Oliver's operation - round 2

So Oliver had to be at the hospital at 11.15 yesterday morning.  I stayed home with the other 2 and took them to Dollar Tree and for a McDonalds.  

Oliver was eventually taken in for surgery at 2pm.  Poor boy had not eaten since 9pm the previous evening.  Lucky for Paul, he had taken lunch with him.  We arranged to swap over at 3.30, as this should be half way through the operation.

We did the swap, and Paul took the boys home leaving me as the only person in the waiting area, along with the 2 receptionist.  I took my lap top so was able to do some Uni work.  About 5.45, one of the nurses from the recovery area came out, and asked me to come through, as it shouldn't be long.  

Oliver's doctor eventually appeared about 6.45.  Another epically long operation, over 4 hours.  Dr Alexander explained that when they opened him up, they had found a small amout of cholesteatoma hiding by the ear drum, in a place they could not see using the camera.  It was really small, like a couple of millimeters.  But the fact it had grown back made the doctor chose not to reconstruct the ear bones (it was a hard decision, apparently).  He worried that if he had reconstructed the ear bones using the titanium plates that the cholesteatoma would have come back again, leading to a much more complicated operation to remove.  It would basically involve removing the wall of the ear candle next to the mastoid bone, and would leave Oliver with a large ear cavity, and issues with water getting to the inner ear for the rest of his life.  Having since looked this up, it is not nice.  It has cosmetic and auditory implications forever.  In 60% of cases, after the first removal, cholesteatoma does grow back, but because it is being checked for, not to the same extent.

The doctor also fitted a tube from his ear canal to his nose cavity to enable fluid to drain more easily.  He found dried blood in the ear cavity from the last operation, which would not have helped the healing process.  He also took some cartridge from his ear and put it at the base of the ear canal for the prosthetic to be fitted to next time round

The doctor is confident he got it all this time.  Oliver has a follow up in 10 days time, and returns to school in 9.  He is not to do any P.E or recess for 2 weeks.  And no water in the ear till the follow up at least.  Again every one was really nice, we came away with 4 prescriptions. One anti-nausea, one antibiotic, one very strong pain killer and one for ear drops.  The ear drops begin in a few days time, everything else being administered now.

The nurses were interesting this time. 2 men, both skin heads, one lean, one not so lean.  They were keen to get him moving, unlike the ladies last time.  We were out in just over an hour.  And Oliver was not sick in the car.  He saved that one for when we got home.  

Last night was very unsettled.  Oliver slept on the sofa, then we moved his bed into our room (thank good ness for big houses).  He was sick a lot last night, and barely kept any water or medication down.  He had some toast to morning, and has been snacking ever since.  He is currently on the sofa where he has been most of the day.  He is in quite a bit of pain, despite the medication, so we are doing our best to keep him comfortable.  The next few days will be very lazy, but I managed to get the other 2 out today.

Isaac and I hit up a community yard sale near by.  We spent $12 and came away with a toys dragon, Jenga, 2 books, 3 car magazines, a Clemson baseball cap, and 2 sets of Melissa and Doug wooden toys.  A pretty good haul.  Then we went and checked out Simpsonville Farmers Market.  A lovely little market, where I picked up some spicy hot habanero chilli peppers for Paul.  Watch this space for what I do with them!

Sebastian went for a hair cut this afternoon.  She didn't do a great job, but I had a coupon so it only cost $10 with tip.  Makes a nice change from the fortune I normally spend on him at specialized children's salons.  

I will keep you posted with Oliver's progress as the week goes on.  Don't think there will be many photos on #yearofoliver for a few days......

Oliver op part 2

****this post may contain yucky photos****

Oliver eventually came out of surgery at 7.30, a whole 6 hours after he went in.

