Surgery day

As much as we've tried not to think about it, surgery day is upon us. I admit, I've been a little nauseous for the last week or so thinking about this day. Nathan did so well this morning being woken up at 5am. He thought he was going on an adventure with Mom and Dad in the truck, and kept commenting about how it was still dark out. We got him all bundled up, and he topped off his outfit with his customary "security blanket"....his eyeglasses. Our boy is obsessed with glasses of all kinds.
He did really well at the hospital, and we were even laughing hysterically at one point when the sedative started taking effect. That silly moment quickly passed though, as I watched my sweet little boy heavily sedated getting ready for surgery. I don't even need to say this, especially to the moms, but I can't even describe the feeling when they wheel him away from us. Rip out my heart, and stomp on it.
The hour passed fairly quickly....I managed to get some work done while waiting. When the surgeon came to meet with us, I anxiously searched his face looking for some clue. My fear all along, as been that this "lump" would be more invasive than they thought, and the surgery would go differently than expected. That's exactly what happened. Originally, they planned a one-inch incision to remove this "3 cm" mass. It ended up involving a three-inch incision to remove a 5 by 7 cm mass. The surgeon said he had never seen anything like it. Apparently, it was almost sponge-like in appearance, and ended up being multiple clusters of very small fluid-filled cysts. It extended down well past the point where the visible lump was, and also around to his back.

Recovery was positively awful. Put our sensory-sensitive boy in a strange environment, with an IV in his hand, monitors hooked up to his toe, strange clothing on....oh, and add sedation and general anesthesia. Not pretty. He was pretty much unconsolable until we left the hospital. He was a totally different boy once we got him into the truck. I was concerned about him when we left because he still hadn't been able to keep anything down and was having some blood sugar issues. His body temp was at 96...he was cold, clammy and pale. Fortunately, once we got him home he started to eat and drink, and recovered fairly quickly!

He was so excited to receive the get-well card and present Emma picked out for him...such a sweet girl. He took a good nap today, and we've tried to keep the pain meds flowing. Tonight at bed time was the first time he complained about it hurting...otherwise, he's been more than happy to show it off!

We didn't quite get to breathe the sigh of relief we'd hoped today, since we still don't know what it is that they removed from our sweet boy. While the surgeon doesn't think it looks like anything scary, we won't be able to fully rest well until we hear back from Pathology on Thursday. We're so glad to have today behind us, and hope he has a speedy recovery.

Sunday...a day of rest?

So, here's what I did today:

1. Washed, dried, folded and put away 4 loads of laundry.
2. Made three freezer meals.
3. Made 5 loaves of bread.
4. Prepared a "Thanksgiving" feast for dinner (since Judy cooked on Thanksgiving!).
5. Vacuumed the entire upstairs and downstairs.
6. Canned turkey leftover from dinner.

Yeah...perhaps I'm trying to stay busy to keep my mind off of surgery tomorrow?

So the lump is a.....

We still don't know. The surgeon today didn't beat around the bush....it needs to come out. He said he felt that the MRI was an unnecessary step, since that still wouldn't tell us WHAT it is and his recommendation would remain the same.....get it out. No one seems to think this is anything scary, which is comforting, but we won't know for sure until Pathology gets a hold of it. SO, our little guy has surgery scheduled for November 29th at 7:30am. We have to be at the hospital at 5:30. I hate the thought, but figured it might come to this. We'll cross our fingers that all goes well, and he has a speedy recovery!

Lumps are NEVER good.

When is a lump a good thing? Can't come up with anything. Case in point.....who likes lumps in their gravy? Anyone?
How about mashed potatoes? Nope.


What about sweet little boys?

Definitely not. Imagine our concern when we found a strange lump on the side of Nathan's torso last week. We decided to let it go over the weekend, but when I returned from Seattle last Sunday and saw that it was still there...I got him right in. We managed to stump two pediatricians that day, and were sent right over to the hospital to have an ultrasound. It was there that we stumped a third doctor. Never comforting to hear a doctor say, "I don't know what it is." Nathan's pediatrician is recommending an MRI, but wanted to have a surgeon's opinion before putting Nathan through something like that. So, Tuesday we'll meet with a surgeon and hopefully get some answers. Until then....I walk around with a bit of a sick feeling most of the time. Hopefully it's nothing....hopefully we can learn that without putting Nathan through too much. Updates to come.

Halloween!

It was so fun to take all the kiddos out trick-or-treating this year! Last year, Darrin took Nathan and Emma out for a bit, while I stayed home (with a sleeping Matthew) to hand out candy. This year.....we cheated and left this on our door:

And took off on the 4-Wheeler!! Emma was an adorable 50's girl, while the boys were (very appropriately) Thing 1 and Thing 2 from The Cat in the Hat. Emma and Matthew were REALLY into it.....even when it was dark and super c-c-cold, Matthew kept saying, "Let's do some more!" Nathan was over it a bit quicker. He was more interested in looking inside people's houses and saying things like, "You got stairs?" or "My mom has glasses....you have glasses too?" Such a funny little bug. They did great though...it's amazing how quickly the little ones grasp hold of the concept...run to the door...look really cute.....get candy!!! We had a great time....now I'm off to pick through the loot and grab the good stuff while the kids sleep! : )