The Slatt Crew: Bye Bye Tonsils and Adenoids

Long, LONG story short... Jackson has struggled with his speech for awhile now. He has been working with an amazing Speech Therapist and is making great progress, but every time he gets sick he loses words that he has already mastered. This first raised concern and then when we looked into the back of his mouth and realized his tonsils were almost touching we were sent right to the ENT doctor for a consult.

We met with the ENT doctor on a Tuesday morning and he asked us a few questions..

Does Jackson snore... Yes!

Is he a restless sleeper... YES!

Does he grind his teeth at night... YES!

Is he a mouth breather... Yes!

That along with the Speech Therapists input and a quick examination of Jackson's throat and ears he was positive Jackson needed his tonsils reduced in size and his adenoids taken out. That was Tuesday and surgery was schedule for Friday... FOUR days later!!

Ed and I were a nervous wreck about this whole situation but did our best to keep it together. The day of the surgery Jackson was happy as could be. He went to the doctor's office in his pajamas, hung out with Ma Maw for a little before going back and then it was time for surgery. In the pre-op area he began to get a bit nervous kept saying over and over again that he wanted to go home. I gave him my cell phone so he could watch trains and this calmed him down a bit. Then our amazing surgeon came back to talk to us. He told us it would take about 30 minutes and as he was talking to us he put trains on his own personal cell phone that he pulled from his pocket and handed it to Jackson and handed my phone back to me. Then he went and got a wagon for Jackson to ride in, filled it with pillows and told him it was a caboose. We put Jackson in the wagon and the surgeon pulled him around a bit while he was watching trains on the iphone and at the last minute just kept walking down the hallway to the OR.

Jackson had no idea what was happening. He was in the wagon and just laid there relaxed without a worry in the world. They kept him dressed in his jammies and never changed him or started and IV until he was out.

Ed's mom was so sweet and brought us coffee and Panera while we waited. She sat with us, talked with us and kept us calm. Then... 30 short minutes later he was finished. They told us "he's pissed." And that he was! We walked back and Jackson was back in his jammies but he was screaming and crying. His poor face was all red from being worked up and he was trying to pull his IV out. We sat for almost an hour trying to comfort him. He would fall back to sleep for a bit them wake up and be screaming again. That was the hardest part of the whole ordeal. We FINALLY got Jackson to take him medicine and take a sip of Apple Juice and we were on our way home.

Once we got home Mi Mi and Paw Paw were here with the other two and they went into immediate pamper mode. They held Jackson, comforted him, made him beds on the floor and just took care of him and the rest of us.

Jackson did great the first few days. He was eating, drinking, loving the Italian ice, popsicles, and lollipops, and running around like nothing happened. They warned us and told us that Sunday would be his worst day and things would get worse before they get better. Tomorrow will be a week since his surgery and it's been a rollercoaster. Some days Jackson is fine and seems to be well on his way to getting back to normal, and then other days he says he's "sick," his throat hurts and he just doesn't look good. He isn't eating as much, is less willing to drink, and is sick of popsicles.

All in all we are so lucky with how smoothly all of this went. He is such a tough little guy and our time together cuddling, snuggling, napping, giving kisses, and just comforting him over the last week just makes me love him so much more.