Surgery

I thought I better try to get this typed in before my memory bank fills up with new adventures, and not so fun stuff. Steeven had surgery last Tuesday and was supposed to be released from the hospital the next day. They wanted to keep him 23 hours for observation since he is so small and we had no prior family history of surgery.
So Steeven and I leave for the hospital early Tuesday morning at 5:00, it is still dark out folks and that is early! He does great waiting in admissions and then we go up to the pediatric unit on the 3rd floor. The nurse that takes his history and gets him ready is so excited that Steeven is from Haiti. She had just went to a benefit concert for Haiti in Canton, IA on Sunday, which we had planned on going to as well only Steeven woke at at 4:45 that morning and was in no shape to go anywhere that night. So another "it's a small world" example, turns out that her son knows Adam Sieff who is a friend of ours as well and he was one of the performers at the concert :). All the nurses love Steeven because he is being his charming adorable self and all morning I hear, "Weren't you in the newspaper", we get that a lot lately.
The Child Life Specialist, seriously this is a title, comes in and exlpains what I can expect which was very helpful. She also escorts us to the room we were in prior to surgery and basically hangs out with us because when it is time for surgery she walks in with me, which I think is great. The entire time Steeven is being a ham, playing with the oh so flattering hat that both of us have to wear, trying on masks, singing, climbing on things, and on and on. Then it was time for surgery...I hold Steeven's hand as he is rolled back on a bed and of course I am being very positive making a way bigger deal out of this just to make him feel good, that is my job as the mom. It worked because he did great! He wasn't afraid of all the wierd people in gowns and masks that were talking in a strange language, English. He hopped from his bed to the surgery table with no problems, because he is cool like that. They put his maks on so he could breath the sleepy stuff and off he went into la la land. As I turn to leave I see his head go back and they say something about his airway, which I thought was all normal becase nobody was too excited about it.
Then the wait begins. They gave me a pager and when it beeped it would show a number that told where they were at in the process. So, surgery started at 7:17am, yes I am anal so I wrote it all down. At 7:25 his eye doc comes out and is finished with his part of the surgery, probing the tear ducts. He said that the right side was fine, btu the left side was a little blocked. Actually he said, "The tube went right down his right side with no problem, but on the left side there was a little pop and then it went through", and there were hand actions to go along with! At this point my eyes are hurting a little, thanks doc!
Side note: at this point I still ahve nto had any coffee, this is a big deal!
Then at 8:00 surgery was done. Shortly after that the ENT doc comes out and meets with me saying that things went well and telling me about the follow-up appointment and so on. He then says that it will take them about 30-45 minutes to get him to the recovery room.
Wade gets to the hospital, with coffee and muffins around 8:45 to join me in the wait. At 9:00 the pager beeps that Steeven is in the recover room, a little later than he should've been, but what do I know? Then, I'm not sure when because things didn't go as planned so I couldn't type them time in my iPod, a nurse comes out and asks us to come back into the recovery room because Steeven is having a hard time and she thinks we can be of help.
It turns out that Sttven did not repsond well after surgery when they removed his breathing tube and they ahd to put it in 3 different times! This would lead to his oxygen levels being messed up for about 4 days. He finally gets to a point where they let him go up to the pediatric unit where his room was. Shortly after that Wade had to leave to get Carter from school and then they came back up a little while later.
That was how is went for the entire 5 days Steeven was in the hospital, running back and forth trying to make sure the other three had someone to care for them too. We had planned on 2 days but were not prepared for 5!
Steeven was very lathargic the first 2 days so he slept a lot, when he wasn't moaning or throwing up. It took some time to get the pain and nausia meds figured out for him and it didn't help that he wouldn't eat or drink. Pain meds on an empty stomach do not sit well! The rest of the time in the hospital was not plesent either. Steeven did not want to do anything really, but leave! he refused to drink, ate very little, would not play or smile or even laugh. I really believe he was depressed.
Then on the 5th day, Saturday, the sky parted and heaven shown down on our little room....Steeven began to drink! Now, in true Steeven style, he refused all drinks unless they were in a juice box. Really kid! He would walk with us around the ped unit, but still would really not play with anything. The doctor decided that it was improvement enough an let him come home. I think the problems he continued to have with oxygen were caused, mostly, by the swelling in his throat. Even to this day, Tuesday, he is having a hard time sleeping and whne he gets upset, watch out!
Now, looking ahead we have another surgery this summer. I have no idea what that one will bring and really do not want to think about it right now.