End of Summer holidays….

Ok so technically its not…. The Greenville school system starts back next tuesday, and my boys have an hours induction on the friday, then 2 half days on the following Monday and Tuesday, before being in full time (till Labor day weekend, the first week in September).

But…. Oliver has his reconstructive surgery tomorrow.  You may remember back in February when he had the cholesteatoma in has right ear and had to have it removed during a tympanomastoidectomy. We have to be at the hospital for 11.15 tomorrow.  The doctors plan is to put him under, open the ear up through the same incision, and remove the plastic that is behind his ear currently.  His ear drum is starting to curve into his ear canal slightly, so the doctor may need to take some cartilage from his ear to stop it protruding any more.  As long as the cholesteatoma has not returned, three small titanium plates will be placed into his ear canal, to mimic the bones that had to be removed last time round.  Then it should be as simple as closing him up, and letting him come round.  

As horrible as all this is, we are very fortunate.  Dr Alexander is awesome, and I have every faith in the staff at the hospital.  I was able to request this particular date, as it means Oliver barely misses any school.  His follow up appointment is on the 2nd half day of school.  He won't even miss any recess.  When I explained my reasons for this particular week, Dr Alexander was very understanding.  He says he will probably just glue it this time, with no need for bandage strips.  Purely cosmetic, thinking of his return to school.  I just hope that 1) the doctor is running on schedule, 2) the cholesteatoma has not returned and 3) that Oliver doesn't feel as rotten the next day.  We will see…..

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This summer has felt incredibly long, and hard.  I was thinking about it, and comparing it to last year.  Last year we had Paul's parents visit at the beginning of June, Oliver did a week of camp, we went on holiday at the beginning of July, then my dad came in August.  This year we have had no-one!!!!  Yes, Oliver did camp again, and we went on holiday.  But our holiday was very active to say the least.  

I have struggled this year keeping the boys amused, but I think I have managed it ok.  What with the big holiday, money has been a little tight around here, so there have been no visits to soft play etc.  We have mainly been doing cheap/free things.  Because the boys completed their summer reading log with the library, they got free tickets to the baseball.  It was good fun, but very hot!!! 

We have done lots of park trips and getting together with friends.  I don't think the falafel with school has helped my positive attitude towards the holidays either.  But it is sorted, and I shall try and enjoy next week of doing very little with the boys.  I foresee lots of watching films and playing computer games.  

What has also made it hard is my OU work.  Although I made a big effort to get ahead before holiday, since then it has been tricky to dedicate myself, and find the motivation.  I have 7 weeks left, and in that time I have another assignment due 10th September, and an end of module assessment (EMA) due 2nd October.  The assignment I am not too worried about.  My EMA though….It is a website of up to 3000 words on a project of my choosing (I am about half way through in rough, gonna have to watch my word count!) , then review my webpage, then write a 2000 word report on a document the OU have chosen.  This is not easy.  I have been doing well to keep up with the work load, but will be glad when the boys return to school and I can fully knuckle down.  But in the long term, this is my last big OU course, almost like a dissertation module, I only have 2 more short course to do and I will have a BSc Open Degree (Hons) in Chemistry, Psychology and Environmental Studies.  There is light at the end of the tunnel…….

Will update again next week about how the operation goes, and the boys return to school...

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.....