Surgery

We stayed the night in a suite the night before and got some major swimming in. My goal was to wear Sullivan out as much as possible so that he wouldn't realize that he was fasting. He's also learned to say "whim" (swim) and "ool" (pool). I love when he learns new words and tries them out.

Here are some before pictures.


They had a nice waiting room with toys, so again he was distracted and didn't ask for food or water (yay!). They called us back and asked a bunch of questions and then told us that a quick good-bye was best. Immediately, I start getting nervous...this is what I didn't want to happen. I thought they'd give him some sleepy juice or something before they ripped him from my arms. Well, the Doctor came in and made some marks on his neck (see pic below) and then tells me that he doesn't want him to have a waddle and that he is going to have to leave some of the tract, but that it'd be very small. Okay...I'm thinking that this is something he should have told me before I put my family up in a suite for the night, make my kid fast, pay for gas and food. Weird that he'd never mention it before. But, I figure he knows what he's doing and just hope that he does his job right and that everything will be okay. So, after he leaves, two very sweet nurses come in and Sullivan goes right to them...what!? Not what I was expecting, but I'm so grateful because it would have been the longest 2 hours of my life if he went away from me crying. Anyway, these two nurses are lovin on him and he waves good-bye to us just like that and we leave. I thought I'd hear him cry, but nope.


Towards the 1 1/2 hour mark, I start to get antsy. Before I know it, they call us back and the surgery is over. They have Jeff and the girls go to a small room while I go get Sullivan. The first thing I see when I see him is that he's got his hands behind his neck just relaxing and though he's a bit pale and not smiling, I could tell he was happy with his medication and enjoying the attention from the nurses. They transfer him to me and it doesn't even phase him what he just went through and that it was all over. No crying at all! He did get really irritated and grumpy after awhile of waiting though, he kept attacking his bandage and wanted it off.

The doctor came to see us, told us he had to leave a little bit of the stripe. Told us to take the bandage off in two days and then he was off. Seriously, this doctor does not like to talk, he's all business! Here is Sullivan on our way out the door.

It has been 4 days since his surgery. It has been a long 4 days. They have codeine and an antibiotic for him, but the taste really nasty and he won't take them. We've tried mixing them with bananas and yogurt, but after one taste he knows what we've done and won't eat the rest. Poor kid is in pain, keeps saying "owie mama." Jeff has been very helpful with getting him to take his medicine. I don't know what it is, but Sullivan likes to please him and will basically do anything Jeff says (Not fair!). So, we've had to "force" medicine a few times and the other times Jeff convinces him to do it.
(Though he is wearing the same outfit, I promise that it was washed between wearings...he likes them that much!)
This morning Sullivan pulled off the steri-strips over his neck. It looks okay though, I'm wondering if their are some internal stitches or something. Anyway, here is the end result...

I'm biting my tongue right now. I just didn't expect that much of his tract leftover. Basically it looks like he got rid of the nub and that's it. I'm hoping he doesn't have to have more surgery. I'm kinda frustrated though because I was led to believe that this surgery was "easy" and that everything would be taken care of.
I look forward to chatting with the doctor next Tuesday though and hopefully I'll be able to ask the right questions so that I can get some answers.