Surgery #1

Last night was very long, very little sleep, and the sleep we did get was not very restful. I will say that we both feel OK, which may be due in part to the fact we are running on adrenaline. This morning we woke up around 8am and got ready to go to St. Mary's Hospital; my mom, who came up with us to watch the twins (YEAH for Grandma), took care of the Twinkies for us. Since we are only one block from the hospital we were able to leave at 8:50 and checked in at 8:54, we then waited for about a half hour before we were taken up.

They explained the reason we waited so long was because there were no more rooms available, we were warned about that yesterday. There are so many surgeries happening today that it is literally one in and one out. We got to our room only to be asked to wait in the waiting area since the room had not been cleaned yet. Sarah asked for a child life nurse to talk with X while we waited for our room (Child life helps explain things to your kid, and helps make them comfortable while they stay at the hospital. Every single one of them has been phenomenal). She explained it all again to X, who was only interested in knowing if there was going to be a pokey shot and smelling his cherry mask (below Pic.).

The same time we were told our room was ready the EEG tech had come to talk to us; we all walked to the room, and the millions of questions began. Once 20 questions ended, we were told it was time to go; it was literally that fast, I think it helped a bit since we didn't have a lot of time to think about it. X was rolled into the pre-operating room, and the nurse (Grandma Beth) came in and loved on him some. Just in case you are wondering, the people working here are still the best ever, constantly talking to him, holding his hand, running their hands through his hair (or stubble), and reassuring us. After she was done the anesthesiologist came in and talk to him (Played with his trucks too), and talked to us.

They asked him who was going to go into the operating room with him, and he pointed at me. Now I was happy about this, but also aware of how much Sarah wanted to be there. I tried to talk him into having his mommy go, but as soon as I started doing that Sarah bravely said "Dan you go, he wants you to go so go.” I took a big swallow and said OK; at this point I was not sure I could hold onto the damn of water in my eyes. About 15 minutes later I was handed a blue suit and we were on our way. I held onto X's hand while we rolled through the hallway, passing at least 4 other hallways, all of them with numerous doors that led to operating rooms. There were so many operating rooms, everywhere you looked there was another one, and it seemed like a dream.

When we arrived at our O.R. I had to let go of his hand and put on my mask. I entered and took a DEEP breath; my little X was lying on the O.R. table and just nervously smiling. I stood next to him and held his hand, he looked up and smiled, like in relief that I was there. He was then asked to smell the bubblegum mask and they talked to him about the movie "UP". They told him that the more deep breaths he took the more likely he was going to float away, he started taking bigger breaths. Just before he was totally out he started shaking, I started crying, the nurses explained it was normal, and that he was going out, his body was just reacting to the anesthesia. I gave him a kiss good-bye, tears rolling down my face, and walked out. The nurse talked to me the whole way out, but I didn't respond due to fear that I would lose my composure and bawl. I made it to Sarah who was crying, and we went to our room. All the nurses told us we needed to get out and eat; we did; now we are just waiting for updates.

He went into surgery at 1:20 and is expected to be out around 4 or 5. I will post more as the day goes on, I want to make sure I keep you all updated since you are all in this with us. Keep on checking this as I will be updating at least once a day. I would have pictures on this one, but I seemed to have left the card reader, and the usb cord; so until I am able to find that you will be forced to only read about it. I will re-update this post with pictures when I find it.