Drew's Surgery

Sorry it has taken me so long to jump on here to update you guys on how Drew's surgery went. It has been kind of crazy around here :)

The evening before Drew's surgery, we attended the pediatric Pre-Op Party at the hospital. During the evening a Child Life Specialist explained what they would see and do the day of their surgery. Then she took us on a tour of the OR waiting room, an OR room and the recovery room. Drew seemed very intrested in all of it. He also received a goodie bag that included a doll which he could take and have all his doctors and nurses sign (face of doll drawn by Drew).
Things went well with Drew's surgery this past Friday. We arrived bright...well not so bright...and EARLY (5:30am) at the hospital. Drew was apprehensive, but relatively calm as our day began. We were taken to his Same-Day-Surgery (SDS) room shortly after arriving where he was given "hospital PJs" (a gown) and had his vitals checked.
Then it was time to do some waiting. During the wait, Drew watched some cartoons. When it was time to go to the OR waiting area, he was given the choice of traveling via rolling bed or a wagon. He of course picked the wagon :)
When we arrived in the OR waiting area, we were taking to a small glassed in room at one corner where they had toys waiting to help keep Drew entertained. There was also the option to close the sliding glass doors if he got to loud - which surprising for him wasn't needed :) In this area is also where John put on his "bunny suit" (as they call it) so he would be able to go in the OR with Drew until he was asleep.
John and I then spent the next 30 minutes or so in the waiting room until we were able to go back to recovery to be with Drew. He was NOT a happy camper when he came to....and was screaming so they had to sedate him. Even when we arrived he was still crying. Eventually the medicine kicked in though and I was able to rock him awhile until we were able to go back to his SDS room where we had begun the day.
By this time it was around 8am. We stayed there until he was able to drink and use the restroom (which was around 10:30am - a good amount sooner than was expected). During this time Drew would just start crying and when asked he said he didn't know why he was crying. Poor kid...I guess we know how anesthesia effects him now. Also during this time they tried to give him some pain killer via mouth and we had a HUGE meltdown on his part. Just a small glimpse of what was to come for us *cringe* And wouldn't you know, all the nurses we had been with all morning had been great...except the one we were with the longest. The nurse in the SDS room after his surgery had NO patience with him. And I could NOT believe it when she flushed his IV (which had run out and she didn't notice for a long time - we figured he just wouldn't have another one) without warning us that it was coming! Poor Drew screamed his head off - and rightfully so that HURTS! :(
When we arrived back home he of course didn't want to rest, so he spent the afternoon playing video games with my dad (my parents had come to watch Zach for the weekend which was a HUGE help!).

Drew and I have been sleeping on the pull-out sleeper from our couch downstairs so we don't disturb the rest of the house with me waking him up every hour to take a drink (trying to keep him throat moist so it doesn't hurt as much - something I learned back in March). And then there is the noise whenever we try to give him ANY kind of medicine. *sigh* Doesn't matter what it is, he refuses to take it and we have to hold him down and force him to take it. It started with the liquid painkiller...then it was the antibiotic....and NOW it is regular old Tylenol! Since the Tylenol seemed to be working ok for him and at first it wasn't too big of a fight to get him to take it, we gave up on the painkiller. But he HAD to take his antibiotic! We certainly don't want to end up back in the hospital!! Thankfully that has now ended. We thought we were home-free since all we had to give him now was the Tylenol. WRONG!! It makes absolutely no sense to us that he puts up such a HUGE fight with taking the Tylenol. This is the same child that in the past has invented a fever hoping to get to take some...he has always LOVED the taste of it. I know that the taste buds are a little off after surgery, but this is just nuts. And I feel like such a horrible parent having to hold him down as he screams and force the medicine in him. I just have to keep telling myself that it is what he needs even if he doesn't realize it. UGH!

Last night I extended the time between night time drinks to 2 hours and even let him sleep one 4 hour stretch and he seemed to do ok. So I think I will cut the night time drinks down some more tonight. I am sure part of the fighting we are getting from him is from exhaustion since he isn't getting good sleep with me waking him up all the time. So maybe this will help the medicine taking out a bit as well.

We are very thankful that through all of it he has been pretty good about drinking a lot so we haven't had to face the dehydration issue. And he is already getting back to real foods....he had scrambled eggs Sunday evening, on Monday he had some ground hamburger and noodles, yesterday he had chicken noodle soup, mac & cheese and some ravioli (minus the sauce), and today he had some more ravioli and pop tarts. He is doing a LOT better than I was at this same time with the eating.