We were ready early, so we left the house before we really needed to, but it was nice not to be rushed when trying to find the right place.
While we waited for the previous patient to be done, Luke played with his new ankle bracelet.
Soon enough, it was time for him to go back. I laid him on the bed, they wired him up, started laughing gas, then anesthesia, and he was out in about 2 minutes.
They said, "Okay, mom, come back in 40 minutes!" I asked if I could snap a picture before I left. They blinked a little and said okay. One of them said, "I've never had anyone ask that before..." Yeah, I'm weird.
If you look close in the picture, you'll see the guy on the right is about to start trying to start an IV in him. I should have warned them. He came out with holes in every limb. His veins are hard to find. Which reminds me, I need to take him back in for more bloodwork. Goody.
I went off in search of the cafeteria. Upon finding it, I had flash backs of my "vacation" in Nebraska a couple years ago. Hospital food is still hospital food. I had a bunch of veggies in a green tortilla. It was "eh."
My alarm went off, so I headed back, but he wasn't ready yet, so I waited and waited, and they finally wheeled him out, still asleep. I followed as they wheeled him, still sleeping, to Children's Surgery, where they have a large recovery area.
There's a certain camaraderie among the parents in there. You nod and give a weary smile as you make eye contact. It's a club no parent wants to belong to.
They told me to let him wake up on his own, so I just stood there and watched him snooze with his blow by O2. Eventually, he started to come around.
Our nice hover nurse was Melody. She said that as soon as he could tolerate clear liquids and his vitals looked good, we could head home. I'd brought a bottle of milk, since he didn't have breakfast, but milk isn't clear. So she gave us a bottle and some apple juice. He doesn't get juice at home, so I wasn't sure if he'd go for it or not, but he liked it.
We were there for about an hour and a half. The anesthesiologist had said we'd leave in an hour, but Luke had a hard time getting his BP up after waking up. Finally, his nurse deemed him ready and a doc came by to give him the official nod so we could head out.
When I went to change his diaper before we left, I discovered Luke seems to have a little latex sensitivity or a reaction to the adhesive in his leads. Poor little guy. It's fading now, but even hours later, he still has circles.
His only real tears throughout the whole morning came when his nurse took off all the tape they'd used to hold his IVs in place.
Whew! All's well that ends well. It seems sitting around a hospital for 4 hours is exhausting, because I came home and took a huge nap! When I got up, Paul had dinner almost ready. What a great guy, eh?
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