Friday, April 16, 2010

uvulopalatopharyngoplasty - It's a real word I promise!

- WARNING -
Surgery pictures at the end of this post! may not be suitable for the weak stomach

This morning the alarm went off bright and early! Scott and I rolled out of bed to get ready for an 'exciting' day at the hospital getting his tonsils removed! Yay for him right! Well to be honest he really did want them out... to bad it has to be such a nasty surgery... don't they make a pill for that!?

Along with removing his tonsils they also removed his Uvula. Yeah... that dangling thing at the back of your throat... GONE! It's called uvulopalatopharyngoplasty. Seriously... read about it here if you don't believe me!

Scott has been having sleep apnea problems for a while now and the good 'ol c-pap treatment wasn't cutting the bacon. So the doctor did some cutting of his own! lol Ok ok ok... I know it isn't funny. Basically the procedure opens up the airway so that while sleeping he will be able to breath without obstruction. So that is what my poor hubby had to go under the knife for today. A combination procedure to remove his tonsils, his uvula, and a small amount of the soft pallet. What is the recovery time for that you ask? Three excruciating weeks... give or take. FUN EH!!??

The surgery took place at this high fa-luting fancy pants hospital here in the valley. The first thing we did was check in.... AT A KIOSK!!! Totally WEIRD!! No person to talk to... just a machine you type your info into and then grab a pager and wait for your nurse to come beep you!


The nice nurse came and took us up to the prep room. So Scott could put on his pretty gown and disposable shorts! LOL... no really.. they gave him disposable shorts! They are really kind of cool actually... just nice little brief type things that keep his butt from peeking out the back of the gown! I wanted a picture but Scott wouldn't pose for one! GO FIGURE!

After they stuck in the IV we got to chill out a while and wait for the Dr. to finish his first surgery of the day. Scott got bored and started to play with his IV.... he kept stopping when I went to get a picture... what a stinker! In this next picture notice how he is laughing... he tried to flip off the camera then stopped before the real shot. He was quite pleased with my shocked reaction! I told him I would have posted the picture if he had really done it and he didn't believe me... so I guess telling you the story is the closest I can come to showing him I would have!

After a chat with the doctor Scott was off to the torture chamber! Doesn't he look happy!?


I was really nice and didn't take any pictures of him when he came back from surgery. He looked like a pretty miserable puppy! In the room there was this dry erase board. I asked the nurse permission to write my hubby a little note.


Scott and all the male nurses never even noticed it (though I did point it out to Scott and he gave me a nice smile) I think every female nurse that came in or passed the room said "OH HOW SWEET!! That is just so cute!!!!" HA HA HA - must be a girl thing and not a guy thing!

So now for the pictures you have all REALLY come to see this post for!! PRE and POST SURGERY PICTURES!! Here comes Frankenstein!!!


Check it out... NO UVULA!

This picture is much harder to see. It is a picture of the cavity where his tonsil use to reside before it got evicted!

And last but not least.... in my opinion the most grotesque picture of the day
Now don't you just want to go have your tonsils out and your uvula cut off!????

In all reality thought the surgery went extremely well. His airway is much more open now and those pesky tonsils are no longer there to bother him. The nurses and staff were WONDERFUL and the Doctor was AWESOME as well!

Scott is in pain and discomfort, but not nearly as much as he had been expecting. (you tend to expect the worst when the doctor tells you that for a week you will want to hunt him down and kill him for doing this to you). Thank goodness for Lortab and ice chips!!

A quick shout out to Grandma Becky and Grandpa Dwayne -
THANK YOU -THANK YOU- THANK YOU for taking the kids for the weekend!! It is so nice and quiet here and I can spent all my time pampering my sweet hubby while he is in so much discomfort!

A note to my mom - I know you would have gladly taken the kids as well if you had been able to! We all have to make money honey! lol. I LOVE YOU!

A note to my dad - Thanks for driving to Treemonton with me to drop of the kids! It was so much nicer to have a riding buddy!!! (and now every time I see a semi truck I will think of you and a quick acronym!!)

2 comments:

Krista said...

What happened to the girl that would get pale at the word blood? Really, I'm shocked! I hope everything continues to go well. That looks very painful.

Tina said...

I guess we all have to grow up sometime! lol. Instead of a girl who gets pale at the word blood, I am a momma who can handle caring for stitches! Don't ask me to watch you get your blood drawn still though! lol