The Next Few Days

So, it turns out that this surgical procedure actually bothers the patient more than the doctors and nurses say it will.  It also turns out that a toddler who has just undergone a surgical procedure, and who is feeling terribly sore and awful, is very very cranky.  Also, I feel horrible when I'm taking care of his wound site and he is saying, "Ow. Ow. Ow." and then hobbles away in obvious pain.  It also turns out that even though I feel very badly for him, and I am very sympathetic towards him and what we made him go through, my patience unfortunately has its limits when dealing with the cranky child.

Today was a very very long day.  I'm looking forward to the end of the week when the wound isn't so fresh.

Also, Happy 29th Birthday, Spiff!

Post-Op

Gunner's surgery went well! The surgeon was very pleased with the results, and he said that Gunner handled everything incredibly well. I was impressed with the staff at the hospital, and the nurses and doctors were all great. The first patient of the day didn't show up, so they were able to get us in early, so we didn't have to make Gunner fast for so long. And since it was an outpatient procedure, we were done and home before 1:00 in the afternoon.

Gunner did great with everything, although the longer we were there doing pre-op stuff, the more wary of everything and everyone he became. He was absolutely terrified of the scale, and he absolutely refused to sit in the crib. They gave him some medication to help calm him down, and he was hungry enough to ask for more of it. The meds worked like a charm, and the nurse told me that he was asleep before they even put the anesthesia mask on him.

The procedure took slightly less than two hours. I went back to the PACU to be with Gunner after he woke up from the anesthesia. As the nurse took me back, she told me that he woke up great, just quietly opened his eyes, which was a relief since I was expecting hysterics. When we entered the room, I glanced around the room and saw several little babies on stretchers. There was one in particular who looked especially small, and I was amazed at how young the baby was to be having surgery. Then I realized that particular tiny little guy was mine! He looked so small on the stretcher, and so pathetic lying there so placidly, hooked up to an IV.

I was very grateful when they let me hold him, and when we got back to the recovery room, Spiff and I took turns holding him and helping him come out of the effects of the anesthesia. Amazingly, after that wore off, he perked right up, and was running and jumping around the house just a few hours later. Today, he acts like nothing happened at all. Amazing!

I'm so glad it's done, and that it went well, and I am incredibly grateful for the great doctors and nurses who helped him yesterday.

Gunner's Surgery (Pre-op)

Our little boy is having surgery tomorrow.  It's an outpatient thing, relatively routine, and I'll tell you the details if you ask.  (I don't want to post them on a public setting.)  But even though it's supposedly a common thing and the recovery is supposedly not bad, I am insanely nervous.  Spiff is cool as a cucumber, and I assume this is because he has seen countless procedures and sees this as no big deal.

But it is a big deal.  Poor little Gunner has no idea what's coming, and I guess that's a good thing.  I am mostly worrying about the logistics of the whole thing.  He can't eat breakfast in the morning prior to the surgery, nor can he have anything to drink past 6:30 in the morning, which means that he probably won't get anything at all since he'll still be asleep at that point.  This also means that we will be dealing with an incredibly hungry and cranky toddler who is in a strange place and dealing with strange things and people.  Not a recipe for success.  And then there are the logistics of taking care of my post-op toddler.  I don't know what to expect about how he will handle it, what he will need, or how he will feel.

I just hope that he responds well to the pain medications, and that he doesn't really remember the whole experience.  I also have to deal with the guilt I am feeling about putting him through this in the first place.  It needs to be done, but I still have horrible guilt about taking him to the hospital to "be hurt".  And I feel so badly for him and his sweet little self to go through something like this.

Please say a prayer for us.

Stake Conference In Utah

I went to Stake Conference with my sister's family yesterday. Russel M. Nelson was in attendance because their stake got a new presidency. I'm sure he gave a wonderful talk at the end of the session, but I'll have to take it on faith since Gunner was a crazy person yesterday morning and was absolutely not in the mood to sit through a two-hour meeting. (Who ever is, really?) I walked the halls as he ran them, and I was able to catch a few sentences of the talks here and there.

But, here is the cool part...

I took my niece to get a drink before the meeting started. As we were walking down the hall, Elder Nelson was standing in the hallway with just one other guy. I said Hi to him. He looked right at me and said, "Good Morning."

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! He practically said Hi to me!

I didn't have the guts to ask him to shake my hand, but I did drop down to my knees after we passed him and explained to my 3-year-old niece (who couldn't care less) that "That guy over there is Elder Nelson, one of our apostles! Can you believe he's standing Right There?! Isn't that neat!?"

So, that's what you might get for going to stake conference in Utah, where apostles still attend the conference in person instead of attending via satelite. Very cool. Sure wish I could have heard his talk.

Away rotation

So I'm going to go into anesthesia, and I'm currently doing a rotation at my number one choice, Major Medical Center in the midwest. The trouble is, as a newcomer, I don't know who anyone is or where anything is. Major Center has a rigid dress code of suits and ties all the time, but the residents still show up to the OR in regular clothes, change into scrubs, and leave in regular clothes. Should I do the same? or should I be the sore thumb who stands out in a suit when the residents go to lecture in mufti? I err the side of formality. The whole point of doing away rotations is to see if the program is a good fit, if you like the area, and if training there will help you accomplish your professional goals. I like being at Major Center, it's got world class resources and faculty. The problem is that I have no idea where I stand. I don't know if I"m doing the right things to impress the right people. I hate being 'on' all the time. Who should I ask for a letter of recommendation? I hate all the ambiguity. I will probably rank Major Center #1, but doubt very much that I will match here in March.
-SS