The Hope Family : Eli's Surgery

Well, its all done.

I think it was harder on me than Eli.

I had to call yesterday between 1:00pm-2:30pm to find out what time we had to be at the hospital. I had prayed earlier in the day that we would have an early appointment because I did not want to have to hold Eli off from eating all day! I picked up the phone at 1:02pm, and called to find out our surgery time. The lady on the other end of the line told me we had to be at the hospital for 6:20am. Guess God took my prayer request quite literal, however I wasn't complaining. A 6:20am check in time meant an 8:20am surgery time, and that meant we should be out before lunch time!

We woke up at 5:15, and woke Eli up at 5:50am. That gave us enough time to get him dressed and out the door. My mom came just before 6am, and off we went. Too bad for her, but Judah was already awake and ready to go. He's been waking up earlier and earlier.

All week I wanted to tell Eli that we had a dr appointment, but I held off, and didnt tell him. I even considered telling him last night about his appointment but again decided not to.

This am when he woke up he was happy, and ready to go for the day! The whole drive to the hospital he wouldn't stop talking. He couldn't believe he was up and it was morning but the sun wasnt up yet!! We got to the hospital and checked in. We then went into the back to get changed into some nice p.js, weigh him, measure him, take some vitals, and get some nice little band aids with some numbing cream on his hands. He hated the bandaids on his hands the most and wanted them off, but at no point did he ever throw a fit or start crying about it.

Between the time that he was changed and prepped, and the actual surgery was about an hour or so, so we had time to hang out and wait. He did really good waiting. I made a last minute decision to throw the Ipad into the bag in case he wanted to play games. This was a good choice! It kept him busy and happy. And the times where he wasnt playing with it, we read books or watched barney on the tv there.

They called Eli's name and took us into the waiting room that you wait right before surgery. I remember this from the first time around.

He was 13 months old in those pictures when the tubes were put in!! Would you believe that table and rocking chair are still in that little room?

At this point I was feeling anxious, and nervous. We explained to Eli that mommy and daddy would be close by. The dr would come and get him soon, but only either mommy or daddy could take him in. He said he wanted both, and then decided daddy was the guy to do it. I was a tad relieved because I wasnt sure I could handle the upset of holding him down with the mask to his face. I also didnt want them to have to do a line in his hand. This was one of the things I was most anxious about.

Sitting in that waiting room was the moments I had been dreading all week, playing over in my head, thinking about the worst or best situations. Then the nurse came in and told them they were ready. Andy got suited up, held Eli's hand and off they went. I cried.

2 minutes later Andy came back in looking a little emotional, and that was that.

Eli didn't cry, or throw a tantrum, or get upset. He was a bit nervous Andy said, but he did great. I couldn't believe it.

We waited 45 minutes, and then heard screaming from a child down the hall. We thought it was Eli. Thats how he woke up the first time around, screaming his head off. Then our buzzer went for us to come in.

I almost ran in to find my baby, expecting to see him screaming and crying, and when I found his room he was calming sitting on the bed, covered up just hanging out. He was a bit out of it at first, and very quiet but he wasnt upset at all!

The nurse said when he woke up this was their conversation.
"Hi, Eli. How are you?"
"Good."
"Did your mommy or daddy bring you today?"
"Both"
"Both? Good!! Do you want to go find them?"
"Yah!"
And then they paged us. He had already had a popsicle and was having some apple juice!

We were gone before 10am. He was running through the halls on the way to the parking lot, and wanted us to hold his hand and do 1, 2, 3, jump with him.

After we went and grabbed some breakfast at McDonalds and he ran and played. No side affects or anything. You would never have known he had surgery this am.

If you had told me how well he was going to do, and that I was going to cry more than him I wouldn't have believed you!! Iam such a proud momma!! He was so brave!!

Before Surgery