Surgery #3

Ian has been under anesthesia four times so far - two urological surgeries and two endoscopies. Since an endoscopy is technically a nonsurgical procedure, his next surgery (septoplasty) will technically be his third. Since those surgeries and endoscopies took place in 2010 and 2011, Ian has no memory of them. As he'll be fifteen years old when he undergoes the septoplasty, he will remember this one. Not counting the surgeries that I had which were related to pregnancy, my last surgery was a septoplasty. Dr. Wilson said the procedure hasn't changed over the past 30 years (mine was in 1994). Ian's sleep study showed he has mild sleep apnea. We had been told he had hypertrophy turbinate as well as a deviated septum and that the septum could only be repaired after he was eighteen. We were trying to decide whether he should have one or two surgeries, but this pediatric ENT said that she can do both procedures at one time on a fifteen-year-old. Ian didn't want to wait three years to be able to breathe through his nose when he's awake, and hopefully this will also lead to an improved quality of sleep for him. We could have scheduled the surgery to take place as soon as January 15, but we're waiting to get a price estimate from the second surgical center before we choose between the two locations where Dr. Wilson performs surgeries. The two locations are the same distance from our home (85 minutes away one way). I paid $250 yesterday for Ian to see her in Hershey, which was closer to 100 minutes away one way. Considering it took eleven months for him to have his sleep study, I'm grateful the wait for the nose surgery won't be as lengthy and that we don't have to make any more trips down there prior to the day of his surgery.

Here's a few highlights of what we've been up to since I wrote last:

1. Another mom and I took 13 kids to see The Best Christmas Pageant Ever at AMC. On another day my dad and Cheri joined us at AMC to See Bonhoeffer. They were both good movies! Ian has decided to do his report this year for the history fair on Bonhoeffer. Oliver is doing Abraham Lincoln, and Nadia is doing Jane Goodall. 

2. Ian played the piano with the youth praise team for the second time ever and performed a duet (see video above) at a recital. Pop Pop joined us. Nadia wasn't able to attend as she was at work. 

3. Cooper was at our house for 8 days while his family was on vacation.

4. We helped pack over 300 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child at our church.

5. Oliver, Cheri, and I attended a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert and had dinner at Olive Garden.

6. Nadia has been working more hours recently. She worked about five hours on November 30, four hours on December 2, two hours on December 3, and she's scheduled to work about four hours on December 6. She loves having a job that involves working with cats and dogs! 

7. My dad spent 6 days with us, and during that time Yvonne's family (11 people) also spent about 39 hours at our house. 

8. I've been making progress with vacation plans. I booked our rental vehicle for our trip in May (the cost was painful). On the other hand, I paid a tiny amount to book an Airbnb for four nights in Honolulu and two nights on Maui because I used $1,250 worth of gift cards to Airbnb that I got through credit card points. I've booked 11 out of our 13 nights in Hawaii so far for a grand total of $219. I'm hoping to use credit card points to get Turo gift cards to pay for the rental cars on Oahu and Maui. We'll have to pay for the rental vehicle on the Big Island because we plan to pick it up at Hilo and return it at Kona, which means we can't use Turo. I'm really looking forward to visiting Hawaii for the first time!