Surgery News

Ah, the much anticipated surgery day!  Here is the story of how it went:
Keltan could not have anything to eat past 1:30 AM, and nothing but clear liquids until 4:30 AM, nothing at all after that.  So, we made sure he got plenty to eat before bed - banana, strawberries, orange, and, of course, thin mints.  At 1:15, we woke him up, and stuffed him full of formula.  Just in case you wonder about the sanity of doing that, we thought it best to get his tummy full, since he wants his milk daily at 5:30 AM.  Since his surgery wasn't until 8, we figured that would be a long time to keep him otherwise occupied.  Our ploy worked - he only asked for crackers once.  Before we left the house, Inga and I said a prayer for our nerves.  I, especially, am very skeptical and paranoid about anesthesia, particularly when it is my little man involved!
We arrived at Medical City Children's at straight up 6 AM.  He was all kinds of excited by the lights on the outside of the building - purple, orange, and blue.  When we walked in, and he saw all the butterflies hanging around from the ceiling, he was impressed.  The large blue ant on the front desk was awesome!  But nothing compared to the clouds on the walls upstairs!  Oh, those clouds were incredible!  And the blue, purple, red, green, and orange lights on the ceiling just made it that much better!  Clouds everywhere!
After we checked in, we had to go back to get weighed, measured, and look at the fish.  Wait, no, not look at fish...yes, look at fish.  After we finished looking at the fish, we moved to the holding pen.  In there, the nurse wanted to put a monitor on his finger to measure his vitals.  At first he was reluctant, but when she produced Thomas the Train stickers, well, that convinced my little Keltan that she was alright. So, he got a "sticker", AKA monitor, on his finger.  Now, this monitor had a glowing red light on it, and that was a pretty cool deal!  Fortunately, the nurse was observant enough to realize that a blood pressure cuff on this little fellow was not going to be conducive to a calm about the room, and she opted out of it. Good to see common sense still exists!
While Mommy finished up with all the details, I took Keltan to the play area.  We got to see the fish again, but, even more importantly, we had all kinds of toys to play with.  Then, to top it off, in walked little "Peanut", AKA Grant, a 15 month old that was there for the same procedure.  Turns out Peanut's Mom and Dad were Dave Ramsey Kool-Aid drinkers as well, and Keltan thought Peanut was pretty cool!  After Peanut had to go (he was first in line), it was just Keltan, Mommy, and Daddy in the play area again.  After a bit, he grew tired of the toys and wanted to see the clouds again.  So, I took him out to the lobby so he could look at the clouds.  And the lights.  And the zebra.  And the pig.  And the tree.  I would ask if he wanted to go back to see Mommy, and he would reply "no no no Mommy."  Boy, those clouds were amazing!
Anyway, after quite a spell of looking at the clouds, I took him back to the play area where Mommy was, and there was Andrew, a 2 year old boy that was there for another procedure!  Keltan had someone else to play with!  Until the nurse came to get Keltan.  This is the point where Daddy's heart went to his throat - it was serious time now.  We went to the holding pen, got his bed, and we went to the 3rd floor.  There, we walked into the 2nd holding pen.  They asked the same questions for the 6th time, and we gave the same answers for the 6th time (next time, I will have all the answers on an index card and just hand it to them).  After a couple minutes, in walks the nurse with some "goofy juice."  This was some kind of Tylenol PM or something that would relax him, so he wouldn't freak out when he was taken away.  I ended up getting most of it down his throat, some on my shirt, quite a bit on his shirt, and some in his hair.  But, in the end, he got some goofy juice!  Then it was a waiting game.  And it was funny!  He was floppy, smiley, goofy.  He kept squeezing my cheeks between his hands, putting his nose against mine, and trying to give me sugars, but I guess his mouth wouldn't work right.  Then, we played bumblebee, where he was trying to grab my hand while it buzzed into his chest.  He had about a 50% success rate.  He was laughing at everything, so the nurse decided it was time.  We told him bye bye, and he must have been feeling alright since he did not fuss at all as they walked away down the hall.  We went to the parents' holding pen to wait.
After what seemed like 6 days, but was really 15 minutes, they came to get us.  I thought the nurse was walking really slow - I was ready to sprint down the hall to get my boy.  As soon as we got in the vicinity of the recovery area, I heard him crying.  They had warned us he would be grumpy for a few minutes, and, boy was he!  Dr Chung was standing there, and started to hand us some drops, but I figured that could wait.  Papa Bear had to rescue his baby bear!  And that baby bear was a bear!  Still not fully conscious, he was flopping and crying and fighting.  The nurse brought some Advil in, and I ended up just taking it from her and giving it to him.  About 99% of that made it down the hatch!  After that kicked in, he was much better.  I held him till he quit fighting so hard, then Mommy took over.  He downed 15 ounces of "purply juice", AKA cran-grape juice, and settled down.  At that point, we were able to move downstairs to the discharge holding pen.
In discharge, we turned on some Disney Junior, and drank some more purply juice.  We hung out there for about 30 minutes, and by that time, he was eating some Teddy Grahams and feeling much better.  We got our papers, and were freed!  (about 9:30 AM)  We stopped at Whataburger for some food, and got him a "tia" to eat.  I think he fell asleep mid-chew about 5 minutes down the road, and, as I type, he is sleeping in the bed with Mommy.  
Anyway, my fears were not realized - everything was fine, Keltan is still himself, and the world didn't stop.  I am thankful for the prayers of everyone.  
The picture of him at the play table is in the play area of the hospital, before his goofy juice journey.


I forgot to add - when we were going to leave the hospital, the nurse went to remove the "sticker" from his foot, but he refused.  So, we wore a lead home.  And it is still on his foot.  Daddy is going to have to try to make it light up with a battery - but there are a LOT of pins in that plug!