Trigger Released

So yesterday was the "big" day...

I waited until Monday to tell Jack that he was having surgery the next day.  

I had been told the week prior that he was to get IV sedation, so I prepared him for getting an IV and being taken to an operating room away from us, etc.  He was really pretty fine with it.  Not looking forward to a 'needle' but he's pretty good with stuff as long as he knows what's coming.

We had to be at the hospital at 6:30 Tuesday morning.  Since Poppy stayed over to watch Ben the next morning, we let Jack sleep in our room (which meant he was about the only one who slept).  He was a bundle of energy the next morning.  Telling everyone that it was his first time at the hospital.  He had NO fear. He was excited to get into his hospital attire...a shirt, pants, and fun red socks.

He then asked the nurse when she would be putting the needle in his arm (I certainly had explained it better than this, but clearly this was the key point he remembered).  She said that if he got one at all it wouldn't be until after he was asleep...and he just looked at me with a little smirk like 'ha ha...I don't have to."

After he got dressed and got vitals, then it was really just a matter of waiting around until the hand surgeon and anesthesiologist came in.  Dr. K (the surgeon) came in and went over the procedure again, and made his "x marks the spot" on the appropriate thumb.

Then, Ryan, the anesthesiologist came in and said he had no plans for any IV just a little laughing gas (plus, some other inhaled drug I can't remember) since the surgeon was doing a nerve block anyway to take care of the pain and because it was so short and there was no need to intubate.  Fantastic!!!  I explained all this to Jack and he quickly resumed listening to his tunes on the ipad with his new headphones.  No worries for him.

A few minutes later the nurse from the OR came to take Jack back to the room.  This was the moment I had been dreading.  In my head, I had it all worked up for Jack to be screaming and crying as he was dragged away from me.  As you can see below, this was not the case...

Jack, willingly, started to bounce out of the room without so much as a hug and a kiss for us (we stopped him and got one of course).  But he was truly happy and content to walk back with a "stranger" with the promise of pushing all kinds of fun wall buttons and whatnot.  

He walked back at 7:50 and by 8:20 we'd already talked to the surgeon and were just waiting to be allowed back in recovery.  About 8:35, we got called back. This is the face we walked into...

Man he is such a trooper.  The nurse said he had been asleep and then he woke up and was just wide awake, talking and smiling.  Seriously, this kid was not the least bit stressed.  

After we saw him, Bob ran to the pharmacy to get his Tylenol with Codeine (not like we've needed it)...and he told me he had to go to the bathroom.  Once we were in the bathroom alone, Jack started getting really tearful, then crying just holding onto me.  I asked him what was wrong...and if he'd been scared and he said yes (I have since asked him if he was scared in that OR and he was not, he says he was upset because he couldn't go potty). Once back in the room, he became clingy, then standoffish, and kind of irritable, then back to himself.  The nurse said moodiness was actually normal after surgery so I guess that's maybe what that was about.  

Every single person that encountered him said he was the perfect patient and that they couldn't believe he was so at ease with all of it.

We were headed home by 9:15.

He has no bad recollections about anything that happened.  He says he was never scared in the operating room.  He remembers trying to pop a big red balloon (I'm guessing this is something the anesthesiologist told him when he was breathing into the mask).  And he came home with as much energy as ever and an appetite to boot.  He has been adamant that he's not in any pain.  Not even once.  I can't get him to keep his arm elevated.  A regimen of wiggling his fingers is pointless because he's using his hand like nothing is wrong with it (except for the bulky green dressing...which is the only difficult part of all of this).  

I am so glad it's over.  I'm glad no tears were shed on my part. I'm in awe of this brave little boy that continually teaches me how to be so much stronger than I am. I am happy that there seems to be no pain.  I'm beyond thankful for an incredible staff...from the registration person who started if off fun by letting Jack stand on her desk to put his arm bracelet on his ankle, to the nurses that were so friendly, an anesthesiologist that made going to sleep fun and not scary, and a surgeon that quickly did a rock star job.  I wasn't expecting a kid-friendly experience outside MY favorite hospital, but we got one, and I am so grateful.