glad, that part's over with

Everything with Parker's surgery went perfectly. He was such a trooper. We got to the hospital at 7 am and completed the 2 hours of pre-op and paperwork. By 9 am he walked away with the nurse and got to push the button for the door to the operating room. He was so brave. We had a number for him and a screen to watch to see where he was with his surgery. As we were watching the screen the doctor came up behind us and said it was all over with and that it went just fine. That was at 9:40 am. We waited for them to bring him back to his room. As soon as he woke up they carried him back. He looked so tiny when the nurse brought him to us. He was beyond controllable. The nurses said it had a lot to do with the anesthesia. For the next hour or so I basically had to hold him down. He was kicking at the nurses when they came in to check on him; temp, pulse ox, etc...The worst part was he kept trying to rip out his IV. And the shouting and screaming and crying. We knew that his throat had to hurt but he didn't understand yet. He just kept trying to bury himself into my body and get away from it all. That was the hardest part of the whole experience. We finally got him to drink an apple juice and eat almost 2 Popsicles. Then he fell asleep cradled in my arms. I just held him while he slept. I made a big mistake by trying to move him to the bed alone while I got up to use the bathroom and woke him up. Bear tried to comfort him, but he kept freaking out like a wild man. When I came back to the bed he just kept trying to hide in me...it was like he couldn't get close enough. That moment is something I will never forget. By noon they told us to start waking him up to eat and drink and that when he did so they would take the IV out. He was happy about that. Through the pre-op physical last Friday to the actual surgery part, he never flinched when somebody was poking at him with a needle. He just kept calling all the little marks on his body, his pokes. He has so many pokes because he has tiny veins...which is good and bad. Tiny veins mean lots of poking to try to start and IV or take blood but also tiny veins mean less bleeding at the back of his throat. We were discharged around 1 pm. Ran some errands in Duluth and hit the road by 2 pm. We settled in last night with lasagna and garlic bread from Auntie Tammy for Emmitt and Mommy. Daddy has his Sushi (one of the errands) and Parker had mush. For the week he gets yogurt, Popsicles, applesauce, juice, drinkable yogurt, pudding and bread! I had picked up sandwiches from the Cub deli and he wanted some bread. So I ripped out the inside of my sandwich and pulled all the soft bread off the crust and he ate all of it. Said it didn't hurt at all and I am sure it filled that little tummy better. He slept really well last night. We wake him up every 4 hours to give him his meds and to stay on top of the pain. He needs to lay low for 7-10 days. Most pain peaks on day 4 or 5, so we will see how this week comes along...