Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Make mine a tonsillectomy with a side of kidney failure, please!





















I am a card-carrying member of the "Sandwich Generation"

My son had a T&A on September 13. What fun! Thank God for Vicodin and the Family Medical Leave Act. If only the Vicodin were for me:) Anyway, the surgery went well and his GIANT tonsils and adenoids are gone forever! Hopefully no more infections, snoring, or sleep apnea. Mr. Dominick is healing nicely. However, I am not used to being home this much with him. It seems we are starting to get on each other's nerves. I think both of us are ready for this to be over. And frankly, I am tired of buying ice cream.

In addition, my mom has developed some issues that are making me a bit nervous. It appears she is in kidney failure, Stage 3-almost Stage 4. Ugh! So far she has had an MRI and will see the nephrologist next week. It's so scary when a parent's health begins to fail. To top it all off, I am an only child, so there is no one to share this experience with. I am not liking it, but really, I am very confident that she will be ok. Or maybe I am in denial.

On September 18 I discovered the indescribable joy of having a colonoscopy. Unfortunately, I flunked it by engaging in a little apnea and subsequent coughing fit. Doctor said the camera was jumping too much to get good pictures. Can you even imagine what that must have looked like?? Oh my God! My ass jiggling all over the table and these people that I sometimes have to see at the grocery store witnessing the whole thing?? I am so humiliated. Anyway, now I have to get fitted for a CPAP machine and also have a barium enema. Does it even get any better than this??

Now, on to Miss Ava! She saw the eye doc recently and it was decided that surgery is the only way to straighten her eyes. No glasses yet. They will continue daily patching and hope that her vision gets stronger. She has a followup visit in October, I think, so maybe they will recommend something else at that visit. The doctor, Linda Angell, is wonderful! She's very kind and soft-spoken and Ava really responded to her. So, here we go again...back to the operating room. Surgery will be scheduled as soon as clearance is received from the cardiologist. Doctor just wants to make sure that Ava can handle the anesthesia.

Ava went to the cardiologist on September 14. I couldn't attend that appointment because of Tonsil Boy, but they tell me everything went very well. She will have a sedated echo next week, which hopefully will give us more good news.

Sometimes when I write about doctors and appointments and tests I feel like I am writing about some other baby. Because our baby is the picture of health and happiness. She is so sweet and loving and gives 1000 percent more than she takes. It is impossible not to love her! She puts up with us very patiently. Even when we try to dress her funny.

Gotta go now. Since I am on the computer I will have to check out all my favorite kids. So look out Brady and Erik and Tatum and Clare and Avery...here I come!!



3 comments:

Lisa said...

Life without T and A should not be so bad, no more funny noises. Emma had hers removed when she was little. I hope everything is ok with your Mom.

Glad things are Ok for the moment with Ava's eyes. Tatum goes next week to the eye dr. I know exactly what you mean about our kids being fine. It seems weird that there is something wrong.

Glad you are back to blogging I missed hearing from you.

Nancy said...

Wow! Your plate overfloweth! I hope everyone in your family stays healthy, happy, and well from now on. Your description of the colonoscopy sent me into my own coughing fits. Yeesh...I hope the barium study is more...uh...well, I hope it is over quickly and everything comes out just fine in the end.

Adorable photos! You are a gem.

Love,
Nancy

Kerry said...

What great pics! Brady is patching an hour a day too, his follow up is Monday. Ugh, not looking to forward to that! Sounds like Ava did well at cardiology. How great! I think you deserve a litle spa time with all you've been going through!!
Love -K