it all started with a trip to the playground-
great fun was had-
even though this was the Starship Hospital atrium playground....
we were there because of this-
(it's really hard to take a photo of the back of a toddlers throat!)
our poor little eli had gigantic tonsils and adenoids, which were stopping him from being able to eat & breathe properly, and were blocking his eustachian tubes so that his ears were having problems too!
so two weeks after that first visit to the Ear, Nose & Throat clinic, and the playground, we were back at Starship for surgery to his ears, nose & throat (adenotonsilectomy + grommets)
It started with a very, very early morning, and a Nil By Mouth baby, luckily there were some toys to play with in the waiting area-
before we got transferred to Pre-Op, where amongst other things there was a great playmobil hospital, complete with actual photos of the operating theatre!
after a tense wait of about an hour, i was able to go into the recovery room to see a very groggy little boy (lots of morphine!), which was a little bit scary since he had blood coming out of his mouth, nose AND ears - which i should have expected, but didn't. As soon as he realised i was there, he insisted on being carried while his bed was wheeled up to the ward where we were to stay overnight for monitoring.
The view from our room was a good one, if a little grim, and eli had to have continuous oxygen monitoring, initially because of his history of apnoea, but also because his O2 levels were taking a long time to increase.
eli had a very big sleep
and, being a home-birth baby, at 18 months old he had his very first (hopefully only!) hospital bracelet!
things were looking up as the day passed
and by the evening there were little clear patches when we could go for a walk around the wards
but it was still a very long night
but in the morning everything was looking fine!!
he was so full of beans from his big day of snoozing that he couldn't wait for the ward's playroom to open first thing in the morning!!
though it was an interesting challenge playing with an IV line still in!
and best of all he got to see the hospital helicopter come & go from right outside our room!
then all of a sudden, just before 9am, he had his IV removed, and was declared to be fit to leave. immediately.
so back down to play in the atrium while i called paul & lexi to come and get us..
possibly his favourite part was getting to have his own little carton of juice with a straw to drink from!
(though he was still looking a little bit seedy & worse for wear!)
a quick ride in the Starship bus
and a free turn on the carousel
and we were off home!! hooray!!!
and despite being not a very nice thing to have to do, especially since he was only just 18 months old, it made a world of difference to our wee guy! He started growing again, he could finally sleep for more than 15-20min without stirring, could eat much more easily, and consequently had so much more energy, and was a much happier little guy!!
great fun was had-
even though this was the Starship Hospital atrium playground....
we were there because of this-
(it's really hard to take a photo of the back of a toddlers throat!)our poor little eli had gigantic tonsils and adenoids, which were stopping him from being able to eat & breathe properly, and were blocking his eustachian tubes so that his ears were having problems too!
so two weeks after that first visit to the Ear, Nose & Throat clinic, and the playground, we were back at Starship for surgery to his ears, nose & throat (adenotonsilectomy + grommets)
It started with a very, very early morning, and a Nil By Mouth baby, luckily there were some toys to play with in the waiting area-
before we got transferred to Pre-Op, where amongst other things there was a great playmobil hospital, complete with actual photos of the operating theatre!
after a tense wait of about an hour, i was able to go into the recovery room to see a very groggy little boy (lots of morphine!), which was a little bit scary since he had blood coming out of his mouth, nose AND ears - which i should have expected, but didn't. As soon as he realised i was there, he insisted on being carried while his bed was wheeled up to the ward where we were to stay overnight for monitoring.The view from our room was a good one, if a little grim, and eli had to have continuous oxygen monitoring, initially because of his history of apnoea, but also because his O2 levels were taking a long time to increase.
eli had a very big sleepand, being a home-birth baby, at 18 months old he had his very first (hopefully only!) hospital bracelet!things were looking up as the day passed
and by the evening there were little clear patches when we could go for a walk around the wards
but it was still a very long night
but in the morning everything was looking fine!!
he was so full of beans from his big day of snoozing that he couldn't wait for the ward's playroom to open first thing in the morning!!
though it was an interesting challenge playing with an IV line still in!
and best of all he got to see the hospital helicopter come & go from right outside our room!
then all of a sudden, just before 9am, he had his IV removed, and was declared to be fit to leave. immediately.so back down to play in the atrium while i called paul & lexi to come and get us..
possibly his favourite part was getting to have his own little carton of juice with a straw to drink from!
(though he was still looking a little bit seedy & worse for wear!)
a quick ride in the Starship bus
and a free turn on the carousel
and we were off home!! hooray!!!and despite being not a very nice thing to have to do, especially since he was only just 18 months old, it made a world of difference to our wee guy! He started growing again, he could finally sleep for more than 15-20min without stirring, could eat much more easily, and consequently had so much more energy, and was a much happier little guy!!
No comments:
Post a Comment