The doctor talked to me for about 20 minutes about how it had gone.  I tried to take it all in, but please forgive me if I get things wrong or I get confused.  Oliver underwent a right tympanomastoidectomy.    The doctor said it was much worse than he expected, hence why it took so long.  He is fairly confident he got all the cholesteatoma out, but only time will tell.  The growth had managed to get very big behind his ear drum in his middle ear.  It has destroyed a lot of the oscilles (bones) in his middle ear.  Luckily it has not reached his cochlea.  This means his hearing nerve is intact, hopefully.  He has put a layer of clear film over the cochlea, packed it, them put another layer of film, then packed his ear canal with dissolvable wadding.  He thinks that this is a congenital cholesteatoma, meaning it has probably been there for a while.  Here are some delightful photos he took while operating

This one shows the mastoid bone behind the ear canal.  This is usually honeycombed in appereance.  The white intestine like looking stuff is the cholesteatoma.  

The white mass in this photo on the left is the front of the masteoid bone, before the previous photo.  The area to the right is the ear canal.  The white bits you can see down the ear canal is the cholesteatoma.  

Yuck, right....  This is only a small amount of what was on his ear.  Oliver came up to recovery about 7.30pm.  He really struggled to come round.  Didn't help they were still giving him morphine, as when he came round he was complaining of pain....

When the anesthetist came back and started talking about admitting him for the night, I knew we had to get him moving.  The recovery nurses were awesome, and gave him some sprite and ice chips to get him going,   We eventually managed to get him dressed.  I had loads of forms to sign and they have me a prescription for antibiotics and super strong pain killers.  We were the last people in the out patients department, and the whole building.  The security guard even helped us out.  

The nurse had warned me that he may be sick on the way home, and later in the evening, due to the anesthetic and morphine.  Low and behold, he was sick 200 meters from home in the car.  He got about 10% of it in the sick bag, the rest all over my front seat.....

We got home about 9.30pm, and got Oliver in to the house and on the sofa.  Paul went out to get the prescription, and just made it to CVS to get his prescription.  

We set Oliver's mattress up on the floor in our bedroom.  We carried him to bed about 10.30.  We went to bed shortly after.  It was a very hard day for all of us, mentally and physically.  I really feel for those who have children who need regular hospital treatment.  It is so draining.

Oliver was sick in the night, and had quite a disturbed nights sleep, regularly asking if it was time to get up yet.

Isaac was up his usual early time this morning, and straight in to check on Oliver.  Isaac was not keen to go to school again today, but the thought of daddy taking him and picking him helped entice him.  Oliver ate a hearty large breakfast, and has mostly lazed on the sofa today.  

With the help of his little brothers.  He hasn't slept though, which I wish he had.  He is now sitting here watching the NASCAR, though bed is coming soon.....

Oliver's Op - Part 1

The day dawned lovely and warm.  I packed the younger two off to school.

Typically, Isaac refused to get out of the car.  He had to be physically carried out of the car.  Sebastian went in like a star , and only started crying once I left the room.  I popped to the supermarket to pick up some bits.  

We left for the hospital at 10.15, as he had to be here for 10.45.  We were checked in quickly downstairs. We headed up to the day surgery waiting area.  Again, we were called in quickly.  A nurse took Oliver's vitals, and gave him a gown.  

At this point, I had to leave Oliver and paul while I went to get the other 2 from school.  

The other 2 were fine in school.  Seb had a few tears, but no way as bad as Monday.  Isaac had a good day, learnt a new lesson and generally did good, despite the rocky start.

I had been texting with paul throughout the afternoon.  Dr Alexander was running an hour and 45 minutes late on his surgery list, so Oliver didn't go in till 1.30.  He hadn't eaten since 8.15 the previous night.

We had already arranged that I would come up mid way through the op and swap. I got to the hospital at 3.30.  We had a quick chat, and he took the boys back home.  At least we have shared the time at hospital fairly equally.....

It is now 6.45pm, and he is still not out of surgery.  I am currently sitting in a room in the recovery area watching HGTV.  They gave me a status update.  They have just finished on the bad ear, so just yet adenoids to remove and the other ear to check.....

