Celebrating Normal

Once Upon a Time, I could have wall papered our house in hospital discharge papers.  I rarely read any of them because it was so routine.  Tuesday Liam had his first surgery of the year.  It was the most routine surgery he'd ever had, but it was anything but routine for us.



Unfortunately chemo caused a lot of damage to Liam's teeth, so much he will have to be put under anesthesia to do the work.  But of course it was not as simple as just scheduling the procedure.  FIRST they required us to prepay for the procedure, we would have to wait to be reimbursed by insurance later rather than insurance paying the dentist office.  THEN Liam had to be cleared by his doctor for anesthesia, this did not happen.



Liam was not cleared for anesthesia because his tonsils were too big.  He has never had any infections or problems, they were just naturally big. After we found that out, I spent all afternoon calling around trying to see if we could find an ENT that would be at the hospital the same day as the Dentist; no luck.



After a visit to the ENT, who agreed his tonsils were large but not that it would effect anesthesia, we scheduled the removal.  Even though the ENT did not agree that it would effect the anesthesia, he did believe with tonsils that large we would see problems in the future and they would have to be removed anyway.



We arrived at the surgical center not so bright but very early in the morning.  Liam was his fun loving self, making his nurse laugh.  After he received his versed (medication to decrease anxiety) his already imaginative mind kicked in to hyper drive.  Our bags at the end of the bed became packages he had to deliver, as Liam attempted to climb out of his bed to do so.  Luckily I was right there to catch him.



After he was taken back for the procedure, I went the waiting room and anxiety settled in.  The whole procedure was supposed to take 15 minutes, but it was an hour before the doctor came out.  Parents whose doctor came out after ours were taken back to their children before us.  I just wanted to hold my boy! 

When we were finally able to see Liam, we found him angry and irrational.  We knew were prepared for this from his past surgeries.  He wake up from the anesthesia angry.  It took some time to calm him down, but then we were able to take him home.



Liam has had a difficult week, he has been in pain. He just wants to be held and cuddle up, but that is a struggle with Aubrey running around. He is most miserable in the mornings, ready to play in the afternoons. I am hoping he will go back to his normal routine next week.