Cody's Surgery Update

We arrived at Children's promptly at 7:30am. After registration, we were brought to a room where Cody was watching his favorite mouse, and Matt & I were asked a gazillion questions. Afterwards, Cody was given the tour of the toy closet and picked out an adult armload of toys. This kept him busy and calm in his hospital bed. He won the heart of his pre-op nurse who gave him Mickey Mouse memory cards even though he had already picked out his prize for being a great patient. Then Cody got to pick what flavor would be in his mask that would give him the gas which would send him to dreamland.

Giving him an oral sedative was quite challenging and it took the three of us: Matt, nurse, and I to give it to him. Fifteen minutes later, he was wheeled into the induction room that was next to the operating room. We watched while he was given the gas and kissed/hugged him before we were ushered away.

His surgery lasted about an hour and then we met with his doctor who explained how to care for him after the surgery. We found out that he would take the rest of the week off from school, plus Monday being a holiday, Cody has 5 days to recuperate before going back.

We then waited for recovery to bring us back. However, Cody was not waking up so they sent us back anyway. He looked so little and pitiful when we first saw him. He was curled up in a ball and laying on his side. Although his eyes were closed, you could tell that they were swollen and wet and he had bloody tears.

After 45 minutes of refusing to wake, we got his eye opened for a minute and then I was placed into a wheelchair and I held Cody while we were wheelchaired out. It was quite comical being transported out in a wheelchair. I felt like I had just given birth to a 37 lb baby!

Cody slept the entire afternoon. We did coax him awake a couple of times, but he didn't want to open his eyes. The doctor said that that would be quite normal.

He refused to take liquids which worried this momma quite a bit. He did eat some mild cookies, but then "tossed" them due to the anesethia. The poor boy looked pitiful all evening and right before going to bed, I managed to get him to drink 2 droppers full of water although it was a forced drinking. We also managed to get his eye ointment into his eyes. Whew!

Morning came rather early when I heard him talking in the kitchen at 4:30am. Since he slept all of the day before, he was wide awake when Matt left for work. He was searching for food under the kitchen table. So I guided him back to the living room and he devoured almost a whole package of Ritz crackers and drank a couple of ounces of watered down juice. He is talking more and walking around and playing. I think we have seen the worst of it thankfully! Whew! Yesterday was quite the L*O*N*G day!