Smith...Party of Four!: "Surgery" 1-17-2011

Nolan is continuing is tradition of worrying the tears out of his mommy. When he was first born, he decided to scare everyone with not breathing well on his own. I think he just wanted attention from the nurses. A few months later, we learned that he had a heart murmur. That cardiology appointment almost broke my heart. In December, we met with an ENT and learned that Nolan would need surgery to get tubes put in. I stopped blogging about his ear infections at about the 5th one. So, in case you did not know. Nolan has had 9 ear infections in his short little life...two of those being double ear infections. Talking with the ENT we learned that Nolan had a significant amount of fluid trapped in his ear causing slight hearing loss. He said that he was hearing everything, but it was muted. Kind of like living your life with ear plugs in at all times. After learning all of this, we knew that tubes were the way to go.

The days before his appointment, I was a little nervous for him. You never want your child to be put to sleep, but I knew it was something that had to happen. If I knew then just how long he would be "asleep", I would not have worried like I did :) Nolan had to be at Baptist Surgery Center at 6:30 AM. Of course, I didn't sleep well the night before, so 5:15 came VERY early! We got Nolan up around 6, and put him in the car in his pjs. I hated the fact that he could not eat or drink. If you know boo, he is an eater! Words can not describe how I felt driving to the hospital that morning. I made a comment to Brad that I had not been that nervous since our drive to the hospital to have him a year and a half ago. Brad commented back that I had not been that quiet since our drive to the hospital to have him a year and a half ago. My smart aleck hubby...we are peas in a pod. When we arrived, we had to sit in a waiting room for about 15 minutes. There were a few people in there with us. Nolan was driving them crazy... I am sure of it...with his Scout. Thank goodness we brought Scout...he was a great source of entertainment! They called us back, and lead us down a hallway with "rooms" separated by curtains. Not what I thought it would be like at all. I was really thinking we would be in a room with "walls". Call me crazy, but that's what you see on TV :) We ended up having to hang out with Nolan confined to a bed for about an hour. With no walls or door, he would have been peeking in on every other patient there. He was so easy going. Like he knew his mama needed him to be. The little girl a few curtains down was screaming like a crazy child...I am sure that drove her parents to tears. Here are a few pics of Nolan hanging out and trying to pass the time. Excuse the quality. In all my nervousness, I left the house with out my camera and had to use my phone. You can imagine how upset I was.

When the nurse finally came to take him back, Nolan went right to him. Didn't hurt that he had a super cool light up thing. I thought I would cry but I didn't. I watched him walk down the hall and through the double doors. Nolan looked back at me. That's when I felt the tears start building. They instructed us to go sit back in the waiting room and wait to be called. I knew that I couldn't sit in there and have everyone watch me cry, so I walked right through the waiting room and into the lobby. Good thing. The "few" people that we in there when we arrived turned in to at least 20. Brad followed me out. When he went to hug me, I let out so many built up tears even I felt silly. My fears were no longer about him being put to sleep. They turned to fears of him being with someone he does not know. Never have I left Nolan with someone who he considers a stranger. And now, I had thrown him into a room full of them. I went to the bathroom to collect myself, and when I came out Brad had a funny look on his face. He said that the little old man who passed us in the hallway followed him in to the bathroom and asked asked if I was going to be okay...yes while Brad was at the urinal :) That was a good enough story to make me laugh and lift my spirits. We went back to the waiting room and no kidding less than 10 minutes after they took Nolan away they called us to come back to see him. I really just did not believe it was already over. In the post op conversation with the doctor, he said that it was good that we got the fluid out. Apparently, Nolan's was thick like glue and had to be sucked out. He was for sure experiencing some hearing loss. When I rounded the corner to see Boo, he looked so funny. The nurse was holding him and he looked very dazed and confused. He didn't even reach for me. She said that he was doing great. We were told by anesthesia before hand that he would either wake up screaming or wake up calm. I am glad he chose the wake up calm method :) I am amazed at modern science. In one day, Nolan was put to sleep for a surgery...minor, but still surgery.......