Tyler Goes Tubing

This morning, Tyler went in for his eye surgery. He needed to have his unopened tear duct opened. Basically, they run a tiny tube (supposedly looks like fishing line), through his tear duct and inside his nose to open things up (or something like that...).

Tyler is our little bionic kid. For a 16-month old, he's had more procedures done than I think I've had done my whole life. At 2 months old, he was in the hospital for a few days for his pyloric stenosis surgery. Then, around 9-months old, he got ear tubes to combat his constant ear infections. And now this.

But, for the most part, the little trooper always comes out like a champ.

Today, we had to report to the pediatric surgery center bright and early - 6 am. Since Tyler wasn't allowed to eat before the procedure, we didn't wake him up until it was time to go (fortunately, he could just wear his jammies there). And for a baby who didn't get breakfast before leaving, he was actually in a very good mood!

By around 7, they had finished the preliminary work-up on the little guy and took him away for the procedure, where they'd knock him out with general anesthesia through an IV.

By 7:30, we were getting the post-report from the eye specialist, then sent back to the waiting room to await Tyler's transition to the recovery area.

While in the waiting area, we could hear a baby screaming quite loudly and consistently (this is through 3 walls and quite a few doors, mind you). Never in our wildest dreams would we imagine this would be our very own happy little Tyler. Apparently, it's quite common for little kids to be really upset as they're coming out of the anesthesia. It's not so much a pain thing, as a confusion thing, I guess, because they had given him narcotics to take care of any pain...

They soon brought us in to be with Tyler, commenting on how strong he was for such a small kid (it took two of them to hold him down as he was waking up since he flops around so much). He was livid, of course. Didn't even want his binky - anyone who knows Tyler knows this is a really bad sign.

Poor little guy. NOTHING was going to console him. Not mommy, not daddy, not the binky, not apple juice... It's really rough seeing him so upset - especially knowing how happy he was when we first went in there!

Eventually, they released him, and assured us that the kids often calm down once they realize they're going home. He was too upset to pick out a "prize", so we picked out the tiger in the t-shirt for him, then we left.

Fortunately, the nurses were right. He calmed down enough in the car to take his binky. Then, right after we got home, he was ready to drink his apple juice. Once he had a full breakfast in his system, the old happy Tyler was back!

Now, the only evidence of this morning's procedure is a consistently bloody nose (which is normal and should go away soon) and the eye drops he'll get twice a day for a week.

Amazing how quickly little kids can recover, isn't it?

Here are some pictures of our much happier Tyler, taken this afternoon!