The Surgery

Our little Gus was so brave! We got him up at 5:25 this morning and he woke up very happy (about three hours before he usually gets up). He didn't seem to miss Lucy at all. It was weird having time with just Gus, but so great. We realized we need more individual time with our kids and us. Funny how a trip to the hospital makes you realize that! Anyway, Gus was wide awake by the time we got to the hospital at 6. He colored and walked around in the waiting rooms saying hi to everyone he passed.

At about 7:25 we got called back to the pre-op area. The nurses saw him and went nuts. He had lipstick marks on his cheeks before he even got to his pre-op bed. He did well, for the most part. He HATED the little crocodile-like machine that chomps a finger for the pulse. He screamed every time they tried. They finally got a correct pulse from his toe. I thought he would love the hospital gown, but he hated it. The nurse let him play with her black and red pens (pens are a novelty around here since they are not all washable). He even got to doodle on some of the forms, which looked just like he was signing them.

I had been having a hard time with the whole surgery concept for the past week, but by the time Tuesday morning rolled around, I was fine. I kept trying to find the silver lining, which was not easy. When I have surgery my favorite part is the very warm blankets they put on you in the cold OR. The only silver lining I could come up with was Gus looking so cute in a hospital gown (he wore one when we went to the ER last Christmas). It wasn't so cute when he didn't like it, and I knew how much he hated it.

Dave was so calm about the whole surgery thing until about five minutes before they wheeled him away. Gus was having a fine time on the bed, so instead of carrying him to the operating room, they just rolled him in there. I have to admit, that was awful, seeing the little guy rolled away, knowing he had no clue what was about to happen to him, and knowing he would be put out. Uggghhh. Dave started welling up with tears. I asked him if was okay and he said, "That's about the saddest thing I've ever seen. I only have one son and he's being rolled away for surgery and given anesthesia!" So true.

The surgery only lasted 15 minutes. The Dr. said he did well and his tear duct was definitely clogged. We got to back to see him about 20 minutes after that. He was in the post-op area wailing. He was yelling "DADDY!" until he saw me and then he started yelling "MOMMY!" Poor kid. Bits of blood were coming out of his eye and his nose. He looked so pathetic! He wanted out of there as soon as possible. He had to drink apple juice, but refused to use the lid of the sippy cup. The only way he would even consider the juice is when I took the lid off and he was able to drink it like a big kid. We got to leave about 10 minutes after that.

By the time we picked up Lucy at 8:45 he was running around and playing like nothing happened. Dave went back to work and me and the kids laid low in the morning. Gus wanted to run around, but then his nose would start bleeding. Keeping him still is near impossible. Overall, he did great. It was much more traumatic for us than him.