The Hospital Stay...

Monday morning we had to be at the hospital for Kamden's surgery at 6:30 am. What a night prior. I finally made myself go to bed at 11:30 and then at 2:00 I was wide awake. I had myself so worked up I almost got sick. I just hoped and prayed that we were doing the right thing and he seemed so young to have to undergo anesthetic. Everything got off to a good start. We had talked to him about what would happened. My worst fear was that when we could no longer be with him prior to them "putting him under". He is such a mama's boy and is very cautious around other people. Anyway, we got there and did the paperwork. They took us to our room and gave him a gown to put on. This was an experience! He really liked the freedom of not having underwear on (enough said)!! The took us to pre-opt. He got to take Milo (his monkey) with him. He didn't want them to wheel him down in his bed. Finally we talked him into it and he was okay with it. Once in pre-opt, they put a monitor on his finger (which he had pulled off in about 5 minutes). We called Kadyn and Hannah. We had to talk to everyone including Jaime and Brady. I, on the other hand, was practically having an anxiety attack. Tim was holding together pretty good. My heart goes out to parents who have to deal with surgeries, etc. on a regular basis. Kara, a friend of ours from church who is on OR nurse, stopped by to see how things were going. She talked to Kamden a little bit to let him know what to expect. Then, they gave him his medicine to "relax him" and began rolling him to the OR. Once we got to the double door, we had to let them go ahead and take him on from there. We both gave him hugs and kisses and told him that he would have to go on by himself from there. He began crying hysterically and I finally told the nurse that she was going to have to take him from me. He is a strong little booger and I think she was surprise at his strength. We kept telling him that it would be alright. We will see him in a little bit. And, the nurse gave him back to me. I couldn't believe it. We had to go through it all over again. The worst part was that I could still hear him crying down the hallway. Thankfully, Kara, was in another OR that backed up to where Kamden was. She was able to go over and help calm him down a little bit. So, now for the wait. They said it would probably take an hour. They called from the OR and said that they began the surgery at 8:45 and at 9:05 the Doctor came out to tell us that everything went fine and that he was already in recovery. Another 20 minutes of waiting and I was able to go back and hold him. It was such a strange feeling to see him in that state. I was able to rock him for another 20-30 minutes and then they loaded us up on a bed and rolled us to a room and Tim got to be with us then. He was in and out of sleep for about another hour. He woke up and ate a couple of popsicles. He watched the Diego movie that we brought and then ate some more popsicles. By 1:00 we ordered him Mac and Cheese and he ate it all. Wow, what a breeze!?!? They gave him some more pain medicine and he finally decided to sleep a little bit. We all needed it!! He had rolled around so much and tugged at his IV so much that he had practically pulled it out. So, he had to have another IV while awake. We thought this would be a big deal but he did a great job. He was more upset that we were holding him down than the fact that they were putting the IV in. Shortly after, Kadyn, Gram, Brady, Jaime and Hannah arrived to visit with an icee for him. He wasn't much for visiting. The Loritab that he was taking made him a little mean and very irritable. He wasn't in the best of moods and hadn't had much rest. The watched some more Diego with him (Tim and I can't stand Diego - the sound of his voice is like fingernails on a chalkboard - we are pretty much sick of him:-)). The night went pretty smooth other than the fact that our nurse was terrible and we couldn't get any help. After pushing the call button it was anywhere between 45 to 1 1/2 hours before anyone would even answer. He had pulled on the IV several more times and managed to get a kink in it. The IV machine was continually beep and the nurse would come and mess with it and get it to stop just long enough for her to walk out of the room (or escape the floor) and it would began all over again. Finally around 3:00 an IV tech came and fixed it. We were able to sleep fairly sound until around 5:30. We thought we would be able to get out of there first thing in the morning but because of some miscommunication (imagine that), we didn't get to leave until 11:30. Finally, we got home around 1:00 and Kamden slept most of the afternoon. We were all relieved. Now, he is not eating as well, no more Loritab just Tylenol, and an antibiotic. He will still cranky but getting better. If we are outside, he must not think about it. First thing in the morning is rough and it gets a little better throughout the day. Hopefully by this weekend, he will be feeling a lot better.

Thanks for all the prayers!