All about the Op

We got to the hospital at 7 am this morning, and had a bit of a wait in the waiting area before we were shown to the ward, where we picked a bed and Caleb sat on it. The nurses came around eventually to do the blood pressure and heart rate checks, weighed him, all that stuff, and then they smeared cream on the tops of both his hands, which would help with the pain of the drips going into his hands (not sure why they did this exactly, because he was under anaesthetic when the drips went in). Then they put a sticky plastic covering over the cream to keep it there. Caleb was handed a hospital gown which came to just below his knees and made him look rather angelic. He didn’t want his shorts removed, so I kept those on him. All this took until about 9 am, and then we had to wait some more. Eventually the orderly came for him at about 10.15. Up until now, Caleb had been happy and not at all scared, but when we walked through the theatre doors, the drama began. I think it started when the orderly said I wouldn’t actually be staying in the theatre with him, but could stay until he was asleep. We had been telling Caleb that I would be with him the whole time, so that might have thrown him. Then of course he saw all the machinery and the doctors standing by, and it became a little too real. Unfortunately no pre-med had been given (long story), so it was straight onto the operating table with all his faculties intact. He almost escaped out the theatre doors because confusion and chaos set in – Caleb screaming in terror, all the doctors and nurses giving conflicting instructions, me unsure as to whether they wanted me to put him on the table, or remove myself altogether…finally the orderly picked him up, pinned him onto the table with sheer brute force, and they quickly applied the gas mask. By this time I was in a state, but fortunately the gas took effect very quickly and Caleb calmed down and was out, though he was still drawing in big ragged breaths from all the crying. I was then firmly told that he was asleep and I may leave. Eventually he came back to the ward at 12.00 – I thought the op would only take about 40 minutes, so was getting quite concerned by then, but as it turned out the surgeon was just very slow, and the operation was successful and uncomplicated. When Caleb came around from the anaesthetic, he cried a lot from the pain, and cried off and on the rest of the day. They had given him a suppository in theatre, and then gave him a pethadine injection back in the ward because he said it was very sore. He also needed to cough, and the coughing made the pain worse, which made him cry more, which made him cough more…quite bad. He vomited a little from the pethadine. At one point in the afternoon Caleb realized that he was wearing neither shorts nor underpants, and looked at me in horror and asked why they were off. I explained that they had to take them off during the operation, and he was so upset that I quickly put just his underpants back on. I think for him it was the gravest indignity imaginable. I had to leave at 4.30, for Nick to get to bible study. Poor Caleb was desperately unhappy that he had to stay and begged me to let him come home – heartbreaking, but it wasn’t my decision.

Aaron was completely happy the whole day and unaware that his buddy was missing. No wonder, he had been watching videos all day! I expected him to at least be a little bit sad, but the only time he registered anything was now at bedtime when I said we must pray for Caleb who was sad to be sleeping in hospital, and then he realized that he missed Caleb and wanted him home. But still not overly upset.

I was called back to the hospital at 7.30 tonight, because Caleb had been vomiting, so they needed to give him a suppository, but wanted a parent present (I don’t know why, they really should be able to handle that sort of stuff, but I guess they were anticipating a fight). I quickly phoned Steve who came to babysit Aaron, and I half walked, half ran up to the hospital – good thing I’m getting plenty of exercise to be fit! When I got there he was chirpy and bright and playing with some toys the nurses had found somewhere. I got him to have a wee in a potty, and then they gave him two supps. I stayed for about 40 minutes and he was fine when I left, though still wanting to come home, but did manage to blow me a kiss. It was good for me to see him then, because I am more at ease as to his present condition and frame of mind. He said that the people (the nurses) kept coming and going and he was trying to rest, so eventually he made them all go out. I asked if he had been polite and he said no, he just said “stop talking” to them all. Oh dear.