Well, where to begin?
Here’s a rundown of the big surgery, in case you’re interested. If not, you can skip this post because it’s a long one, and it’s all about the surgery. :)
We had to get up bright and early to be at the surgery center by 7:15am. E was dazed because of the early hour and so I asked him to smile for me in the backseat. This is what I got:
Obviously, he wasn’t looking forward to the day. :(
Once we got there and got checked in, there was one girl ahead of us who had just been admitted and we waited a few minutes until E was ready to be prepped. While we waited, he got to play with some waffle-type building blocks. It took me back because I used to have the same exact ones when I was growing up. :)
He got to wear a Looney Tunes gown over his own shorts and then we sat and waited while they got ready for him. He charmed the nurses.
They gave him his own ‘balloon-blowing mask’ that we would use for the anesthesia. They told him he’d be using it to blow up a balloon which is how he would go to sleep. The sweet nurse who prepped him coated the inside of it with some LipSmackers so that the ‘stinky gas’ didn’t smell as bad. E chose strawberry-kiwi and bubblegum so it smelled pretty good.
Dad and I got to be there and make sure he was ready before they took him down to the operating room.
I could tell he was nervous, but the nurses did a good job of keeping him comfortable. I was nervous, too. This was the first time he’d ever had surgery before and while I was sure everything would go just fine, I still had that little mother worry in the back of my head wondering about what could possibly go wrong.
After they took him back, we headed out to the waiting room to sit it out. Luckily for me, it wasn’t too long before the doctor came out and told us that everything went well and that he would be just fine.
After all the ‘shop talk’ was over, he leaned in and said, “Do you know who your son looks like?” And I said, “Well, not me!” He laughed and said, “No, he looks just like the Glenn Beck guy. You know who Glenn Beck is, right?” The hubby and I looked at each other and laughed. “Yes, we know who that is, how funny that you say he looks like Glenn.” We had a good laugh and then the doctor went back inside. Then the grandpa of another little girl having her surgery spoke up and said, “You know, it’s really funny that he would say that because I thought the same exact thing when I saw your son out here before!” Who knew? We have a little mini-Glenn. :)
Once we finally were able to go back and see E, he wasn’t doing too well. My heart squeezed a little when I saw him for the first time and he saw me, and he just reached out to me and wanted me to hold him. So they sat me down in a chair by his bed and let him sit in my lap and wake up from the anesthesia. It wasn’t fun – he was in a lot of pain, coughing a lot, and was just generally not understanding what was going on. The thought came to me to tell him a story to keep his mind off of things, so I started making up a story. Instantly he relaxed and listened to the words.
Unfortunately, that was right around the time when the nurse came in to brief us on the next several days, so I had to listen to her instead of tell the story. E kept interrupting her to tell me to “Finish the story! Finish the story!” As soon as I had heard most of the instructions, I finished telling him the story.
(It was about a little boy who discovers a magical stone that takes him on a scavenger hunt adventure looking for different colored objects. I think E just really enjoyed having his mind distracted from the pain. And I’m sure the shot of Demerol didn’t hurt either!)
The nurses were urging E to drink as much water as he could – they had stressed before he went in to surgery that that was the most important thing he could do when he woke up to go home, and he took them very seriously! He drank about 3 cups of water just while we were there recovering.
Finally, once he had settled down a bit and was doing better, it was just about time to go home. The nurse came over, and said “It’s time to take out your IV.” And before she even had a chance to put on her gloves, E had ripped it out of his hand and he started spewing blood all over the place. I had to grab the IV and hold it down on his hand, trying to stop the blood, while she got her gloves on to help. It was obvious that he wanted to get out of there, he was just a little too excited to do it!
We got everything cleaned up, E got a sticker, and then we put him in a wheelchair to meet Dad out in the back of the building. We got in the car and headed home.
Once there, E surprised me by not sleeping at all! He was just quiet and mellow, laying on the couch watching Johnny Test and Rugrats, his two current favorite shows. Little brother W came home with Grandma and we settled in for our homebound stay. I was glad that the hubby had taken that day and the next day off from work because it really helped having him there.
The next two days were worse than the first, which is what they warned us it would be like, so we were prepared. He spent both days just in bed because his throat was so sore and he was so weak from not eating anything. We made sure he was drinking his water, although at that point he didn’t even want his popsicles anymore. It was rough, but we made it through.
The third day, which was yesterday, he seemed to be doing better. He looked like he had more energy, he wanted to get up and move around more, and was generally in a better mood. He was still really weak and couldn’t really speak, but he seemed better overall.
Today has been good, I think his soreness is getting a little worse, because his body is now doing some real healing and it doesn’t feel good. We’re still keeping on top of his meds and trying to keep him drinking. He’s been able to eat a little bit, but not too much.
I think he’s finally sick of the unlimited popsicles. Who would have thought! :)
We’re so grateful for all the many, many prayers and well-wishes that we’ve received from friends and family. We’ve been blessed with amazing visiting and home teachers (volunteers from our church) who have gone above and beyond what we could have asked for. (I’m talking about you Jennie!!) Thank you so much to all who have been thinking about him. I can tell he feels it. :)
Here’s to better healing days in the next little while! I’m sure he’ll be up to his regular tricks in no time.
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