen in recovery. 

We spent quite awhile in Recovery, as they tried to decide if Porter could head to a regular floor, or if he would have to go to the PICU based on his oxygen needs. After four hours in recovery, they decided to send him to the PICU. Throughout the night, they were able to turn his oxygen down and in the morning, he came off oxygen. 

When the oxygen came off, the words started coming out- you can tell the new tubes are making a difference in his hearing already. Miss Lori would be proud- we had a few two word combinations courtesy of baby and Elmo (baby jump and baby slide are by far his favorite requests) and lots of two words with the speech apps and flashcards. He took a good nap, without oxygen and didn't have a single desaturation episode. Initally, they were going to transfer him from the PICU to a regular floor to keep him for observation, to make sure he was drinking and eating since he had been on IV fluids, but he drank two juices, ate an ice cream and crackers, so they let us go home around 6pm! 

We are so thankful for all your prayers. And many thanks to the amazing team at CHOP! 

Please do us a favor and keep all those amazing PICU kids, families and nurses in your prayers. No kid should have to endure what many of them are going through. But we know they're going through it with the best. We saw nurses treating patients with respect and dignity. We saw nurses and staff from other floors coming to visit kids they knew that had no family with them. And, we saw a boy celebrate his birthday in the PICU. A midst all the sadness, there are amazing people going out of their way to make it better. We are incredibly luck and humbled.

Recovery- GAME ON! He asked for blueberries as soon as we got home :) 

After a night of snuggles with mommy in the chair to keep him elevated, he woke up this morning full of energy! Although he's super excited to play, we're trying to our hardest to keep him out of trouble. 

He has little interest in the jello, pudding and ice cream that I stocked up on, but sister is reaping the benefits of those. Porter, in true Porter fashion, wants to eat real food. So we're going slowly and following his lead.