|
Grant had surgery today.
It all happened really fast.
At his 2-year-old check up his pediatrician noticed a sort of build up of fluid and sent us to a specialist to have it checked out. Last week we had our appointment with the specialist, he took one look at it and said “that's a hernia that's draining fluids into that pocket. I have bad news. He needs surgery.” And yes, a surgeon actually said to us “I have bad news.” When you hear that and then you DON'T hear “your son is going to die” or “it's cancer” you don't really care... surgery, pffffff, that we can deal with. It's a minor surgery (if there is such a thing). Smallish incision, drain the fluid, sew up the hernia. Grant wasn't in any pain, it wasn't an urgent thing, but since I'm five months pregnant we figured let's just get this over with. When we scheduled we took their first available... and that was this morning. I can say that last week the LAST thing I thought we'd be doing this week is sending Grant to an O.R, but here we are.
Up early this morning we headed to CMC in downtown Charlotte. After a forever wait (why tell us to get there 2 hours before surgery if we're going to spend those 2 hour siting in a waiting room?) they called us back to the pre-op area. Drew & I were antsy. Grant took one look at the crib and decided it was a “choo choo.” He was MORE than excited to hop on up in. While he played we answered their questions... repeatedly (he really isn't allergic to ANYTHING that we're aware of... even latex... even balloons... ). Then the anesthesiologist came in with “happy juice” -- I think it was Valium. We dosed Grant, asked for some ourselves (and were denied) and watched as our son became high as a kite. At one point he waved his hand in front of his face like it was the coolest thing he'd ever seen.
Anticipating the moment where they take him away from us is what's kept me up late over the past few nights. I didn't want him to be calling for us and crying. When it came time our kiddo was so high... we told him he was going on a choo choo ride – and he was saying “choooo choooooo” as they carted him down the hall... pointing out colors along the way. So, yea, no trauma there.
Then to the waiting room.
We'd been told the surgery would take about 15 minutes total.
Nope.
Closer to 30.
Want to scare the pants off of parents? Double your surgery time.
The doctor came out, told us the hernia was much larger than he'd thought, but that everything looked great.
At this hospital only one parent can go back to the Recovery Phase 1 area.... and 99% of the time it's mom. Of course, I went back.
We'd been warned that he would be rather agitated coming out of the anesthesia and he was. I could hear him down the hall crying for mom. When I got to him he was VERY out of it... obviously not really awake. I held him in my arms and rocked him for a while. He calmed down considerably but was still crying and I could tell he was really hurting. It was neat to watch how much he calmed down... quantitatively... I watched his pulse go from the 130s to the 110s... just by me being there. But he was still really agitated... so they gave him some pain medicine in his IV and he really calmed down and sort of dozed on my shoulder. He was happier (but not happy) when he woke up from that (about 10 minutes) and downed a HUGE glass of apple juice and 2 bags of Teddy Grahams. The first words he said when conscious were “where'd dad go?”
Dad joined us in Recovery Phase 2 (and dad was NOT happy about us not getting to both be in Phase 1 – especially since he was left to sweat it out in the waiting room for so long. He was a smart cookie though – went to the hospital pharmacy to get his prescription filled before we even left the hospital). Once the family was reunited Grant downed more juice and more Teddy Grahams... and even though he was very clearly still very uncomfortable we were given the all clear to go home. Basically he could do as much as he wanted that didn't include jumping or hard activities.
Well, that turns out to have been really easy.
He didn't sleep at all this afternoon... but he also didn't leave our bedroom.
He lounged around watching shows on Noggin while Drew & I doted on him. When he did try to move around he'd cringe in pain and say “OWWWWwwwww” and cry. Want to make a mom cry? Make her see that. He perked up around five... ate some rice for dinner and drank a good bit of juice. Then he was a lot more like himself... even got up to walk around. His incision is on his left side about belly-button height (so about 2 inches to the left and just below his belly button) and the incision is about 2 inches long. So when it came to walking, well, he tried. His walking was a pitiful, hunched over limp. He could go from our bed to the window (to see the rain) and then he'd just lay on the floor. He laid on the floor and colored with his magna-doodles. He settled again in our bed after his next dose of medicine... crawled next to Drew (who was working on his laptop) and finally – around 9pm... fell asleep.
We moved him to a better position... but he'll sleep in here with us tonight.
In fact, he's sleeping in his dad's arms... and I have the cutest picture EVER to show for it.
Hoping tomorrow he's back to his cheerful, wonderful, happy self.
|
