Caelan returned to Children's Hospital yesterday for his first ever surgery. Ashlyn has already had 2 general anaesthetics (heart surgery and g-tube), but Caelan has so far been lucky despite his rocky start to life. It has been known for quite some time that he needed tubes in his ears to help drain the build-up of fluid, especially in his right ear, and to hopefully help his speech and hearing. We got the call a couple of weeks ago and he was booked for September 8th! Perfect timing because Johnny and I had already booked the time off work and would be available to look after him and the two girls. My biggest worry was the fact that the surgery was in the afternoon and he had to fast from the night before. I thought this would cause major melt-downs, but he was fantastic. I kept him out of the kitchen while the girls ate their breakfast and then we went to the park to play before taking him to the hospital. We arrived for our 12:15pm check-in time and he happily played in the waiting room while we waited for our turn. I wished I had brought my cameral to take a picture of him in his cute little yellow gown, but I forgot. Johnny took the girls for lunch and played with them out in the hallway during our wait. Caelan was finally called to go at 2:30pm. I was able to take him into the OR and play bubbles with him while they started his IV. I was told by the aneasthetist that "although his (medical) chart is not quite as big as he is, it is still very impressive!". Not what you would expect from an otherwise healthy 2 year old coming in for a minor surgery I guess. They had difficulty starting his IV due to the number of scars he has on his hands from previous IVs but they were finally able to gain access on their last attempt. Once the meds were given, he was "out" immediately and I was escorted out of the room. I was told it would take 20 minutes to finish, but when I came back to the waiting room 15 minutes later, I had already missed the surgeon and Caelan was already in recovery. Despite Shaylah's pleas, she was not allowed to come in with me to see him, so I went alone. He was awake and crying desperately for a cuddle....which I was all to happy to give to him. He refused to eat the popsicle they offered, but did take a few sips of apple juice. We stayed for another 1/2 hour and we were out the door by 4:00pm. The 3 nurses he had (pre-admit, recovery and post-surgical care) were all nurses I used to work with many years ago when I worked on the surgical ward at the hospital. It was great to see such friendly and familiar faces! Today he is back to his old self. Running, laughing and causing trouble. You would never know that he had surgery yesterday!
