One Week

I love this picture, although it makes him look so grown up! Where is my little munchkin?



It's been exactly one week since Noah's surgery. Thankfully, he has recovered quite nicely. The first day was a little rough and we spent the whole first day watching Pixar movies. I think he watched Wall-E at least four times! The first night we lovingly refer to as, "The Night from Hades". Medicine was refused, medicine was forced, medicine came right back up. Yuck! After that first day and night, he seemed to improve quickly. He was eating mashed potatoes and playing video games by the second day. This weekend he played some with the girls next door and we had a playdate yesterday with one of his friends from Early Intervention. He hasn't really complained too much. He did say he was sick today and when I asked him if his throat hurt, he said yes. I gave him some pain medicine and he has done fine since.

Mama, on the other hand, is going a little crazy. :)

I am really looking forward to his returning to school next Monday. I love Noah to pieces, but I am really close to reaching my breaking point. I think I am due for a few hours away from my munchkin. I know that I am truly blessed that Noah is as verbal and high functioning as he is, but sometimes the incessant chatter and repetitiveness is overwhelming. He's also developed some vocal stims, mainly when he is playing video games. And I am so sick of Transformers I could just scream. I swear if Noah askes me to "make Bumblebee a robot" or "make Optimus Prime a truck" one more time, I'm leaving home! LOL

Of course, I kid (sort of). Actually, he's been really good considering all that he has gone through. He's been a little whinier than normal and more picky when it comes to eating, but he's really done well. I think that I am just out of practice. I am not used to having him 24/7 since he started school. I guess this is good practice for this summer, as I have major doubts that the district will offer summer services.

Speaking of this summer, Noah's dad and I are trying to find some activities for Noah to be involved in. His OT thinks that Noah would benefit from some social activities. I am all for social activities. The only problem is finding some that are geared toward three-year-olds. All the YMCA activities are for four years and up. I'm sure we will do story time at the local library and probably Families in the Park if it is offered. Our support group is planning some trips to the zoo and things like that. So we have a few ideas, but nothing really scheduled. Anybody have any other ideas?

Tonsils, Adenoids, and Ear Tubes. Oh My!

We arrived at registration at 7:00 am. Noah was wide awake and studying everything. He was really cute. We made our way to his room, where the nurse had us change him into a hospital gown. Noah was being really cooperative and allowed the nurse to check his vitals without any complaints. He did, however, repeat "What's that make?" about 50 times while pointing to various objects around the room. The nurse was very patient with him and tried to answer all his "questions". We settled in to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse after the nurse gave him his "loopy" medicine (versed, demerol and atropine for those medical types). He never fell asleep, but did become somewhat groggy.

When it was time for his surgery I carried Noah to the holding area while Daddy followed. Within a few minutes, after answering a bazillion questions, they loaded Noah onto a gurney and took him to the operating room. He never fussed as I gave him a bunch of kisses and he was led away. Daddy and I headed to the cafeteria to get a drink and something to eat. Within 45 minutes the ENT called and said that Noah had done great and was in recovery.

We headed back to Noah's room. About 40 minutes later, the nurse from recovery brought Noah back to his room. He was sitting up in the crib they used to transport him and asking, "Where's Mama?" It was music to my ears! I rocked him and fed him juice with a syringe for a couple of hours. When he finally woke up completely, he decided to watch some cartoons and play with his cars. He was drinking really well and everything was honky dorey. We encountered a small problem when Noah had some potty (or lack of) issues, but that was resolved. At 1:30pm Noah got to take his first ride in a wheelchair to the car. He was ecstatic about the wheelchair ride!

All in all, the day went really well. I'll leave you with a couple of pics from the day of surgery.

Right after his surgery. He was still able to give me a little smile. He is a little swollen, though. (Notice the Transformer's pillow. It's his fave right now.)

A couple hours after surgery. He and Woof Woof are relaxing in the rocker. (Did I mention he's really into Transformers right now?)

Tonsils and Tubies

It really has been a hectic, stressful month. Here are a few of the highlights (which I will probably elaborate more on later):

1. We had our first parent/teacher conference for Noah.
2. Noah had his first set of school pictures taken.
3. We started OT/PT again.
4. We adopted a new dog.
5. We got lost on our way to a movie in Columbus. (No laughing allowed! It was traumatizing!)
6. We found out that Noah needs to see a specialist for his eyes and may require surgery.
7. We found out that Noah WILL have surgery.....tomorrow! (But NOT for his eyes.)

This mommy is stressing something terrible today. After four months of nearly endless ear infections, increased snoring, lots of restless sleep and a nasty bout of tonsillits, Noah's ENT decided that some action needed to be taken to help Noah feel better. As much as I didn't want to admit it, I had to agree with him. So, tomorrow morning Noah will be going in for surgery to have his tonsils removed and ear tubes placed. We have tried to prepare Noah as best we can. (Maybe somebody should have prepared mommy a little better!) To help him understand what is going to happen, his speech therapist at school and I made him a social story . We have been reading it to him a few times daily. At first Noah really seemed to like the story, but now when I bring it out to read to him he says, "No story. Don't wanna read that story." Maybe we have read it to him too much? LOL

Anyway, positive thoughts and prayers tomorrow for my munchkin would be greatly appreciated. (His mama could probably use a few, too!)

Happy Easter!

Sorry for being absent for so long, but life has been more than hectic around here lately. I am so far behind in my blogging that it would take me forever to catch up, but I had to at least send out a Happy Easter to all my friends! I hope that everyone had a happy Easter! I will try to post again later this week with all the latest happenings in Noah's world.