The morning couldn't have gone any better. BBZ was allowed to nurse until 4am, so I set an alarm for 3:30am and planned to go in and feed him in hopes that we could put off his hunger until after the surgery. I woke him up at 6:15 and by 6:30 we were on our way to the hospital. We got there around 7am and got checked in. N took a few pictures with our good camera, but the batteries died while we were still in the waiting room. We got some with our camera phones that I'll post below. They called us into the pediatric pre-op and explained what would happen. Nurses and doctors came in one by one and explained what their part of the procedure would be. Each one asked if there was anything they needed to know about his health history so I told the story of his intussusception many times today. The short story, of course. There were rooms up and down the hallway filled with little boys getting ready to have this procedure done. A little boy just a bit younger than BBZ was in the room across the hall and he ended up going in right before BBZ. It felt almost like an assembly line of surgeries. I knew this surgery was common, but this was unreal.
Check this out:
This is the new way they track patients and surgeries. I guess it replaced the old dry erase boards like we see on Grey's. In the waiting room this one is all numbers and shows what stage of the pre-op the patient is in. Technology is pretty cool. We hung out in the room for a while and heard the other babies go to and come back from surgery. The gave BBZ a really cool yellow outfit that we appropriately named "banana pajamas".
He found a wonderful place to hide and play with his cars while we waited...
And a bit before he went in he gave me a big ol' wet, slobbery kiss. It was actually quite nice.
The hallways of the hospital had the same TV screen as the picture above except that the numbers become partial names and you can track where each person is in the sequence and how long they have been in that certain stage. So we were able to see after BBZ left my arms that he was then in the operation stage. Then we saw when the surgery was completed and when he was in post-op. A few minutes later he was brought back into our room. It was really pretty cool to see where we and the other kiddos were in the whole sequence. That was when we realized how many of these surgeries were going on. Just our doctor alone had at least 10 kids in different stages. It was crazy.
So they had given BBZ a "cocktail" of tylenol and a really crappy tasting medication that was intended to make him sleepy and loopy enough to be willing to leave my arms and go with the doctor. That is exactly what happened. And when he left I couldn't help but cry. I just hate that we have to deal with this. I hate that he has to be one of the babies who has to have this extremely popular surgery. I feel as though I am being swindled while also being confident that he needs this done. I don't cry long, just long enough to get it all out and feel better.
When they brought him back to us he was a little out of it. They had warned us about 3,264 times that he would be very upset and inconsolable, which he then became. It actually wasn't that bad though. It only lasted about 10 minutes or so until he finally agreed to nurse and fell asleep in my arms. Some of his crying was just cries and some involved tears too. The tears sucked because I knew he was hurting, but as N said, we shouldn't resist temporary pain if it's going to make things better in the long run. Here is one with him in my arms...
BBZ felt great after his little nap. We packed things up and went home. N ran to McDonald's for some comfort food and we watched videos and played all afternoon. Around 1pm he went down for a nice nap. He woke up feeling even better and even felt up to going with us on some errands. I ended up buying a new cell phone! Overall, it was a day that went fast and I am thrilled to have over and behind us. We'll see how he sleeps tonight, which to me will be the real indicator of how he feels. I've got my fingers crossed!
So they had given BBZ a "cocktail" of tylenol and a really crappy tasting medication that was intended to make him sleepy and loopy enough to be willing to leave my arms and go with the doctor. That is exactly what happened. And when he left I couldn't help but cry. I just hate that we have to deal with this. I hate that he has to be one of the babies who has to have this extremely popular surgery. I feel as though I am being swindled while also being confident that he needs this done. I don't cry long, just long enough to get it all out and feel better.
When they brought him back to us he was a little out of it. They had warned us about 3,264 times that he would be very upset and inconsolable, which he then became. It actually wasn't that bad though. It only lasted about 10 minutes or so until he finally agreed to nurse and fell asleep in my arms. Some of his crying was just cries and some involved tears too. The tears sucked because I knew he was hurting, but as N said, we shouldn't resist temporary pain if it's going to make things better in the long run. Here is one with him in my arms...
Which reminds me a little bit of this one...
BBZ felt great after his little nap. We packed things up and went home. N ran to McDonald's for some comfort food and we watched videos and played all afternoon. Around 1pm he went down for a nice nap. He woke up feeling even better and even felt up to going with us on some errands. I ended up buying a new cell phone! Overall, it was a day that went fast and I am thrilled to have over and behind us. We'll see how he sleeps tonight, which to me will be the real indicator of how he feels. I've got my fingers crossed!
Original Post
So I'm not the quick post type, really. I like to write long thought out posts that are detailed and edited, so today with all that has gone on I haven't had time to post! But, Gina reminded me that I need to give an update on how things went...so long story short, it went well and it is over! BBZ seems to feel well and is back to his old happy self. I'll send a thorough update once he is bed fast asleep (for the whole night we hope!)
Thanks for all of your prayers and positive thoughts. It was an *easy* surgery, if there is a such thing for a toddler, but neverthless I was a bit of a mess about the whole thing. We appreciate all of the love and support!
