Adrey Post: Surgery & Speech Therapy Graduation...

Yes, you read right.  Adrey had surgery last week.  Adrey had what's called a "hydrocele".  Hydrocele 101:  When a boy's testicles drop into the scrotum, they descend via a pathway, and in 90% of boys, that pathway seals itself and all is good.  In 10% of boys, that pathway does not seal off, which allows fluids to travel into the scrotum, causing swelling and eventual discomfort.  Adrey was part of that 10%.  We trekked across Alligator Alley last Tuesday to visit with the pediatric surgeon.  We felt quite comfortable with the surgeon considering the uncomfortable situation we were being faced with.  Knowing Adrey had to be put under made us really anxious, although we were assured it was a very routine procedure.  Adrey handled it like a champ.  And all the nurses LOVED him.  They couldn't believe how cooperative he was and how well he listened (if they only knew how he was at HOME!!).  He really did beautifully and we were SO proud of him. 

(All photos in the post were taken with my phone so pretty crummy quality)

The nurses even gave Ducky(s) a hospital bracelet...

Adrey was so pensive and quiet throughout all the pre-op activities... he only answered questions with a "yes" or "no"... He knew something was "up" and he was a little frightened.

They let Adrey hold and practice the breathing apparatus that he had to use when taking the anesthesia.  It smelled like bubble gum... pretty great idea, huh?

 

Before wheeling Adrey off to the O.R., they had him drink a cherry "cocktail" to calm his nerves so that leaving Mama and Daddy wouldn't be so traumatic. The nurse shared with us that children wake up from anesthesia with the same mindset as when they go under. So if a child is anxious and scared before they go under, they'll wake up that way. If a child is calm (a.k.a. "loopy") they'll wake up calm. So he drank his little cherry concoction and within minutes he was the goofiest, smiliest, limpest little thing I have ever seen! I could NOT. STOP. LAUGHING. because he was being such a ham! I got the best video of him from my cell phone but I haven't figured out how to get videos from my cell phone on to the blog yet! Adrey would just be laying there and then you could tell he'd think of something because he'd start grinning from ear-to-ear for no reason at all!  

 

Surgery took about an hour.  After surgery he was still asleep when we entered the room.  Doctor said he had a "very big" hydrocele.  He looked so peaceful on the table sleeping with his mouth wide open.  Bless his little heart.  It took him about 20 minutes to wake up and he just kept saying he wanted to go home.  We couldn't blame him!  So within 45 minutes we were back in our car and headed back to Naples! 

We got Adrey some cars as a prize for being such a brave little patient, but he was very weepy, and tired on the way home so he didn't really get into them.  It's the first time in his life he didn't care about a car!!



Adrey was back to his normal self by early that evening.  It's amazing how quickly kids bounce back.  You'd never even know, besides the small little scar on his groin area, that he had surgery!  John took Adrey back over to the east coast today to see the doctor again for a follow up and the doctor said he's healing beautifully!  Adrey was a little ham at the appointment too, and put quite a few smiles on quite a few nurses faces.  A nurse asked Adrey if he wanted a sticker and when she handed them to Adrey, Adrey said, "Thank you.  What's your name?"  And the nurse said, "Theresa" and Adrey said, "Thank you, Theresa!"  So proper!!  I love it.

NOW... onto bigger and better things.  Adrey has "graduated" from speech therapy.  And check out the write-up that Ms. Amy gave him:

"As you know Adrey has made amazing progress!!!!  The informal testing I
did with him  confirmed this!!  The test I used is called the Preschool
Language Scale and measures Auditory Comprehension and Expressive
Communication .  It is broken down by age. so i begin the test for his
age 2 years 7 months and work forward until he misses 5 items in a row.

For the Auditory Comprehension Adrey scored correctly on all of the
test items in the age range of 3 years to 3 years 5 months!  He shows
emerging skills in the 3 year 6 month age range!  This is so
wonderful..we have always known that his receptive language is intact!

Even more amazing is.........For the Expressive Communication section
Adrey scored correctly on most of the test items in that same age range
of 3 years to 3 years 5 months!!!!  This shows that his expressive has
improved so much and it is now at the same level of his receptive
language abilities! He is doing all of the expressive language skills
we would expect of his age including using plurals (blocks, toys, babies), combining 3-4 words in spontaneous speech, answering wh- questions
using verb + ing (eating, running etc) and using a variety of nouns, verbs, and  pronouns.

Words can't express how much I adore Adrey! You are such a wonderful family!!
I am so proud of Adrey and so happy for his success!!!"

I don't think I can justly put into words how proud we are of Adrey.  I sat through many a speech therapy sessions and listened to him trying SO HARD to repeat what Ms. Amy was saying and it was so challenging for him, but you could tell he wanted to do it.  She has been an AMAZING teacher and we think the world of her!  He has come SO FAR and I'm just so happy for him.  Being able to communicate with him has made life so much easier for us all.  Not just that, but I love hearing things come out of his mouth when I least expect it.  Like when I got home from work on Monday, Adrey said to me, "Have a good day at work, Mama?"  O.M.G. I had to mop up the floor around me because I literally melted it was so cute.  Oh, and sometimes Adrey even finishes my sentences for me... Like tonight at dinner... I was serving our plates and the cheese fell off my chicken and I said, "Son-of-a" and Adrey, from across the room, shouted "bitch".  LOVELY.  Can't say I'm proud of that, but I sure had to exit the room and cross my legs because I was laughing so freakin' hard.  Oh. My. Gosh. he is the cutest little 2 year old ever!!