Surgery

Lots of pics.  First off, I have to say that my family is wonderful.  My nieces, in particular, have been such a support.  Breanna and Jessica stayed over Wednesday night to help me Thursday morning early.  Shiree and Kelle and Breanna and Jessica have stayed at my house ever since helping me with a grumpy, naughty mister who is healing wonderfully.

So, Thursday morning, we headed out early to get to Primary Children's Medical Center.  We actually got there early, so we went for a walk.    Luckily, PCMC is THEEE kid-friendly place in Salt Lake.  They have colorful horse sculptures, gnomes and rainbow benches in the front garden.  Remember at this point, Mister does not know why we are here.  Luckily.

Next, we headed up to Same Day Surgery.  We sat there and waited.  Being PCMC, they have Thomas the Tank Engine toys.  And Mister, well, he just sat there and played.  Unfortunately, the only toys in our little area were the LOUDEST toys in the whole place.  Note that - even though the big cousins are smiling, they know what is to come...

Then we went in and helped Mister get ready.  He was royally bugged by the ID bracelet.  Then bugged by the white socks.  But isn't he stinking cute in the hospital jammies?  Check this post from last April...here.

But then Breanna got Mister and started to spin on the doctor chair and then we had this...

And it is heartbreaking that we really know what is happening.  Once again, PCMC is really the best place for kids.  The nurse practitioner knows how a 2 year old hates to have an exam.  He has had so very many in the past and it is so hard to do anything without screaming involved.    She was so cute and pretended to listen to everyone's heart - mine, Breanna's, hers, and Jessica's.  Then - almost as an afterthought, asked Aiden if he wanted a turn.  Well, of course!!!  

I made the decision that Aiden would do better during the hand-off with a little bit of sedative, so off we went to the next waiting room where they brought Aiden some Versed "juice".  We were able to talk to the anesthesiologist and discussed a change of plan due to him having so much nausea the last time after surgery.  She decided to give him an epidural to block all the pain from the waist down, and then give him a booster on the epidural right before the surgery ended.  That way, he would have pain control for an additional 6 hours or so.  

So - we also talked to Dr. Cartwright, his urologist.  We also decided to have a scope done up to Aiden's kidneys because he has struggled with kidney stones the last two weeks.    By the time we actually took him back to have his surgery, he was pretty calm and went to the anesthesiologist without a fuss.  

And then. ... We wait.  

The surgery was a little over 2 hours (longer than we thought) and then Dr. Cartwright came out to see us.  He pretty much had to do exactly the same thing that he did 17 months ago... read that here.  It was less time intensive since so much of the reconstruction was done last year and it was just re-adjusting it this time. Everything went well.  So, I was able to go back and help him out of anesthesia.  

Aiden fought hard.  Very hard.  Throwing up and not at all happy.  He fought and fought and vomited and vomited.  So, they gave him more nausea meds and a bolus of pain meds in his IV.  It knocked him back out.  He also struggled to keep his oxygen steady, but after about 30 minutes, he was asleep, but doing much better.  

Finally, the ladies were able to come and see him.  My camera - at this point- ran out of battery, so I will add post-op photos later when I get them from Jessica.

We held him until he woke up and was able to keep down some apple juice.  Then we were able to go home.  Aiden wore his new, super swell Spongebob jammies that were 2 sizes too big (on purpose) and we fed him popsicle after popsicle while we watched Thomas.  

I gave him his first dose of Oxycodone and he went WIRED.  Climbing, jumping, crazy!  It had to have hurt, but it was nearly impossible to keep him contained.  So, we just followed him around and kept him safe.

Again, my biggest thanks goes out to all the people who have helped - Uncle Dave for the blessing before surgery - Uncle Chris for all the support -Aunt Kari for all the love in prep for the Big Day - and his wonderful, wonderful cousins who have stayed with him and stayed by him.

We are so lucky that the surgery went well.  Last time, it took about 2 weeks for us to realize that there were problems.  So pray that we get through this.

Home

Mister is home.  Doing well. Too well.  I am a bit worried that he didn't seem off his game at all.  Wake up from anesthesia, come home, climb, run, play, eat, and play some more.  He should be in excruciating pain, but then I remember that he had a pain block and an epidural.  It will wear off in the night.

Tomorrow may be a different story.  But for now, we are all WHIPPED.  It has been a really long day.

So, goodnight.  And thank you for all the prayers and loves.  Pictures and details will come soon.  Promise.

Wish us luck

Wish Mister luck.  Tomorrow morning at 8:30 is his surgery at Primary Children's Medical Center.  We love it there, but there is always a big risk.  We trust our docs to do the right thing every time, but please send hugs our way.  Mister has had a great night.  We have Nana and Jess sleeping over to make the journey down to the hospital with us.

Best case scenario is that it will be out-patient, one hour and fast healing.  Pray for that.

Happy Labor-less Day

Super brilliant, this holiday called Labor Day.  Especially since we never really do much of anything involving labor.  We had a four-day weekend full of great adventures.  Today was no exception.

We went with the Smedley girls to Rainbow Gardens and had a lovely lunch at the Greenery.  Super Swell.  I love their Halloween things every year.  This year was no exception.  We found Aiden this cup with his name on it that has a straw that doesn't come out of the cup.  Brilliant idea!  We had so much fun and that place really makes me feel like a decorating loser.

Then, Aiden and I went home for a much needed nap.  After the nap, we packed up and headed back to Ogden to go see the Dinosaurs.  We haven't been there in such a long time, we had to go.  It was beautiful and overcast.  What a lovely day!

After the dino park, we went to Smedleys for a BBQ.  I don't know what Aiden was on, but he was WILD!!  He was running, spinning, screaming, and just hyper.  He crashed on the way home.  I guess a big day for not doing much!

Bad Mom Award

So, I started school two weeks ago.  Every single spare moment that Aiden is asleep goes to studying.  If I am not reading the biographies for African American history, then I am sweating bullets in Math.  Or trying to find out why I care about Environmental Geography... and so on.  

BUT we do things.  Our little family - we do things.  PROMISE!  The Bad Mom Award is because I just don't take the time to post them for friends and family to see.  Well, friends and family, here is the proof!

First thing that we do is - go to the doctor.  Aiden is having a few problems "down there" and Aunt Kari was nice enough to go with us on August 26th to see the urologist.  Long story.  Mad Mama.  Docs that don't listen make me crazy.  Ended up that he passed kidney stones that weekend.  

On August 27th we went to Discovery Gateway... along with every other family in the Mountain West.  Thousands of unsupervised children.  He did great, though.  

Aiden loved the construction zone.  He sat at the crane for a long time and just enjoyed being manly.

This cool wheelbarrow was a lot of fun.

The water place was fun, too.  Here, Mom freaked out at an 11-year old boy who was smashing toddlers into the water.  Not happy.

In the Birdhouse.  Everything was just the right size.  Aiden looked at me at one point like "See, Mom!  They make them my size.  What's with the big one at our house?"

He found a car that no other child was using and enjoyed it for a very, very long time.

His favorite part, the elevator...

The helicopter.  He thought he was so cool.  Okay, he was

See all the kids running around?  Yeah, mine is the one laying down chilling.  This was a really fun life-sized backgammon set that lit up when you jumped on the red or white wedges...

Like this!

That night, while Mom did homework, my two monkeys crashed.  On my bed.  It was made about 15 minutes before this.  Now, where am I going to sleep?

We also invested $4 in sidewalk chalk.  

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Isn't he so handsome?

We have played, cooked, colored, watercolored, read stories and had a Harry Potter marathon with Breanna and Kelle.  We really do have fun... We do stuff... see?