Then this past Monday, we showed up at the hospital for his tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy. After many, many cases of strep, it was time to get rid of the "extra body parts", as Ollie put it. He spent the first half hour of waiting examining the mechanics of the bed, as he spent much of the hospital tour doing the week before. The nice tour lady kept trying to explain to him about the surgery and where everything was, and he just wanted to know all about the interesting bed. Very typical Oliv*er!
Every person who checked on Ollie that morning got a slightly different story about how he was feeling, from " REALLY nervous" to "not even a little bit nervous. I don't even care about the surgery. " Then he'd look at me and smile slightly in our own little inside joke. He watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory when we had to wait longer than expected.
He was so calm and trusting, and didn't even need the customary sedative going into the anesthesia. Jo*el and I went to the family waiting area and the minutes ticked by. And ticked by. And. Ticked. By. And the time range we'd been given to expect came, and then went, and then doubled. It was pretty terrifying, and when we were finally led back, we found out that while the surgery itself went OK, Ollie had a laryngial spasm in the post-op area and needed to be "re-tubed" and given epi to open up his seriously blocked airway, all while awake. It was asthma-related, and related to the unfortunate timing of yet another cold setting in just then.
Thankfully, he remembers none of this, though it's hard just knowing he went through all that while awake. He had some trauma to the inside of his mouth and a very swollen tongue from when they had to put the tube back in, so he's now dealing with recovering from the surgery, asthma, another bad cold with a high fever, and some extra trauma to the inside of his mouth and the surgery site. Fun times. Given all that, though, he's doing OK. He spent the night in the hospital, and came home later the next afternoon. Jo*el was a daddy superhero and spent the night with Oliver cradled in his arms, the position he most wanted to be in. The staff was great - very kind and attentive to his emotional and physical well-being.
He was clearly glad to be home. No*ah was glad to have him back too (and is giving him a kiss here). On the way home, No*ah said, "Ollie, if they had wanted a bunch of money to let you come home, I would have given them all my money!" Not sure where he got that from, but it was very sweet. Right after we got to him after the surgery, Ollie was asking about No*ah - "How will No*ah know what is happening to me? How will No*ah know how I am doing?"
No*ah misses his wrestling partner quite a bit, but they're bonding over the suddenly unlimited movies and popsicles around here.
Ollie is still very tired and intermittently quite feverish, and spent most of the next day sleeping.
We had some pre-Thanksgiving snow for No*ah and Jo*el to play with.
We did actually make it to Thanksgiving at Steve and Kathy's.
Some of the grown-ups played games, a wonderful meal was eaten by most of us, and No*ah got to release some pent up energy with his buddy Zo*e.
and Oliv*er got lots of love and hugs.
And this sweet baby was a delight, as usual.
Obviously, there is much to be thankful for, even amidst the stress and chaos of the last week. On the short list this year are:
- Good health
- Healing
- Family
- Friends
- Medical Insurance
- Employment
- 2 loving church families
- The laughter of children
- Good teachers
- God's love
- Sunshine in an often dreary MN November
- The opportunity to use talents and gifts
- The time to appreciate all of the above.
