His surgery was scheduled at a surgery hospital down in Indianapolis, Indiana which is over an hour away. Since he couldn't have anything to eat or drink after midnight the night before surgery and once we wake him up, he wants to eat; we figured it would be best to drive down the night before and stay in a hotel right by the hospital.
Well, the drive down the night before was a piece of cake. We picked Bryce up from work and Brycen fell asleep for the rest of the way. We then arrived and had dinner at Taco Bell and had the place to ourselves. Brycen loved running around the tables and being chased by DaDa; he giggled so hard.
The rest of the night was horrible for all three of us. Brycen doesn't sleep too well in new places and is especially not used to sharing the bed with Daddy and woke up starting at 2:30am and then every half hour, saying "Wa Wa dease! Wa Wa dease! (Water please!) and just screamed when Mommy and Daddy refused, not understanding why...it was heartbreaking. And during the moments when Brycen was sleeping, Mommy and Daddy were constantly checking their clocks, not wanting to sleep in and miss it. So when 6am came, we were all exhausted but ready to get the surgery over with. Brycen woke and immediately plead with us, "Wa Wa, dease. Dease. Dease." :(
Luckily, Brycen is easily distracted so as soon as we started out the door, he did fairly well. He was so tired that he almost fell asleep in the car and then when we arrived at the hospital-just a 5 minute drive- they had a toy room and he was in heaven.
Meanwhile, all week long-pretty much ever since I found out that this surgery was needed- I had been sick to my stomach about it. I hadn't slept well in days (and usually cried myself to sleep when I did sleep), just terrified that my days were numbered with my son. I was so so scared that something would go wrong while Brycen was under anesthesia and he would never wake up and come back to me. The even thought of it still brings me to tears. Yes, I am a constant worrier and think of the worst and so when the nurse at the hospital asked us upon arrival if he had a will or life support decision made (I forgot what the document is called), I almost had an emotional breakdown because it only re-enforced my worries of what could happen.
They were very prompt that morning for which I am grateful, since at any moment Brycen could start begging for food and we didn't end up waiting longer than 5, 10 minutes in the waiting room.
Getting his robe and hospital jewelry on.
His last look up at me before they took him away, not giving us much warning. Which is probably good since that could've made us all hysterical (saying goodbyes and all) but they took him away fully awake and he whimpered a little (nothing compared to the screams we heard over the next hour from other kids being taken from their parents) but the nurses were really nice and distracted him and we didn't hear anything else (and found out later that he did just perfectly, his curiosity still wins over his fear these days and he usually sits perfectly still for nurses and doctors).
The hour plus wait was torture since we never got updates or anything. We were exhausted, hungry, and I couldn't stop thinking about how I never got to say goodbye (I know, I know-yes, I'm that emotional, especially after a week of no sleep) . Bryce actually got a message on his phone shortly after they took Brycen and it was a notification of a new voice mail. It turned out to be the voice mail Brycen (and I) left on it the day before. "Dada dlkjaldkjfasldk, Dada oadlkfjalsdkfj, Dada alkdjfldak" over and over, while I tried to leave the real message in the background. Some dust got in Bryce's eye at that moment and I pretended not to notice.
We did get to meet the anesthesiologist before they took Brycen and he seemed to be well knowledgeable and have lots of experience, making sure that we have no family history of anyone having problems with anesthesia.
The reunion: When the nurse carried him back into us she said that when he woke up; he sat up and looked around, saying "Da da" (which he does every morning since I usually end up in his room after he wakes up around 5 or 6). In the above picture, we were listening to his heartbeat and watching his oxygen intake on the screen to make sure he was doing okay. He was so tired, that he just cuddled up to me and wanted to so desperately sleep but couldn't relax, his eyes would fly open at the slightest noise.
He turned out that he didn't need a root canal (Yay! The dentist wasn't positive he would need one but Brycen refused to let him look into his mouth for longer than 2-3 seconds so that's why Brycen needed to be put under for the process). He instead, received two crowns for the two teeth that are basically half gone and decaying and had a cavity filled on one of his front teeth as well as sealants put on his back teeth. If you missed my earlier post explaining the need for this, his four front top teeth came in yellow when he was 5 or 6 months old and even with daily brushings, his teeth started decaying back in August, for reasons we don't know. He could've been sick when those teeth were developing or it might've been something that happened when I was pregnant with him.
See how stiff he was sitting? He was acting so weird. It was like he was trying to process what exactly just happened to him while being on alert if something like that was going to happen again. Poor guy.
Scary, eh? He held this look for the first hour after the procedure; he was so tired but wouldn't let himself sleep and never talked, just sat there.
Breakfast! (even though Brycen wasn't interested)
Finally he relaxed.
When we arrived home, Brycen woke up to his normal self with a voice of a truck horn :)
Can you see that smile? After our morning, it was so good to see!
It was the first day in what seemed like forever, but was really on a week or so, of above freezing temperatures. With a coat on, it felt like summer and was actually comfortable and warm outside. Where as earlier in the week, with a coat, hat, and gloves; it was still so cold. Any exposed skin literally hurt.
When we did go inside, he ran in and started petting his friend.
We love having this week over with and after Brycen slept the day away yesterday, he has been crazy, silly, happy today. He has been going through episodes of running down the hall back and forth just screaming (a good scream) and spinning non stop in circles. It's crazy and we have a fun video I'll share tomorrow. We love having him home with us and him so happy.
This experience has taught us a lot but above everything else, it has taught me to remember that I really don't know how much earthly time I have with my beautiful family (the statistics of a child dying in a car are actually higher than dying from anesthesia) and really, anything could happen at any time and that has really hit home to me. Ever since we came home yesterday, I have cherished every moment in far more ways than I used to. We have laughed more, hugged more, and smiled more. I have dropped everything I'm doing to read a book to Brycen again that I had already read five times and we have built blocks instead of me blogging, etc. It is so easy to be distracted with technology but Bryce and I are trying something new that we are never on the computer while Brycen is awake (unless for little things like a quick email, or need to find a recipe, look up the weather, etc ) but what used to happen was one of us would be on the computer while the other one played with Brycen and it worked out, but now, we all play together and it is even better. Our son is truly amazing and we love him so much. The joy he brings to us cannot even be put into words and we are so thankful that he has been sent to us and for this experience, we call life :)
And..his teeth look so nice! For the first time ever, he has white teeth on the top and it's nice to see 4 whole teeth again rather than chipped off, decaying ones. We'll have to get a picture of them sometime, it's one handsome expensive smile :)
