Tubes

For about ten minutes today, my stomach was in complete knots. Jax had tubes inserted into his ears today. It's a minor procedure, but despite reassurance from Andy, doctors, friends whose children had undergone the same surgery and the dozens of web articles I read, I was still terribly nervous. My little boy was having surgery. Again, it was minor. The procedure was just five minutes, but it was surgery nonetheless.


Jax, Andy and I arrived at the surgical center around 8 am (Ava was at her buddy Ethan's house). As I filled out paperwork, Andy and Jax scoped out the giant aquarium. Jax, a lover of all animals, bugs and squirmy things, shrieked with excitement yelling "Vish" (fish). I just kept thinking that he had no idea what was coming. I'm sure he recognized that our normal morning routine had been disturbed. I mean, his mother hadn't fed him or given him water despite his pleas "Wawa, peas" (water, please.) FYI, I wasn't starving him by choice, he wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything for several hours before surgery.

Twenty minutes later we were back in pre-op changing Jax into the cutest little get-up I've ever seen. Let's face it, there's nothing cute about a hospital gown... on an adult. But on my chubby little 13-month-old, it's freakin' adorable.


He even had his little booty hanging out (diaper-covered, of course), like a real hospital patient.

Jax played in the toy room for a few minutes (he quickly extracted each car, truck or wheeled-object from the toy box) before a nurse came in and took him. To be honest, I hesitated a little handing my sweet little boy over to her. He, being the friendly little guy he is, went right to her and waved bye-bye to me. It was a really hard goodbye for me. I knew I'd see him soon, yet I couldn't help but worry. Like I said, it's surgery. I worried something would go wrong, he'd have an allergic reaction to anesthesia, the doctor would make a mistake -- all those things that happen once out of every million. But what if Jax was that one? I held tightly to Jax's Elmo and Bear, as if my cuddling them would provide Jax with vicarious Mama-protection. We sat in the waiting room, I attempting to read, but really only making it through one paragraph, of which I could tell you nothing. Fortunately, a nice old man came over and began talking to us about his annoyance with all the Michael Jackson coverage (it was on the news in the waiting room), and before I knew it, they were calling us back to the recovery room.

The doctor warned us that it could take up to an hour for Jax to come to after surgery and that, once awake, crying would likely ensue for just as long. However, when we arrived in the recovery room, our little guy, bundled up in a blanket in the arms of a sweet nurse, was already waking up. I immediately took him in my arms, he was so limp. As he began to stir, the shock of the situation set in and he began crying. It lasted about two minutes -- ending as soon as I gave him a goldfish cracker and something to drink. His body remained limp for just a few more minutes, as soon as he had food in his system his strength came back. We were out of there just 20 minutes after his surgery ended.


As for the rest of the day... after a three hour nap, the mancub was back to normal: walking, walking, walking all over the house, chasing Ava, eating his body weight in apples and cheese (his favorite), driving his truck, walking some more and laughing with Ava.

So, the surgery was a success. The tubes should fall out in about 18 months. The hope is, they'll correcct his ear issues and he'll be ear infection-free. Actually, he'll still likely get the occasional ear infection, just like any kid, but nothing like he suffered his first year of life. If he does happen to get an ear infection, he won't be given antibiotics, just drops. Thank goodness! I know it's only been a few hours since Jax became a tuber, but I gotta say, in my eyes it's already worth it. I don't know what I was worrying about :)