The Big Day!

We had to be at the hospital between 5:30 & 6:00 a.m. on Monday. We spent the night at Tim's sister's house, so we were about 35 minutes away. We stayed up talking for a while after we got there and gave him a bath, so he got to bed late. I had gotten him this Toy Story blanket and gave it to him Sunday night. I was betting it would be a good thing to have before and after surgery. It was a good bet - he loved it! Staying up past bedtime worked to our advantage - he was too tired to put up much of a fuss. Didn't even ask for a drink or food. He was pretty much content to sit on our laps & wait. What a blessing! Everyone checking us in was very kind and it all went very smoothly.

"Dr Drew" got changed into his scrubs and special hospital slippers - still being very cooperative!

He received a sedative & then they loaded him on the cart. The sedative was so he didn't get upset about being separated from us & also so he wouldn't remember any of it. He was getting kind of goofy at this point.

The surgery lasted 3 hrs and then we were able to see him in the recovery room. They had put his blanket back on him and laid his doggie by his head. Except for the various wires and tubes, he didn't look any different than when we left him! It took him a while to wake up & realize we were there.

Once we got to his room on the pediatric unit, he started asking for drinks & food. He was only allowed clear liquids, but ended up having 5 popsicles and 2 bottles of juice that afternoon/evening. We think that's more than William had during his entire hospital stay when he had the same surgery.

Later that evening he even asked for some of his toys. He became fixated on his "dollars" - shuffling them and "counting" them. They're actually play money from the Toy Story monopoly game at home. Somehow he manages to sneak them out of the game and into his backpack.

Monday was super easy. He had a nerve block during surgery, so he really wasn't feeling any pain. We knew that Tuesday would be more difficult. More to come later. :)