I'm shocked to say, but this experience was made so easy by the amazing and wonderful staff at the Connecticut Children's Medical Center. They truly are the best.
We were called the day before the surgery with the time we had to be in the hospital. We had to be there at 8am to check in and go through all the pre-op stuff, and then his surgery was scheduled for 9:30. This meant he didn't have to starve all morning, which we were worried about considering his age and penchant for...well, eating.
We brought a bottle along with us for afterwards, but it turns out we didn't need it. He got to play some toys while they weighed him, checked his temperature, and took other basic stats. We were then walked down to the surgery ward and given a bed in a huge communal ward. There were toys, and cars, and things for the kids to ride on, which made the time pass much more easily. We were met by every member of the surgery team, and they gave us a mask for Ben to play with and get used to.
I knew where this was going to go. He took one look at it and started biting it. He hates masks - he had to wear one last summer for a case of bronchiolitis. Ten minutes at a time, 6 times a day. He developed a hatred for it. It took two of us to administer it, and nine hundred repetitions of "The Wheels on the Bus" to soothe him. I was glad when that stopped. So was my husband.
He ended up popping the plastic on it, so we needed to get another one. Rawr.
They explained what would happen, and I donned the cap and smock and mask and walked him into the room. I sat him on the edge of the bed, and it was a bit of a wrestling match, but he was out in about twenty seconds. I'm not sure why they warn you so much about his reaction, but it wasn't any more dramatic than his eyes rolling back in his head after a really good bottle. They walked me out,a and I went back to collect my husband and the bag.
We were in the waiting room about ten minutes, watching the screen with the status numbers on it. You could follow his progress into recovery. He was in recovery only about five minutes after we got to the waiting room. I barely had time to drink a cup of coffee when I heard wailing from down the hallway, the phone rang, and the voluneer came over to get us. He was up. And annoyed.
From what we were told it's common to have them wake up cranky, and he certainly was. He had leads on his chest, and a oxygen sensor on his toe, and all sorts of wires. We were able to cuddle him and he calmed down a bit and then something... we have no idea what, set him off.
He took a deep breath - a truly huge one that seems to hang with a pregnant pause... and the monitor went off. And kept going off. His blood oxygen levels were dropping as he prepared to let out a whopper of a scream. We both burst into relieved giggles - good to know he was back to normal.
After some apple juice and a little more TLC he calmed down and we were able to head home. It's been like nothing has happened since then.
Best possible outcome. We're happy we did it. We'll see if this has an effect on his ear infections.
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