Surgery day for Karter

Last Monday, we took Karter to get his tonsils and adenoids removed. He also got tubes in his ears. My biggest fear was how to deal with a fearful preschooler before a surgery. Our discussions of the surgery went something like this: "Karter, you're going to get your tonsils out. The doctor will take you and you will fall asleep. When you wake up, you can have all the popsicles, ice cream, and slurpees you want without having to eat dinner first. Won't this be exciting? Oh, and you might have a little sore throat after." The nurse gave Karter these scrubs to wear and the no-slip green (his favorite color) socks. He was pretty excited about these and that made the pre-surgery exam a lot easier.


After the pre-exam, Karter got to go play with toy cars in the hallway. Primary Children's Hospital is a great place for kids! He had a blast playing with all the toys.


The nurse asked if he was a typically nervous boy for doctors (flashback to his last dr appt.....screaming, tears, random mutterings, sounds of a person being killed, etc.) which I told her he was. She said she could give him "versed" a drug that will help him relax but that he would either have to be held or put in one of their wagons afterward because it makes patients pretty loopy. Having never seen my son like that, I couldn't imagine him any loopier than he already is...boy, was I wrong. Here in the first video, you can see it start to take effect in his eyes although he still has his wits about him.



By now, Karter is having a difficult time holding up his head but still pretty sane. Daddy is getting a few weird looks because he is filming a slightly loopy child.



Karter and dad came back to see me and I decided that he should probably be held since he was so tipsy. The fascination with the green socks was priceless. All he wanted to do was stare at his green socks...luckily they got to come home with us.



This last one was about as crazy as he got. Poor little guy is so content! He was trying to show dad the dinosaur he was holding but couldn't quite lift it enough. We felt pretty bad for him but were grateful that he wasn't screaming and crying in fear the whole time.



We are glad that the surgery is over with and the recovery has been rough but hopefully it will help this winter so Karter isn't on a steady diet of antibiotics. It wasn't all that fun but we will be glad we did it....hopefully!