On nurse duty

In general I’m the world’s worst nurse. But taking care of our boy post-tonsil surgery has been fairly easy and really rather entertaining. He’s recovering very quickly, and is thrilled with the general improvements to all his ENT problems.

My main job is to remind him which meds to take when, keep him sucking down soups, ice cream, pudding, juice, and other soft foods, and to keep him from killing himself or causing all of us intense embarassment.

Okay, I’m not quite this bad.

Because it turns out that a kid who has ADD and an incredibly active mind is pretty darned interesting when he’s on both steroids and narcotic pain meds. He’s always a motor mouth, but just now he’s a motor mouth with no filter. Example: We had to make a dash to IKEA this morning (which, thankfully, is only ten minutes from our house) because the sink cabinet we want for the bathroom project is about to be discontinued and they happened to have one in stock today. He memorized the item number, and – fresh into a dose of opiates – spouted that number to every salesperson we ran across as we came through the store, talking a mile a minute and eliciting a lot of blank stares.

And then there are the downright dangerous things he’s done in the last couple of days before I could stop him:

• climbed up on a swiveling stool to look for a cooler in the garage
• carried a ladder down the stairs because he thought we needed it for painting (he’s not supposed to be lifting heavy items)
• Jumping down the stairs four at a time – it’s his usual habit, but especially unwise right now

The post-op instructions included the advice “don’t make important business decisions while taking your narcotic pain medication.” I forgot this warning yesterday and asked The Boy to order some things on Amazon for me – he’s desperate to keep busy, and felt left out of the bathroom project. We still needed a tension rod for the shower stall, a shower curtain and curtain rings. Fine so far – all those items were in my cart already. Then I asked him to look for a few things for his father’s birthday tomorrow. With Amazon Prime they should have been delivered in time. I don’t know how he managed it, but somehow he ordered items that won’t be delivered for a week or more. Ah, well – I know his father will understand.

Best part of my nursing duties today: I get to make a huge pan of homemade macaroni and cheese this afternoon, because it’s something he can comfortably eat. The fact that it’s one of my favorite meals has nothing to do with it, really…

Hmmm…I hear the kid stirring downstairs. Time to get back to my rounds.