Surgery is done!

Roo had his surgery done on Monday. He did so well. I had explained everything to him and used a book of the ear to show him everything. He was very cool with it all.

We got up early and got to the hospital at 6:00 am. Uggh, that is just so uncalled for, I am sure of it. All you have to do is wait when you get there that early anyway. After all the insurance formalities and such we were finally sent up to the fourth floor where pediatrics is located. We were met by an extremely nice nurse who informed Andrew and I that he had to take all his clothes off and put on the hospital gown. She showed him the gown which was adorned with a large picture of Ronald McDonald and all his buddies such as the Grimmace (the big purple blob), french fry gobblins, hamburgler, and a few others. Now, I haven't seen hide nor hair of the characters (other than Ronald) in years, which makes me wonder just how old are these peds gowns? After the nurse walked away Roo, in no short order, told me flat out, "Mom, I am NOT going to put THAT on!" I about fell over laughing because he was so adamant about it. I know my son well enough to know that this thing was way too much like a night gown, and boys simply don't wear them. The nurse returned and kindly said to him, "your neighbor has one on." He agreed, but informed the nurse the neighbor was also a girl. In the end I won over and he donned the gown. The wonderful thing about being five though is that he no problem with his little hiney hanging out the back nor if it rose up high enough to reveal his "boydom". I have to admit, his little hiney was pretty cute in the gown. We waited out the rest of the time telling stories to each other. Finally, at 7:00 they came to wheel him down to the surgery holding area. I was able to go with him down there. On the way down I notice it looks just like any other surgery floor I have ever seen. The just look like a storage area with beds lining the hall walls and stacks of boxes with supplies in waiting.

We arrive and wait some more but with more visitors asking questions about his health, allergies, and the like. Anesthesiologist put my mind at ease when they said they didn't even have to give him an IV since he will be under for such short duration. I knew Roo wouldn't be very fond of an IV, so this was excellent news. The doctor showed up and had a little chat with Roo and myself and off he went to surgery as I went to the surgery waiting room awaiting the doctors call. After 20 minutes he called me telling me that he was done and surgery went excellent. He told me Roo did very well and had LOTS and LOTS of fluid in both ears. He said was crying right now which was normal after they wake from anesthesia. Sure enough I could hear him in the background, "raising hell" as the doctor called it. LOL. I went back up to his room and waited until he returned from recovery which was a half hour later.

He was still crying when he arrived. All he wanted was his mom. He was quite happy to see me, but was at the sobbing point of crying which takes time to reverse. I held him and calmed him down some and asked if he wanted to sit with me in the rocker or get in bed. He wanted back in bed. I asked if he wanted me to lay with him. He told me, "No mommy, this is a doctor bed, and no mommies are allowed". He is so darn cute. I continued to calm him by singing to him quietly (and he could actually hear it!) while rubbing his back. He was still doing the sobbing breathing, but the crying had stopped. Soon enough he was out like a light and drooling on the pillow. He woke again in about an hour and asked when he could go home. It was funny because his voice all very slurry which indicated that he was not ready to go home. He slept for about another hour. He awoke asking if he could go home yet. I told him there were three things he needed to do before he went home. He needed to rest to get all the medicine out of him, and needed to drink some water and not throw up, and he needed to pee. He apparently was paying very close attention because he rested a little more, woke back up asking for water, and went to the bathroom a little later. I was a little worried when he got up to walk to the bathroom because he became fairly pale and he said he felt like he was going to throw up. Fortunately it was short-lived. The nurse came in to check on him and he quickly told her in a very eager voice, "I rested a lot, I drank water and didn't throw up, and I peed!" She told him, "wow, that was your entire care plan! Would you like to go home?" He was very happy and we got him dressed which was a little comical because he was still a little groggy. We had a very nice ride home with a normal voice level conversation! It was so nice not to have to talk loudly to him and to have him keep telling me, "what, I couldn't hear you". Once we got home he was 100% back to normal. He wanted to ride his bike or roller skate, but I told him he may still have some medicine in him and that may not be the best thing to do today. He wanted to play with Shilo (his aunt's dog who lives next door). We brought the dog over and he had a grand time with him. We later went and picked up Lyd from school and the two of them played all afternoon until she had homework to do. Now, I did let him get a chocolate shake thingy from Starbucks. I asked if he wanted ice cream and that's what he told me he wanted.

I can't believe how much this surgery has helped him. It is amazing not only in his hearing abilities, but he doesn't talk loud like he did before. Also, one area of great improvement has been his attitude! He just isn't as irritable as he was being for a while. He would cry at the drop of a hat and lashed out at his sister quite often. I am sure the pressure on his ears was very irritating and he must be glad to have that gone.

Lyd's first open house is this Thursday. I am very eager to attend my first open house as an adult. I recall the only open house I was excited about in school was in high school because I had art on display there. But, that is another post for the 28th of April. I have volunteered to make some cookies for the occasion. I really want to make peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, but have never been very successful making peanut butter cookies! It makes out right mad too. I can make some killer chocolate chip cookies, but peanut butter? They seem to just end up being greasy blobs. Hmmm, maybe I need to just cook the hell out of them. Anyway, I am excited to see how they decorate up the classroom, see what work she has created and to hear her teacher, whom I adore.

I guess I should get back to work.