medical

The title is dumb. I just didn't know how to title this.
I think we are done with medical appts for a while. Mason has his post-op this Thurs and Maddox has his follow up the 2nd week of August.
Then no more new specialists until October.

I am glad the appts are ending. I realized that I watched both of our children go under anethesia within 9 days. Thankfully it was not for anything life threatening. But watching them go under was very hard.

Maddox was completely unprepared for his. I thought they would prepare him more since it was a pediatric clinic, but they didn't. He was put on the table and the mask was clamped down on his little head and the nurse just held them there. He was crying and screaming "momma, momma, momma" and pulling at the nurses's hands and trying to move his head. It. was. awful. It didn't last long thankfully. Just a couple minutes, and it was probably less than that. He was so groggy when he woke up. He just cuddled up in my lap in the recovery room. I do not like seeing our children drugged up. But the snuggles were nice. When we left the hospital, we went to a family friend's house and Maddox and I cuddled up in bed and watched a movie on the iPad, for about 30 minutes. Then he was ready to rock and roll. They said he would be sleepy, but they were wrong. then we drove home and he slept maybe 45 minutes out of the 2 hour drive. Just got his results and they are normal! No Celiac! I am grateful he does not have Celiac, but then I get nervous. Why isn't he gaining weight? what other tests will they want to do? He is wearing 24 month shorts (his shorts from last year) and those are too big for him. His 18 month jacket still fits him and I know he will be wearing his snow pants and jacket from last year. I do worry about his energy level as well. He seems to tire out quickly, however he goes full board on everything, so maybe that is why.

Mason was much more prepared. Our hospital has a child life specialist that a friend told me about and she was fabulous! I LOVE her! She met with us and Mason 2 days before Mason's surgery. She had items for him to touch, talked directly with Mason, asked HIM questions and gave us a tour of the place. She also had pictures of all the different waiting areas and roomds hhe would be in. Then, she sat with us as we waited for Mason's surgery and she talked with Mason and the Dr and anethesiologist, because she knew them. It was wonderful. She even asked the Dr if Mason was going to need a huge bandage after his surgery (we thought he would need one) and the answer was NO which relieved Mason sooo much. He was very anxious about the bandage.

Our ENT is amazing with kids and he sat and talked with Mason a bit. Mason was extremely prepared. Once the mask for the gas was on, Mason took these huge shallow breaths, and was so anxious that it took a lot of breaths for him to fall asleep. His back was coming off the table. It was awful to see. I think he hyperventilated himself. poor guy. But he woke up great. Slowly, but easily. We all sat in his room for about 4 hours until he could go home. Again, it was so hard to see him drugged up and so tired and uncomfortable. But the staff were great. They got him medicine for pain and nausea as soon as he expressed discomfort and the meds went to work pretty quickly. He almost got sick later that night, but I think it was because he had amoxicillin and a tylenol with codeine and he hadn't eaten much.

He is doing fine, except his appetite is still slowly coming back. and my instructions are :No vigorous activity, no dirt and no water until we see the Dr on Thurs. I was also told that hiking might not be a good idea either and no sand. So we are hanging here at home, and I am getting a lot of organizing done. Hopefully we will have more freedom after his post-op appt.

I have so much more respect and compassion for people whose children need serious surgeries and have serious medical histories. i cannot imagine. These minor things have been so stressful and trying to coordinate appts between the boys and traveling and finding places to stay. and then throw in the food issues, because we just can't go through a drive through or go to a resturant. And there are parents out there who do this stuff on a regular basis. They have very sick children who require a lot of medical care and appts and traveling around the U.S. to see different specialists. Those parents are heros.

Well, this sums up the last 60 days. I feel so much better with these procdures over. I didn't realize how much they were on my mind. Our next appt with a new specialist is in October. With a urologist. Apparently Maddox has some issues that need to be addressed. I don't think they are major issues, something like a small urethra opening. I don't even want to know how they fix that.

So, my readers of 4. That's what has been going on here. Along with camping and vacations and swimming and slip n slides and beaches and parks. Once we get the OK from Mason's Dr, we will be hitting all those places again. Which will hopefully be soon!