David's Surgery

Off to the hospital bright and early with a sad little boy crying for chocolate milk that is not allowed. The other 364 days of the year he wakes up with his milk, today "no cigar". Then we arrive at our strange place well before time to wake up on a normal day. He's given up on the chocolate milk and now going with I'm hungry - my child who doesn't eat and never says I'm hungry - desperate for something. Mommy is good for comfort, but not really smiles. Grandma arrives with a surprise and there are the smiles :). Short-lived and with a little grumpiness attached, but smiles none the less. Now back to a little room and a bed, which for some reason he just knows is for him since he climbs right in. Then the gown, which was non-eventful. Next a variety of ladies come trouping in - nurses, nurse anesthetist, anesthesiologist, or nurse, etc. I think he's deciding this isn't such a bad deal after all. They are all nice, have stickers, hug him, tell him he's cute and they love his eyes... which my flirt of a son flutters to them at every opportunity. Dr. Bowman pops his head in a couple of times and that's ok - no fear of him, he's just Aiden's dad (friend at school). Then he drinks the happy medicine and he is laughing at Grandma and squealing and all is good. They come then and wheel him away as we smile and say see you in a few minutes, love you...

I didn't cry, because it's not my thing, but boy is that a hard thing to do. Knowingly sending your child off for surgery, basically elective surgery at that. The mild risk doesn't bother me as much as the pain I am causing him. The pain he won't understand and mommy won't be able to kiss away. And why... will it even work? This is my babies 4th surgery on these blasted ears and I've added in tonsil removal in a desperate attempt to make him well and pain free and infection free. Will it work? Only God knows the answer to that. All I know is yet again I've subjected him to pain on a hope and a prayer.

About 20 minutes go by and a lady, who I assumed was in the business dept., called my name. I went into the door she called me from (office side, not recovery side) and waved to the others to stay put (Barbara, Dan and Emily). I assumed it was just another insurance question or something. Then I'm in a hallway following her and she leads me to a conference room and says Dr. Bowman will be right in. Oh... well heck, I should have had Dan come with me. Then my panic sets in. The last time I sat in a little room and waited for Dr. Bowman to come in with normal routine, good news - he came in and told me Dan had stage 4 cancer... I didn't realize how scared I still was, my stomach was flipping and doing butterflies, I saw spots. I tried to pray, but I couldn't. It was not a great 5 minutes.

He comes in then and is all smiles - whew, "thank you God!!!!". Surgery was routine, no problems, David did great. Blood loss less than a thimble, everything fine. Just a note - tonsils were very large. The only out of the ordinary thing was an Osteoma in the ear canal. He said they are normally very slow growing and he just can't believe he missed it in clinic. They are non-cancerous bony growths that typically have to be removed because they can grow large enough to close the ear canal. He said he didn't remove it while in there since 1) he didn't have the kit and mostly, 2) he has not done but a few and would rather his senior partner (the ear guru) do it. So we will follow-up with him after the current situation is healed and go from there.

Next back in the waiting room to wait for the recovery nurse to call us. She does and Emily and I go back first. I hear my baby crying as soon as the doors open. He is not happy. I know, I know - perfectly normal. His throat hurts, he's disoriented and agitated from the anesthesia and doesn't know where he is and strange women are holding him still. It still breaks your heart a little to hear it. I get back there and they ask me to hold him, which of course I was planning to do anyway! I sing to him and rub his back and he passes back out. This happens several times over the next 30 minutes. Emily, Dan and Barbara all take turns coming in and then Barbara and Dan leave and Em and I stay for the duration. (They only let 2 people back there and David was not up for company so there really wasn't a need for them to stay.)

The only concern was the amount of blood in his mouth. I didn't expect it to be that much and apparently neither did the nurses. Dr. Bowman came back in and he wasn't happy with it either. We discussed going back in and cauterizing or whatever it is they do to stop the bleeding. We first decided to try and rinse his mouth out and see if we could get his mouth clean and then watch and see how much more blood came. Not an easy process, but we managed to do it with a little water and a towel. 45 minutes later - no more blood!!! So all was fine in that regard. After more instructions and IV removal we were on our way home (or to the pharmacy 1st).

David has really done well since we got home at 11:30. He has had milk and juice and a little ice cream. He keeps asking for random foods, which is bizarre for my non-eating child, but I just distract him and change the subject because nothing he has asked for is soft. I am trying to really stay on top of the pain medicine and give it on schedule. If I've learned nothing else from Dan's ordeal and my back - it's give pain meds on schedule. Don't let the pain get bad first and then give the meds, because you will NEVER catch up. He has only slept a little, but he has not moved from my bed since we got home. Thank heavens for digital cable and noggin.