Snow again

So it snowed a lot last week.  It began on the Tuesday morning.  The boys were already declared off school, yet Seb was still in.  I kept him off though, it was coming down pretty hard.  It eventually stopped about 4 pm.  We had a good covering in the garden, though it wasn't sticking to the road.  Paul was home by then, and despite a good snow ball fight, there was still plenty to make a snow man.

Wednesday they declared a state of emergency, with a civil notice put out, warning those in South Carolina not to travel unless absolutely necessary. It did continue snowing through most of Wednesday and Thursday, and everyone was off school and work.  It was entertaining seeing the traffic reports on local news as there was just no traffic on the roads.  Due to the ice risk over night on the Thursday, Paul's work was delayed on the Friday, and the kids were off again.  Luckily the temperature began to climb and melted a lot of the snow on Friday. 

The earth moved on Valentines Day..... There was an earthquake in Edgefield, SC, measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale.  We didn't feel it, or the after shocks.....

After being cooped up for 4 days, we had to get the boys out at the weekend.  We headed in to Greenvillefor some lunch.  We choose Carolina Ale House, as it is usually ok.  But the place has been going down hill.  The hostess didn't acknowledge us when we asked for a table, just started gathering menus,  all we need is a 'yeah sure' (a bug bear of Paul's, it has happened a lot recently....).  The food was mundane, service ok, but not great.  Don't think we will be back for a while.  At least we got to go for a nice walk around Falls Park afterwards.... The kids were fairly well behaved....

Yesterday was Presidents' Day, and Oliver and Isaac were supposed to be off. Sebs school is actually daycare, so it takes a major holiday (like Christmas or thanksgiving) for him to be off.  Friday night I received an email from Oliver school, saying they had decided to start making up the snow days by using Presidents' Day, and the half day before Good Friday would now be a full day.  Hurrah for common sense!  We dropped Oliver at school and headed to Sebs school.  As soon as we got out of the car, he started whimpering....he whimpered all the way to his classroom, where I said good bye.....then whimpered for the next 3 hours!  Bless. His teachers are doing a really good job.  I get a report each day, with photos and generic spiel as to what the class have been up to in the day.  It is very nice.

While Seb was in school, it was mummy and Isaac time, so we got some donuts

And headed home.  All Isaac wanted to do was play computer.  So I let him, but we did watch some of Finding Nemo together before going to get Seb.  Yesterday afternoon was spent at Anna's house, with Rachel, raiding her DVD collection.  Thank you ladies for a lovely afternoon.  Oliver came home from school with his valentines goodies.  I swear he was the only child in his class who did not give candy/stickers/tattoos stuck to his card.  His valentines is very commercialized.  They are certainly breeding the next generation of Hallmark shoppers.  They will be the people who feel the need to spend a stupid amount of money they don't have on gifts.  At least Isaac's school requests no gifts/candy.... His party is Thursday…..

All 3 headed out the door to school today, hurrah!  The older 2 were all dropped off fine.  Sebastian waited till he got to the door of his classroom to burst into tears.  but he went in, and went off with the teacher and played.  When I came to pick him up, the rest of his class were lining up in pairs to go to the gym, and he was sitting there ever so nicely on the floor.  He was very happy to see me.  His teacher said he had a much better day.  He used the computer and did some art. Everyday I get a generic report of what his class have been up to, but it is personalized with photos of what Sebastian has done.  

I think he is going to settle really well.  Isaac had a bit of a bumpy day, but I think we may be in for a bumpy time over the next few weeks with him anyway, given what is happening tomorrow….

So tomorrow is Oliver's operation.  Bless his teacher, he came out today laden down with books and worksheets of things he will miss in the next 1-2 weeks.  He has already started some of it.  I think I will go through it with him tomorrow and work out some sort of a timetable… He has to be at the hospital for 10.45am.  This is a little later than we had hoped, but what can you do?  He will be in surgery at least 2 hours, probably more.  Then at least an hour in recovery room.  I am expecting him to be home around 4, and he will probably be going straight to bed.  I have found a good site for anyone interested in what Oliver is going through tomorrow….

Will post photos tomorrow…..