On Thursday the 5th, Walker went in for surgery. He had his deviated septum fixed and reduced the turbinates inside his nose. They call the procedure a "Septoplasty with bilateral endocsopic KTP laser/submucous resection of the inferior turbinates. Say that 10 times fast! LOL!!
He's never had surgery before so he was pretty nervous. Let's face it...surgery makes everyone nervous no matter how many times you go under the knife!
His appointment was set for 2pm with a 1pm check-in. They go in age order, youngest to oldest for scheduling. Patients are required to fast and little 4 year olds can't go that long with out food/water. Walker was the oldest "kid" for the day, so he was the very last surgery. We arrived and doesn't he look excited!?! :P
The outfit is really what's awesome! He had to wear a button down shirt so he could easily change afterwards. NO bonking the nose with a pull over t-shirt!
What they didn't tell us however, until we already arrived, was that the doctor was running 2 hrs. behind. So we sat around and wanted to poke our eyes out for a while. We finally got called back and he got all prepped.
I mean..it's practically like Disneyland there is so much fun and excitement! :P
Getting the IV. That's another 1st for him as well.
All capped up.
One last kiss goodbye before they wheeled him back! They finally took him back at 4pm. We'd waited 3 hours so far.
The surgery ended up taking much longer than anticipated. The surgery usually takes an hour...his took 2 hours! The Dr. He said his septum was one of the most bent he's seen and he had a bone spur at the back. The bone spur was a surprise.... He had to chisel it off. The bone part behind the cartilage was extra thick, another surprise... and had to be filed down significantly. The adenoids were a 3 on a scale of 1-4 , 4 being so large it's completely blocked. That was another big surprise! We weren't planning to have those removed when we went in. The turbinates on the left side had filled in over time since the nose was bent to the right side and became extremely large. He said over all the surgeries he's done in over 30 years Walker's case was in the top 10 worst cases. He thinks this triple whammy will significantly help his breathing issues and possibly cure his sleep apnea!
Poor guy in recovery. He was pretty swollen. He spent an hour in recovery and then he was cleared to go home!!!
I walked out to get the car and saw the Harvest Moon! My camera didn't capture it very well...but it was really pretty!
Total time at the surgery center...6 hours! It was a very loooong day!!
We got him home and he fell asleep pretty fast. The last few days have been pretty rough. He hasn't been able to breathe out of his nose at all even though the splint has these straw like air openings to help him breathe. His mouth is like a desert and he's just generally miserable. Eating is a challenge because you can't swallow and breathe through your mouth at the same time. He's been a trooper though and he's doing a great job of trying to stay positive!!
The fancy nasal drip mask his doctor invented works so much better than the gauze taped to his face. It looks a little funny but it works like a charm!!! I couldn't help but draw a mustache on one of them...we've missed seeing his! :P
Today is now Monday, we just got home from the doctor's office. They were a little concerned about the bleeding he's been having and how difficult it's been for him to breathe. They felt waiting until Thursday to check him out and remove the splint/packing would be too long.
They got it all cleaned up. He said it didn't hurt but that it was really uncomfortable. Thank goodness for lidocaine!!. Now he'll need to irrigate it 2-3 times a day with a netti pot until his next appt. in 1.5-2 weeks. He's still not able to breathe through his nose. We think it's from the bleeding from removing everything. He's through the toughest part but still has a ways to go. Wed. he sees the pulmanologist who will probably order another sleep study to see if this procedure has helped his sleep apnea once it's healed.
We just wanted to say we love you all! Thank you for praying for him! Keep them coming! <3
Labels: adenoidectomy, ENT, septoplasty, surgery, turbinate reduction, Walker
