Surgery of a Child

I have been with a lot of family members that have had surgery. I have even had surgery myself. I have managed all those times of surgery by sitting still and reading a book or just taking a little nap. But not today!

I paced. I paced some more. And then I paced some more. Superman actually told me that I need to sit still. Funny thing is, I didn't even notice that I was pacing.

We were at the hospital at 7am, we checked in and we waited. Poor little MJ was so hungry and so thirsty. His little eyes were red because he was so tired. We let him stay up late last night to watch a movie. That's what he wanted to do. We had to get him up at 6am this morning because we had to be at the hospital so darn early. He couldn't eat or drink after midnight last night. This kid gets out of bed hungry every morning. LOL

They finally called him to go pre-op at 10:15 and he was taken into surgery at 10:45. He said that he wanted me and his dad in surgery with him. We told him that they wouldn't let us go into the operating room but we would be waiting on him to get out of surgery. And we were!
12 noon we got the call that he was out of surgery and that it went well. We headed to the 2nd floor to wait for MJ to wake up. It took him about 1 1/2 hours to wake up. I was getting kinda concerned but everyone assured me that is pretty normal. Did that make me worry any less? Nope! Not one little bit less. At least by this time I had stopped pacing. LOL

Eyes start to creep open. Oh what a joyous sight! Superman won't admit it, but he was getting concerned too. Oh gosh - pain. That's what MJ felt about 15 minutes later when he was a little more awake. Tylenol with codeine - ok - now he's knocked out again. Goodness gracious I'm worried now. We sit and we wait and we wait and we wait some more. We talk to anyone and everyone that comes by to check on MJ. They assure us that everything is fine.

Superman finally gets him to wake up and talk to him around 4pm. MJ is awake now and ready to go home. He ask "Where am I". He grabs his dad's arm and hugs it and lays his head on it. MJ tries not to cry but the tears just come out. He was so worried that we weren't going to be there for him. He really thought that we were going to leave him. Please understand that in the past MJ and his brothers have lost everything that they have ever loved or cared about before. We assure them all the time that we will never leave them.

After us reassuring MJ that we waited just like we said we would do, he was fine and he was ready for something to eat. Out of bed to get dressed and in the car and on the way home. What a thrilled little boy he was.

WW and JD were so glad to see us, but they were more pleased to see MJ. They were full of questions and just had to see the incisions from the surgery. For the next hour or so, WW and JD were very protective of MJ. They didn't want him to get up to do anything. He was supposed to do nothing but rest.

8pm and the house is quiet. Everyone is exhausted and in bed asleep. Except me of course, I'm still pacing. LOL Just kiddin.

For any parents that their children have to have surgery...
Hang in there, they will be fine.

For all of the staff at Shands at the University of Florida...
Thank you for all your kindness to MJ and to my family!