It has been a long day...I was up early and by 8:45 Wayne, Nehemiah and I were all at the local hospital's surgery center for Nehemiah's ear surgery. As a mother one of the hardest things to ever have to go through is watching your child go through something like surgery. He was nervous and it showed but he put on the bravest face. He had brought his stuffed bunny with him and a Harry Potter book that he checked out from the school library. I surprised him with a new bunny (that I even got a little hospital gown for) and a new book. That kept him calm for quite some time and I was thankful since the doctor was running a bit behind schedule today.
Nehemiah was the last operation for the day and I am so thankful that he has such a wonderful surgeon. He came and talked to us before the surgery and made sure Nehemiah understood what was going on before anything happened. This was the first surgery that he had to do his IV while he was awake. He weighs to much now to be gassed. All of his prior surgeries he was light enough that they could knock him out and then they would do the IV and anything else they needed to. He had a great nurse who was very calm and sweet to him. In just seconds she had that thing in with no tears. That alone was a relief!
About 10:45 or so they took him back and Wayne and I did our best to relax in the waiting room. We had some lunch there and around 12:40 or so his doctor came out and told us that everything had gone well. He was able to replace his ear drum and he had cleaned everything up in there. There is something about seeing the doctor walk through that waiting room door and you know he's coming to talk to you. It's like until he tells you that everything is OK you sit there and hold your breath while hanging on to his every word. When he smiles and shakes your hand you begin to breath again and you feel your muscles begin to relax.
After a few minutes we were able to go back with him in recovery. We knew we would be there for a couple of hours since the surgery was a big one. He rolled his eyes a few times and at one point I asked him how he was doing and he did his best to give me a thumbs up. He slept for the first hour then he started waking up and had a few crackers and some water. What he really wanted they didn't have so on the way home Wayne stopped and bought him some creamcicles. We had brought both cars because we knew there would be a chance that he would get called off to work so when I headed for home with Nehemiah, Wayne went and got the goodies and the pain meds. I felt bad for Wayne because for one I know how much he hates hospitals so for him to be there for support was huge, then when he went to go get the medicine the pharmacy was full and it took him an hour! I have to say I was thankful to have him there-I know Nehemiah was too.
The ride home was interesting. Of course what happens when you take a 10 year old after surgery, on a body part that is already going to mess with the equalibrium, give him a couple glasses of water, a few crackers then stick him in a car? Yup. We weren't one block from the hospital and we were horking. I laugh only because they hand you this little tray that holds about 8 ounces of liquid. I'm a smart mom-we've been there done that. I asked for a bag, the big heavy duty plastic bags you get with all your clothes in it. He made it too, nary a drop spilled. Here I was driving down the road one hand on the wheel, one hand holding a bag secretly praying I didn't get sick myself...is that what they call the joys of motherhood? I was lucky to not have been on the freeway so we pulled off into a small gas station and dumped the bag, got him cleaned up (and of course his ear was bleeding again!) and headed home.
He fell asleep once we got on the highway and slept the rest of the way until we took the Woodland exit. He opened his eyes and exclaimed, "That didn't take long at all!" I laughed and once home he tried to spring out of the car and no sooner sat up when he realized that he couldn't just run for the door.
But here I sit and he's on the couch resting. He's ate some rice and had his creamcicle now so he's good and relaxed. He's in the middle of watching Cars and I think I'm going to go buy Happy Feet tomorrow so we have a new movie here to watch. I chuckle to myself because his head is wrapped up in this bandage and gauze so he looks like some old wounded war vet. The house is quiet because Wayne did have to go to work, Jorden is spending the night at a friends and little Carinda is at the neighbors.
His post op is on next Friday-at the end of his spring break. Poor guy, I feel bad that he has to miss out on his spring break for this. I took him out of school early yesterday and took the afternoon off of work so we could go to Chuckie Cheeses and bowling. He had a lot of fun then and I'm hoping he'll recover well and get to enjoy Easter weekend. A whole week though with no physical activity...ugh...it's going to be a loooooong week. I think I'll go have a creamcicle.
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