Weekly Wrap-up: Rocky Recovery

This week started off with our little guy’s surgery on Monday. It started off as I expected. He isn’t a “morning person” for one (just like his momma!), so he was crying about even going to the hospital. Then he refused to put his name bracelet on once we checked in. Then he screamed about getting weighed. Then he screamed at the nurses who tried to make a fuss over his screaming by bribing him with cars and cartoons. They kept asking me over and over again what he likes to watch after I carried him back into the room for the second time. By then, I was a little frustrated myself and explained as plainly as I could – “He has Sensory Processing Disorder and he is overwhelmed. It doesn’t matter what channel you put it on. This channel is fine.” I honestly didn’t even know (or care) what it was. Unfortunately, even that didn’t work as they asked what he watches at home, so I was forced to acknowledge what was on the TV. “Oh! Peter Rabbit. Yes, this is good. Thank-you.” (We don’t have cable at home.) It was the kindest way of saying “please leave.” Luckily, it worked and it did give him time to calm down. When I think back on it now I can think of so many ways I could have handled his meltdowns better, but I suppose that is how it always works. I mean, you have to remember *I* have SPD as well, so I also can’t think clearly and feel overwhelmed in the middle of it all, so it’s not hard to believe I can’t think of all those wonderful ideas when I need them most! His nurse was WONDERFUL. She was very understanding and let him decide what she was allowed to do like take him temperature, vitals, etc. The funny thing is, he let her do everything because she took this approach. It was awesome. The anesthesiologist was also very understanding. We discussed the medicine that helps him calm down before going back for the surgery so he wouldn’t be feeling anxious about my not being with him, having the mask put on him, etc. She knew all about SPD (except she still knew it as Sensory Integration Disorder, which I explained is the same thing just a different term), so she did feel this was the best option. It was a good choice. He was calm when he went back, which took a load off my stress level. He did well in the surgery, and I was able to go back and sit beside him in the recovery room as he was waking up. He wasn’t happy about the IV in his hand, but he wasn’t overly anxious about it either. I honestly don’t think it could have gone any better. I thank-you SO much for your prayers! He started eating and drinking shortly after waking up, and we were able to go home without going back to his room! Praise the Lord for a quick exit! That may sound silly, but I’m telling you, it’s the little things that make a difference when you have little ones with special needs!
Here he is just after he took the calming medicine before going back for surgery:

The rest of the week has revolved around his recovery, which has been a little rocky. The evening of the surgery was pretty rough. He didn’t like his pain medicine, so that made things a little difficult! He kept telling us his “nose hurt,” so I know he was in pain. He had a hard time sleeping as well. The next day was AMAZING, though! You couldn’t even tell he just had surgery! I was able to get a few things done, we had homeschool like usual, and it was just a normal day around here! That night, though, was awful. I didn’t end up getting to sleep until 10am, which is when Joey got home from work. He took the kids to therapy so I could sleep. The swelling and drainage had begun, and Chaz was having trouble sleeping. He was also having issues breathing in his sleep, which kept ME up more than him. I kept turning him on his side so he could breathe better. The past few nights have been like that but are getting better. I’ve been doing my research and found this isn’t uncommon for post-adenoidectomy. So, I’ve just been taking it in stride trying to do what I can with the rest of stuff when I can, but unfortunately because I haven’t been sleeping as well my sinuses started acting up again, so my week has mostly been tending to him and sleeping when I’m able to! He still has some pain during the day and stomach aches off and on probably from drainage. Some amazing timing – I received some PediaONE for review, so that is a blessing indeed! That’s the main part of our week! I promise the weekly wrap-ups won’t be this long once I actually have time to blog regularly in between each wrap up! haha Since I didn’t have time to sit down and actually type much about the surgery until now I fit it in here! Actually, I probably shouldn’t promise that because you know how it is – even when I summarize I do so in paragraphs! On to the actual summaries!

Highlights in our Life

• Chaz had surgery and is having a rocky recovery. Some days are good. Some days are not-so-good. Not that I needed to summarize that part since my main post was about that!
• My mother in-law and her husband are in town for the weekend! I might have some good pictures of the Drive-Thru Safari to share if we do end up going (that is the plan as of now). I think we might close our windows for the camel this time. He’s seriously just too mean!
• We didn’t go to Houston due to Chaz having some bad days after the initial good one.
• Our gluten-free journey was totally sabotaged this week. I was ill prepared because I didn’t do grocery shopping before the surgery, and so I relied on what was in the pantry before we started the journey (and we couldn’t afford to just throw it away essentially – oh, it’s an internal battle), and we might have gotten convenience foods a few too many times this week. *Sigh* This could also be why I’m not feeling so great either!
• I’m hosting an Usborne Books party! I’m trying to earn some free books for our family for both enjoyment and for our homeschool! If you would like to help out please feel free to shop from my party link. My rep, Sara, is wonderful, so if you need to ask any questions, she is very helpful! The party will close on the 28th.

Homeschool Highlights

• Wow! We’ll be changing up our routine next week! We started changing it up some this week, but due to the extra attention needed by Chaz and the extra sleep needed by me we stuck to the minimum this week and took it easy. We did mostly computer work this week with one book work for something we’re reviewing as well as one video we’re reviewing. Next week, though, we start a few more reviews, and it’s going to be new, exciting, and fun! We’ll basically be following a similar routine but starting it in a different way and with different curriculum (not a complete overhaul, of course!). I’m looking forward to it!

Blog Highlights

(I’m skipping the Shop highlights because, unfortunately, I don’t have any!)

• I felt like despite a challenging week I found somewhat of a balance minus personal content. I would have liked to post more personal content, of course, but I felt given the circumstances I didn’t totally fall behind like I’ve felt like has happened in the past when I’ve had a busy week and haven’t been able to get on the computer as often.
• I finally added my Privacy Policy.
• I received more products for review that I shared on my social media (are you following?), and quite a few reviews will roll out this week, so stay tuned!
• I shared the Homeschooling Special Needs Encouragement Project. If you know a homeschooling parent with a special needs child (or children) who would like to participate please share this with them! They don’t have to be a blogger to share some encouragement!

Goals This Week

• I still need to add my Sponsorship Opportunities page. Seriously. I also still need to contact past Sponsors about these opportunities as well as letting them know about my new Feedback Page as well.
• I want to put the new Small Business Directory in effect. It will do the work for me, which will be nice, but initially I have to do some work to get it going. My goal is to have that done by the end of this week.
• I would like to have all reviews and sponsored posts scheduled. Even if they’re not needing to be posted this week I’d like to have a set date for them to be posted in the future. I’m usually really good about determining review dates based on the product and getting them scheduled right away, but since I’ve been so wrapped up in everything I haven’t done that as well lately. I want to accomplish this by Wednesday at the latest.
• I would like to have all the clean laundry put away. This is one of those things that seems to be never-ending, so I want to figure out a way to make it a routine so there isn’t always a load (or two or whatever) that isn’t put away.
• Get back on track with Gluten-free grocery shopping!

How was your week? What are your goals for the coming week? Please share!