Super Trooper
Tuesday, May 30 2006 Filed in: Children's
Hospital
Kai is such an amazing little trooper! We have had a
really busy last four days. Memorial Day weekend in
Bellingham is the weekend of our big local civic
celebration, The Ski to Sea Race. Cam
and Ben both marched with their high school band
so we took Kai to watch them. We had taken him to
see the Junior Ski to Sea parade the weekend
before so he had an idea of what to expect. He
loves parades. Loves to wave at everyone, and
shake hands with the clowns, Shriners, etc. Had a
great time. And best of all Cam and Ben’s
band took first place in their division, beating
out the other two city high school bands as well
as a number of others.
We had even stopped on our way there to get him a last minute haircut. Haircuts have not been a favorite activity for him, and from the look of the cut he had back at the S.W.I. I think I can understand why. But he seems to have gotten over that and didn’t mind it at all this time.
On Sunday we went south for the annual party at our friends Kim and Alex’s. The weather was not so great, but we had a great time anyway. There were quite a few people there and it gets pretty loud. Kai fell right into the mix and had a great time. He enjoyed watching the horseshoe tournament, and getting to sit on Alex’s Harley.
Alex always has lots of toys. This is a picture of Kai and his cousin Devon watching Alex launch a little glider-plane from a bunch of helium balloons…
Monday was a quieter day of working around the house and lawn. It was good that it was a bit quieter, because Tuesday was not the day we returned to our regular routine.
No, Tuesday was the day we returned to Children’s Hospital for Kai’s hand surgery. To keep things in perspective, this was not a major surgery. All we were having done was the removal of his “floating thumb” from his left hand.
We probably could have had our local G.P. do it, but Dr. Hanel was glad to do it, and Kai was able to have a general anesthetic. We thought this would make it less traumatic for him, though we realized it would add an additional complexity to the procedure. We had set the appointment months ago, but had been wavering as to whether or not we were going to go through with it. His little thumb nubbin doesn’t pose a direct problem, but it does get in the way, and draws attention to his hand. We talked about putting it off, but in the end decided it was best to get it over with.
Our day began at 4:20 A.M. when our alarm went off. Tina and I snuck out of bed and got dressed while Kai slept. We quietly snuck some coffee and toast, feeling a little guilty, as Kai would not be able to eat until much later when he came out of the anesthesia. We had everything ready to go and the car warming up before we woke him. As usual, the first thing he asked for upon waking was breakfast. “Yup,” I told him, “We’ll eat in a minute.” This was going to be a very long minute. We changed his diaper, put shoes on him and loaded him directly into the car. This distracted him from his request and he probably wasn’t really ready to eat anyway, as it was only 5:00 A.M.
It was a beautiful morning; perfectly clear and the traffic was light. We stopped in Marysville (about an hour south) to pick up my mom, and then headed on to Seattle. On our last trip down the traffic had been really bad and we were late getting to Children’s, so we had left extra early this morning. Today the traffic was as nice as the weather and we made excellent time. We hit our exit at 7:00 A.M. and made every light on the way to the hospital. This sounds great, but it meant we had over an hour to kill before it was time to check in and we still couldn’t give Kai that breakfast we had promised him “in just a minute.”
We went ahead and checked in and sat in the reception area. This part of the hospital had just been redone and is absolutely gorgeous. Each part of the hospital has a different theme: airplanes, space, farm, etc. This area is called the “Whale Entrance” and is beautifully decorated.
Kai loves whales and was very taken by all the imagery. As it turned out we didn’t have to wait that long. The family scheduled ahead of us was driving over from Yakima and had called to say they were lost. Our early arrival meant we could switch places with them; we got in early and they didn’t lose their appointment.
The check-in receptionist noticed Kai’s fondness of Mouse and asked if he would be accompanying Kai into surgery. We thought that was a good idea so Mouse got a wristband too.
In the prep room Kai willingly let us undress him and put the tiny hospital gown on him.
The first time we met Dr. Hanel Kai was very upset when we had to undress him to be examined. After we met with nurse-practitioner and the anesthesiologist they brought in a dose of “goofy juice” for Kai. This was the first relaxing drug to prep him for the surgery. He wasn’t too happy about being given this, but didn’t fuss too much. Within minutes he started getting pretty slack, and before too long he began singing loudly to Mouse. I didn’t recognize the song, but it was reminiscent of :
“Show me the way to go home
I'm tired and I want to go to bed
I had a little drink about an hour ago
And it went right to my head”
The anesthesiologist returned and we put Kai into her arms. He was totally slack at this point and gave no resistance. This was really a very minor procedure, but entrusting your child to others this way is very, very hard. General anesthetics can have side affects, and this was his tiny, little hand they were going to be cutting on.
The procedure was to last only half an hour and they had given us pager to let us know when Dr. Hanel was finished. We went up to the cafeteria to eat something while we waited. Just as we were finishing our meal the pager went off. We raced back to the recovery room and in a few minutes the doctor came in to talk to us. The procedure went smoothly and Kai was sleeping. They would bring him in to us as soon as he started to wake. It took about an hour and they brought him back in on a little tiny gurney. His eyes were open and he was starting to come around. We were worried about how the anesthesia might affect him, would he be nauseous, irritated, panicky? Nope, he came out of it easily, had some water and even tried a popsicle. I think he still was a bit wonky as he normally won’t touch anything that sweet.
We got him dressed, checked out, and drove back to my mom’s for lunch. By the time we got there Kai was pretty much himself again and made himself at home in Gramma’s toy closet.
The whole process was much harder on us than it was on him, which is how it should be, and why we took him to Children’s for the procedure. When we got home he was up and going. He played in the backyard watering everything in sight, and working his earth moving equipment.
