Surgery #3

Jack underwent his third (and hopefully final) surgery today.  He had his circumcision corrected as the first one left too much foreskin.  He was amazing.

I woke him at 5:15 this morning to get some juice before the 4 hours prior to surgery rule.  He didn't complain once about not having food or drink.  When we got to the hospital, he began hamming it up like he always does.

In the pre-surgery area, he played well, laughed, and was a hit.  He made all of the other patients going into surgery smile which I hoped help them through their procedures.  The nurses and doctors all loved him that he got 2 stuffed animals for being such a trooper (a monkey and a rabbit!).

The surgery was less than an hour and soon enough we were approaching him as tears streamed down his face.  He saw me and cried for Daddy and when I took him, he immediately fell asleep and stayed that way for an hour.

The doctors gave him a "block" injection to locally numb his surgery for 4-6 hours and told us to provide him Motrin or Tylenol as needed.  They said he should be back to solids by the next day and normal activity within 2-4 days.

When he woke up, he drank 4(!) cups of juice and we were on our way home.  He didn't hesitate to start playing like normal.  We gave him a bland lunch of mashed potato fries and chicken nuggets which he wolfed down.  He didn't seem wobbly or nauseous at all, which is an awesome sign.  He also didn't seem to be in much pain.

The scary part came when we opened a poopy diaper to find a lot of blood.  His gauze was soaked through and it was bright red.  The discharge form stated this was a sign to call the doctor.  She told us to hold a washcloth on the area for 7 minutes like any other cut.  She said more than likely he broke a scab and it was bleeding.  She said the surgery went so well she thought that was all it was and in 20 years she has not needed a patient with this surgery to go to an ER.  Lo and behold, it worked.  And he didn't cry once.

Now, he is asleep soundly and will hopefully wake up painless tomorrow.  Jack is such an amazing trooper and we are blessed to have him.

On a final note, Jack has reached a new obsession with Thomas the Tank Engine.  He is so in love with the show that we need to play it on his travel DVD player so we can relax with a normal show.  He plays with the toys all the time and said the name of his first character today.  No, it wasn't Thomas.  He said Gordon, the mean train that is only on 1 out of every 10 episodes.  Now, every train is Gordon.