The last few weeks have been extremely busy for our family- we are back into the school routine, choir is up and running weekly, my sister’s wedding, Derek and I are working tons and we have lots going on with the kids and their care/services…..OH, and did I mention that we have a book launch on November 1st?!?!

Yes, we are finally launching The Wizard of Roz in Lancaster on Friday, November 1st from 4:30-8 PM! Miss Roz will be reading the book to attendees at 5 pm and the family will be in attendance to do a meet and greet, sign books and more! We have other potential projects in the works, but we are SO excited about the launch of the first book in this series. We are genuinely hoping that through these books, we will be able to raise more awareness about Autism and teach others about the wide spectrum that it entails.

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Aside from the book and the business of regular our chaotic lives, Greyson had surgery this past Thursday for removal of his tonsils and adenoids. Since he came out of the womb (LITERALLY), he has snored, loudly. I always assumed it was just congestion or minor apnea, but the older he’s gotten, the worse his snoring has been. I took him to CHOP Otolaryngology after we were referred by a physician at our doctor’s office and we had him seen by Dr. Devine at the Brandywine location back in July. At that visit, he was seen and had x-rays taken of his neck/throat area to see if his adenoids were visible on the imaging. The next day, the doctor informed me that Greyson had significantly large Adenoids and moderately large tonsils and that he may benefit from having them removed, but he wanted to see some videos of him sleeping, if we could send some over. So, I recorded him sleeping for the next couple of nights and sent them over to Dr. Devine. Needless to say, we had surgery scheduled very quickly after he received the videos.

<figure class="wp-block-video"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Literally the first night he was out into the world- snoring away in dad’s arms.</figcaption></figure>

Our arrival time at the main CHOP campus was at 9:45 am on Thursday. Derek could not accompany us to the procedure due to a prior work commitment that I didn’t know of when I scheduled the surgery. Because this particular doctor was booked out until January, I didn’t want to wait for the next available appointment, so I decided I could go either on my own or figure out someone else to come with me. Luckily, Greyson’s behavior specialist, let’s call her “M” for now, was available and blocked off her schedule to accompany me to the hospital for the day. M was so great, getting to the house super early to drive with us and dealing with the Schuylkill traffic with me, keeping G happy in the car when he was clearly over it, helping him take the pain meds in the car before we got to the hospital, and then of course, throughout the entire prep, procedure and post-op. As someone who is not obligated to attend things like this, she truly is an amazing person and Greyson absolutely adores her. It was quite funny to stand back and watch a bit because M has worked with G and our family for almost three years, so she knows a LOT about Greyson and they are very comfortable around each other. Many of the nurses and doctors approaching us thought that M was Greyson’s mother and that I was just a second person present. We also got many nurses that thought M and I were a couple- LOL. So many people were shocked when I told them that I was Greyson’s mother and that M was just his BCBA who was accompanying us for the day because my husband could not attend. It was quite an experience, and M and I had a good laugh about it on the way home.

So far, Greyson’s pain level has been fairly well managed. He has some issues overnight with not wanting to drink or take medicine, but I have been trying to stay on top of his fluid intake and medication routine. His energy level hasn’t been impacted too much, but he has been taking naps frequently throughout the day and is requiring a LOT of snuggles from Mom. He is a trooper and was so brave on surgery day. He did a great job waiting over an hour in the room for the procedure to start (luckily childlife brought his favorite Rover in) and he had some sensory toys, Spiderman and his iPad to keep him company. When he was getting too impatient, the nurses on the floor allowed him to walk along the unit with M, so he wasn’t cooped up in the small pre-op room anymore, which helped relieve some of his anxiety.

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The doctor who was set to do Greyson’s procedure had an unexpected death in his family and was out of the office last week, so another doctor filled in for him. This doctor, Dr. Rizzi was great and was very clear and took his time answering any questions that I had. After the surgery, he met me in a consultation room to debrief me on how the surgery went, and informed me that Greyson’s tonsils and adenoids were very large, obstructing his airway. He said it was a good thing that we came in and had both removed so that Greyson could breathe better when he slept and hopefully with the adenoids removed, could stay healthier throughout the year. This in combination with the appointment he has at the CHOP Immunologist next week, we are hopeful that we will get answers regarding Greyson’s frequent sickness and how we can prevent him from having constant infections that require antibiotics. Our overall goal is to keep him away from the antibiotics, so he doesn’t develop any sort of resistance to them, making it harder for his body to fight them off in the future (plus with my history of ear, nose & throat issues, I don’t want him to deal with all the problems I have had).

So here we are. Mr Greyson will be hanging out with me for this week, taking a much needed (and deserved) break from school, having some nice one-on-one time with Mom while he recovers. He’s technically excused from school until 10/28, and I am in no way rushing him to get back to school until I think he is ready to go back. I am more concerned about sending him back into a not-so-happy environment where he could injure himself, than him inconveniencing my work at home for a week or so. Plus, I will take all the love and snuggles that I can get from him while I still can…or at least while he is still small enough to fit into my arms.