1st Grade

Porter started 1st Grade on August 9th. He was soooo excited to be back in school that he couldn't sleep. He came into our room at 3am, fully dressed and asking if it was time for the bus to come. We were not too pleased and even less happy when his little brother woke up minutes later! Matt was a good sport and got up with both boys. I was much too grumpy for a pre-dawn breakfast and cartoons.

He needs to be outside waiting for the bus around 6:45 am....he was more than ready for the day at this point.

at last....the bus came and he was off!

This is what happened when Dixon crashed. He slept until lunchtime!

Porter's Surgery

Porter suffered with multiple strep throat infections last school year. Our Doctor recommended that he have his tonsils and adnoids removed. We opted to have the surgery performed last month. We are glad we waited until after swim team was over because it turns out there is a 3 week no activity for his recovery process.


Here is Porter after he had his first medicine that makes him sleepy.

He kept asking Matt and I, "what if I don't go to sleep?" As you can see here, he could hardly keep his eyes open and this was how he looked when they took him to the operating room.

Porter was resting peacefully when we were able to go to his recovery room. I wish I had a magic spell for this at home.

We soon had to start trying to get him to wake up and start drinking. Keeping his throat moist is the most critical part of the recovery process. This also turns out to be a major challenge. I never imagined that I would struggle to get a 6 year old to eat a diet that consisted solely of Popsicles, juice, pudding, jello or slushies.

Porter had a 6 hour recovery room stay. We passed some of the time watching Scooby-Doo! He loves those cartoons. By the end of our stay, he was eating Popsicles okay. He was ready to get home to see Nanny and Papa. They had spent the day with Dixon.

Our care instructions were for us to keep him hydrated and he was supposed to take antibiotics 3 times a day and pain medicine every 4-6 hours. We were cautioned to stay ahead of the pain. His prescription was for Lortab. I get sick when I take Lortab. At one point in the recovery room, Porter was a little queasy. I asked specifically if the Lortab could be making him sick, since it does to me. I was told that it would have happened sooner, if the medicine was to blame. We left the hospital and faithfully gave him his medicine around the clock. After a day of this, he started complaining that he didn't want the medicine and his stomach hurt. I kept forcing the medicine and told him he was hurting because he wasn't drinking as much as he should. By 2 am on Wednesday night (surgery was Monday am), he starting vomiting and didn't stop. He could not keep anything down, even 1 tsp of water. This poor little guy. Matt had to go into work for a summer project he was doing. I had brought some friends over to play and keep him company. Then I called the doctor to find out what they considered continued vomiting to be....they said come in NOW. I got the other kids ready and in the van and told Porter he had to get off the sofa and go to the van. He stood up and promptly collapsed! Talk about a scary moment!! I cried out for Jose! (Did I mention that our AC broke and a friend was installing a new unit at the time?) Jose carried Porter to the van, I called Matt in a panic and we went to the Doctor who admitted him to the hospital. My friend met up with us and took her kids and Dixon so that Matt and I both could be with Porter. Turns out the Lortab I keep making him take, was upsetting his stomach with caused the vomiting which quickly led to dehydration.

I felt like the world's worst mom! I just cried myself as he cried as they kept having to restart his IV since his veins were 'blowing' due to the dehydration. It was so sad. Poor little guy of mine! My heart just hurt so bad.

Fortunately, after IV fluids and some shots of steroids to help with the swelling in his throat, he perked up and we came home the next night. Once home, he started giving me grief about not wanting to eat his Popsicles (we only had like 5 different varieties too), I gave him 15 minutes to eat it or I was heading him back to the hospital. He got up and ate it and from that point on, we did not have any more problems with him eating/drinking.

I guess the other downer part of surgery is that he can't get hot or do any activity that would raise his heart beat for 3 weeks. This has been as much of a torture as was the physical pain. It is the last 3 weeks of summer and he couldn't go out to play or swim! We have survived however and are looking forward to a strep throat free school year!!!