In preparation for Gabe's procedure on Thursday, Daddy and I took him out on a date! Thanks, Mom, for keeping Nate and Adri. Gabe chose to have dinner at DQ and finished his chicken finger meal with a butterscotch Dilly Bar. We ended the date with a trip to Build a Bear, where he chose a new buddy to take with him to the hospital. He picked a little monkey, which he proudly named Sammy. Sammy must do a good job of comforting Gabe because after only about 5 minutes in the car on the way home, he was zonked! I did not look forward to getting him up the next day at 5:30 a.m.
Thursday morning, after they took us back to prep for the procedure, Gabe got very quiet...much unlike his usual self! The nurse asked him lots of questions and he answered almost all of them with, "I dunno." He was scared, but was trying not to show it. She took his temperature, checked his heart rate and gave him an ankle bracelet with his name on it. Everything she did to Gabe, she also did to Sammy. He loved that! Then someone came back to take him to the operating room and he tried hard to hold back the tears. His bottom lip quivered as he said to me, "You not going wif me?" I tried hard not to cry, too! Matt and I waited for the next 30 minutes in a consultation room, awaiting the doctor's update.
She came in and assured us that everything went well. The hour or so in recovery was hard for him and hard for us to watch. He kept coughing and gagging, probably because of the tube that was down his throat during the procedure. After the nurse finally gave him to me, he snuggled up to me and napped for half an hour or so. After waking, he reluctantly drank some juice, had a few licks of a popsicle, and a few bites of applesauce. Finally, we were headed home with a VERY pitiful looking boy! He seemed afraid to swallow, thus, giving him a small drooling problem. I annoyed him by continuously wiping his chin. He asked for ice cream and a popsicle when we got home and his wish was granted. He even got to eat on the couch in the living room while watching Casper! After almost a 5 hour nap yesterday afternoon, the little guy was almost back to normal. And today, only about 36 hours later, you'd never know he had anything done. He amazes me...I'm not sure that I'd take it as well!!!
His hearing seems to be a little better. I kept whispering his name this morning to see if he could hear me and annoyingly, he said, "STOP doing dat!" Without a doubt, the old Gabe has returned! He's played with his mask (which the anesthesiologist allowed him to keep) and pretended to give Sammy surgery all day. He told me earlier, "I'll be the doctor and you be the bad guy." "Who's the bad guy, Gabe," I asked. "He's da one dat puts a tube in your mouf!"
Thank you all for the prayers and good wishes. I'm thankful for supportive friends and family! Although this was a minor procedure, it's NOT FUN seeing a child go through it! Now, we're praying for a healthy spring and NO MORE EAR or HEARING problems!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment