Rex Danley
Rex Danley likes popsicles.
Rex needed his tonsils out. That can be scary for a five year old, so his mom Ciara made popsicles part of his recovery plan.
Rex had classic signs of enlarged tonsils: Snoring, sleeping with his head at an angle, waking a lot in the night. When Ciara asked pediatrician Dr. Ben Flannery about it at Rex’s checkup, Dr. Flannery referred Rex to ENT specialist Gerard O’Halloran, MD.
“Dr. O’Halloran was great,” Ciara says. “He made it very comfortable for Rex.”
They scheduled surgery, then helped Rex prepare. “Every day we talked about it a little bit more: ‘This many more days until your procedure. They’ll fix your throat so you don’t snore and can sleep better,’” Ciara says.
Rex brought his Mickey Mouse toy and favorite book to the hospital. The surgical team “was so nice,” Ciara recalls. Rex got to pick out a surgical cap, handmade by volunteers. (He picked one with penguins.) When Rex woke up after surgery, the nurses read his book to him until his parents could join him. “The nurses took good care of me too, because I was nervous,” adds Ciara.
Back home, “the first week was rough”: Rex’s throat hurt, and he wouldn’t eat soup to soothe it (and keep him hydrated). “He’s always been a picky eater,” Ciara says. “I was concerned about him not eating, but Dr. O’Halloran’s nurse reassured me that it was okay as long as he was drinking.”
So Ciara challenged Rex to eat as many popsicles as he could, to stay hydrated and get some calories. Rex’s little sister and dad ate some popsicles too to cheer him on.
They made a calendar with recovery milestones for Rex to track: “Rex can run and play” and “This is the day I’ll feel better” with a smiley face. “We set it up as a goal with rewards throughout – a visual aid to say, ‘We’re going to get through it,’” says Ciara.
And they kept track of popsicles, decorating the sticks and saving them for Dr. O’Halloran.
“He was timid about his follow-up appointment, because the last time he saw Dr. O’Halloran it was for surgery,” Ciara explains. “So we saved all the popsicles sticks to give to the doctor, to make the appointment less scary.”
Rex proudly delivered a bag of 101 popsicle sticks to Dr. O’Halloran.
And he’s 100% better. “He’s sleeping well. He has energy, and he’s cheerful,” Ciara says. “When he wasn’t sleeping well, it affected everything. Now he’s always got a big smile on his face.”
Ciara’s advice for other parents of young patients: “I never had to deal with anything like this, so I was nervous too and tried not to show it. Keeping track with the calendar and popsicle sticks helped me manage my nervousness.”
A sweet remedy for the whole family.