We have kept him on Tylenol with codeine to make sure he doesn’t have any pain, but apart from the annoyance of the bandage, he doesn’t seem to know he had surgery today. We are very proud of how well he handled it all and are continuously amazed at his resilience and positive attitude.
We had even stopped on our way there to get him a last minute haircut. Haircuts have not been a favorite activity for him, and from the look of the cut he had back at the S.W.I. I think I can understand why. But he seems to have gotten over that and didn’t mind it at all this time.
On Sunday we went south for the annual party at our friends Kim and Alex’s. The weather was not so great, but we had a great time anyway. There were quite a few people there and it gets pretty loud. Kai fell right into the mix and had a great time. He enjoyed watching the horseshoe tournament, and getting to sit on Alex’s Harley.
Alex always has lots of toys. This is a picture of Kai and his cousin Devon watching Alex launch a little glider-plane from a bunch of helium balloons…
Monday was a quieter day of working around the house and lawn. It was good that it was a bit quieter, because Tuesday was not the day we returned to our regular routine.
No, Tuesday was the day we returned to Children’s Hospital for Kai’s hand surgery. To keep things in perspective, this was not a major surgery. All we were having done was the removal of his “floating thumb” from his left hand.
We probably could have had our local G.P. do it, but Dr. Hanel was glad to do it, and Kai was able to have a general anesthetic. We thought this would make it less traumatic for him, though we realized it would add an additional complexity to the procedure. We had set the appointment months ago, but had been wavering as to whether or not we were going to go through with it. His little thumb nubbin doesn’t pose a direct problem, but it does get in the way, and draws attention to his hand. We talked about putting it off, but in the end decided it was best to get it over with.
Our day began at 4:20 A.M. when our alarm went off. Tina and I snuck out of bed and got dressed while Kai slept. We quietly snuck some coffee and toast, feeling a little guilty, as Kai would not be able to eat until much later when he came out of the anesthesia. We had everything ready to go and the car warming up before we woke him. As usual, the first thing he asked for upon waking was breakfast. “Yup,” I told him, “We’ll eat in a minute.” This was going to be a very long minute. We changed his diaper, put shoes on him and loaded him directly into the car. This distracted him from his request and he probably wasn’t really ready to eat anyway, as it was only 5:00 A.M.
It was a beautiful morning; perfectly clear and the traffic was light. We stopped in Marysville (about an hour south) to pick up my mom, and then headed on to Seattle. On our last trip down the traffic had been really bad and we were late getting to Children’s, so we had left extra early this morning. Today the traffic was as nice as the weather and we made excellent time. We hit our exit at 7:00 A.M. and made every light on the way to the hospital. This sounds great, but it meant we had over an hour to kill before it was time to check in and we still couldn’t give Kai that breakfast we had promised him “in just a minute.”
We went ahead and checked in and sat in the reception area. This part of the hospital had just been redone and is absolutely gorgeous. Each part of the hospital has a different theme: airplanes, space, farm, etc. This area is called the “Whale Entrance” and is beautifully decorated.
Kai loves whales and was very taken by all the imagery. As it turned out we didn’t have to wait that long. The family scheduled ahead of us was driving over from Yakima and had called to say they were lost. Our early arrival meant we could switch places with them; we got in early and they didn’t lose their appointment.
The check-in receptionist noticed Kai’s fondness of Mouse and asked if he would be accompanying Kai into surgery. We thought that was a good idea so Mouse got a wristband too.
In the prep room Kai willingly let us undress him and put the tiny hospital gown on him.
The first time we met Dr. Hanel Kai was very upset when we had to undress him to be examined. After we met with nurse-practitioner and the anesthesiologist they brought in a dose of “goofy juice” for Kai. This was the first relaxing drug to prep him for the surgery. He wasn’t too happy about being given this, but didn’t fuss too much. Within minutes he started getting pretty slack, and before too long he began singing loudly to Mouse. I didn’t recognize the song, but it was reminiscent of :
“Show me the way to go home
I'm tired and I want to go to bed
I had a little drink about an hour ago
And it went right to my head”
The anesthesiologist returned and we put Kai into her arms. He was totally slack at this point and gave no resistance. This was really a very minor procedure, but entrusting your child to others this way is very, very hard. General anesthetics can have side affects, and this was his tiny, little hand they were going to be cutting on.
The procedure was to last only half an hour and they had given us pager to let us know when Dr. Hanel was finished. We went up to the cafeteria to eat something while we waited. Just as we were finishing our meal the pager went off. We raced back to the recovery room and in a few minutes the doctor came in to talk to us. The procedure went smoothly and Kai was sleeping. They would bring him in to us as soon as he started to wake. It took about an hour and they brought him back in on a little tiny gurney. His eyes were open and he was starting to come around. We were worried about how the anesthesia might affect him, would he be nauseous, irritated, panicky? Nope, he came out of it easily, had some water and even tried a popsicle. I think he still was a bit wonky as he normally won’t touch anything that sweet.
We got him dressed, checked out, and drove back to my mom’s for lunch. By the time we got there Kai was pretty much himself again and made himself at home in Gramma’s toy closet.
The whole process was much harder on us than it was on him, which is how it should be, and why we took him to Children’s for the procedure. When we got home he was up and going. He played in the backyard watering everything in sight, and working his earth moving equipment.
We have kept him on Tylenol with codeine to make sure he doesn’t have any pain, but apart from the annoyance of the bandage, he doesn’t seem to know he had surgery today. We are very proud of how well he handled it all and are continuously amazed at his resilience and positive attitude.
|