We had a practice run on Monday but the surgery center that we went to didn't feel comfortable doing the procedure with Riley's heart murmur so this morning, we arrived at the hospital at 6am and were ready to get the ear tube procedure over with.
The whole process wasn't terrible, but asking a 1-year-old to lay still while you take vitals and wait around just isn't realistic. After we checked in, put Riley in his gown and met with a few nurses, we were able to move to the playroom and wait our turn. Because we were at Children's Hospital, there were plenty of fun toys to keep us entertained and we took turns pulling Riley down the hall in a wagon that he loved. The toys were great but it was quite a challenge for Riley to crawl around in his hospital gown!
When they called our name, it was time to meet with the anesthesiologist and head down the hall towards the operating room. I covered up and was able not only to bring Riley into the operating room but was there when they got him ready and put him to sleep for the surgery. Again, he wasn't the happiest camper but who can blame him for being scared?
Chris and I then waited together in the family room and in no time at all, the ENT was headed towards us with the news that Riley did a great job and was headed to Recovery. Less than 10 minutes later, we were brought to Riley who was waking up and was ready for some familiar faces. He was pretty unhappy at first but everything was very normal as far as waking up from anesthesia goes.
Less than 30 minutes later, we had packed up, received our instructions and were in the car back home. We are so glad to have this procedure in the past and are keeping our fingers crossed that Riley starts to feel better quickly and this will all just be a memory very soon.
3 comments:
My hope is your hope, that the ear problems will "go out the tubes." Do you remember "ear bops"? That is what you called your ear drops. I guess you had ear infections for a while, too.
Riley looked great when we saw him. He won't remember any of this. You will. But you both did great as well.
Maybe soon he will hear better and can learn to say Mommy.
Love,
BiBi
I agree with BiBi: the event was much more "traumatic" for the parents than the patient. Just remember; putting in tubes should help, but may not be the end of all problems. We'll keep our fingers crossed!
I love the picture of him playing with toys in his johnny. I think in the long run, even though you had your test run on Monday, it looks like he was pretty comfortable and happy at Childrens. I bet he had less of an idea what was happening because there were all of those cool toys and wagons to play with until it was his turn to go back.
You all did great!
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