I had almost a year to prepare for this. That’s how long it took for us to get all the blood tests and scheduling done to make Ryan’s adenoid removal and tonsillectomy surgery happen. Still, I wasn’t ready.

I don’t know HOW parents cope with being in a hospital when they’ve had NO time to prepare for it. When they are thrust there by a horrible circumstance. But I know there are worse things than even that. My friends have lived through them… and have carried on, somehow. I didn’t want to think about that.

We were due to the hospital at noon. Ryan couldn’t eat anything beforehand. He could only drink water or Gatorade. So I had some distracting to do that morning. For him and for me.

Miami Children’s Hospital has an amazing waiting area, the Michael Fux Family Center, complete with a real movie theater and a Keurig coffee maker. We stayed there for about 45 minutes (watched the end of The Emperor’s New Groove); it was incredible, and I’m so grateful families with sick children have that space. See more here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaW_4O0fftc.

But each time we moved to a new waiting area, the coffee – and the room – got less fancy. By the end, there wasn’t even creamer. Thankfully, Ryan was content watching Madagascar 3 on our iPad. (And I was really happy we live in the age of technology.)

A nurse came and gave Ryan ‘Happy Juice,’ half of which he spit out. He did NOT like the happy juice, but it DID make him happy.

Rails up and some more waiting. The movie: Ratatouille, this time.

I held it together. Kept calm. Cheerful, even. Until they rolled Ryan away.

At that moment, I kinda lost it a bit. I tried to distract myself with a book. I got up to get a Coke. Of COURSE, that’s when the surgeon came to tell Rene it all went fine. Then, more waiting. About an hour and a half after he was rolled away, we were led to recovery. Where we found Ryan like this.

It broke my heart. The hands did me in.

Luckily, Rene has a more healthy way of dealing with things. Comic relief…? Always a good thing.

We followed him to post-op to wait for him to wake up.

(No one told us we needed to actively wake him up, so we just sat and waited. For a long time.)

Once we knew better – the kid was not just going to wake up – Rene took matters into his own hands.

Heartbreaking.

 

(OF COURSE, that purple head donut foam thing made it home. I couldn’t resist. I did ask the nurse, though. She said everyone wants to take it. Haha!)

I knew I had to bring my camera along with us. It’s my crutch. It’s what I grab when I’m nervous or shy… or bored. And I’m so glad I brought it, but of all the photos I’ve taken, these make me the most emotional. I kinda want to forget about the day completely. We got to the hospital just before noon and left around 4:30, but it felt like forever. I was exhausted at the end. Rene and I ate dinner at 5PM, and I was ready for bed. Let’s just say 5PM is NOT my normal bedtime.

Seeing him home that night – and back to his silly ways – was such a relief.

As much as I knew this was an ‘in and out’ procedure, there is always that fear. Not everyone does okay. Things happen. I’m so glad that Ryan came out of this fine. He’s still healing. He still has dragon breath from the healing that is going on in his throat.

But he’s a happy & healthy kid – and I’m SO grateful.

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