Another Monkey Gone

We made it through surgery without a hitch, although this time was harder for him. Before, one moment he was watching his brother Joshua play a game on his iPad in the backseat of his brothers car, the next he was in the hospital at the mercy of doctors and parents making decisions for him. He didn’t have a choice. He didn’t have advance notice or time to be afraid.

 Every day before his surgery he would look at me once a day and simply say, “Monday.” That was his way of letting me know he was scared. Jackson is such a brave kid. I sometimes forget that he is only seven with a normal kids fears. As we arrived for pre-op his little body started to shake. His father and I both wanted to load him up in the truck and take off. But we knew we couldn’t. I was able to calm him down by crawling in the bed with him and playing games on his iPad. My philosophy has always been to keep yourself busy so that you don’t have time to dwell on the bad. So that’s what we did. 

10 minutes before surgery they brought him the “happy” medicine. He was all grins and giggles then. Not a care in the world. The hard part then started for us parents. The waiting….. When your child is in surgery, even if it is considered routine or minor, every second feels like a hundred. This surgery wasn’t considered minor. He had an incisional hernia repaired. There was danger that his bowels could be injured, and in Jacksons case, he only has half of his bowels left from the damage caused by the seatbelt during the accident. 

When the phone finally rings your heart skips several beats. Is it good news? Bad? Hurry up and answer already!! And if you’re not the one taking the call it’s pure torture. You try reading facial expressions to gauge their reaction. Listen to voice inflections. Anything to determine what the listener is hearing. Time stands still. In this case, the news was great. Jackson did well during surgery and was in recovery waking up!

The entire day I didn’t feel well but thought it was anxiety and lack of sleep. By the time his surgery was over, there was no doubt that it was more than anxiousness. I was running a fever. We discussed if I should stay or go and decided that at that point I had already exposed Jackson (remember me crawling into bed with him during pre-op). By that evening my husband was running a fever and by the next morning Jackson was too. Jacob didn’t feel well Sunday evening and had unknowingly given us all the flu. Wonderful, right????? Sometimes I wonder why things have to be so difficult for us. Surgery was enough to deal with, but now poor Jackson had to deal with having the flu on top of recovering from surgery. 

The difference between moms and dads: when moms and the kids are sick at the same time, we still take care of everything. When dads get sick, they can sleep through a nuclear war. So by the end of the week it is no surprise that everyone else is on the mend and I am still sick. That’s just the way it is for us moms. No one ever thinks to take care of us too.

This surgery was a monkey on our back. Now it is done and over with. At some point Jackson may have to have another hernia repaired but the doctor thinks it will be a long time if ever. He will also have to have spinal surgery to put more rods in his back to combat the Scoroliosis. Again, this will hopefully be after his bones have fully matured and several  years down the road. For now, Jackson can live life without having this surgery looming over him. We are thankful for that. We are looking forward to him healing and being able to swim this summer. 

Did I mention that this kid missed half the school year and still made an A and C on his report card?!? This kid rocks!!!

Love and blessings, 

C.C.