A huge THANK YOU to everyone who sent prayers, positive vibes, and advice for Quinn’s surgery. Everything went great and the little guy is well on his way to a full recovery. That said, here’s a recap from our experience at Boston Children’s Hospital.
(The photo above was taken earlier today. As you can see, Quinn is feeling quite a bit better, so we put him to work! Haha!)
On the morning of his surgery, Quinn wasn’t allowed to eat since he would be getting anesthesia, so we did our best to distract him. His surgery was scheduled for 10:15 AM, so our time at home and commuting into Boston wasn’t much of an issue. We bought him a new tool set (since he’s obsessed with screwdrivers lately) to keep him entertained, and he was also allowed to drink water or apple juice up until 2 hours before his surgery, so the early morning was a piece of cake.
And, as Mal pointed out, Quinn isn’t generally interested in food, so I guess that worked in our favor this time! (Murphy spent the day at our friends’ house with his Greyhound buddy.)
We arrived at Boston Children’s Hospital right on time, 90 minutes before Quinn’s procedure. The operation prep was pretty straight-forward, and we initially had great success distracting him with toys from the Pre-Op Clinic. But, as Quinn’s hunger grew, things got a bit more challenging.
The novelty of the toys quickly wore off, and Quinn grew hangry. Nothing we tried would make him happy, so we eventually resorted to “Melmo.” Unfortunately, Elmo videos only worked for a little while and a full-on tantrum ensued. Yowsahs.
Mal and I tried everything to diffuse the situation with no luck. Thankfully, one of the nurses stepped in and suggested taking Quinn for a ride in one of their wagons. Genius! It immediately cheered him up! Hooray!
We took “Po” for a ride around the floor. Safety first!
Shortly after that, it was time for Quinn’s surgery. Mal offered to take him in to the operating room, which was quite a relief since I knew seeing my baby “go limp” from anesthesia would be much too emotional for me. About 5 minutes later, Mal came out of the operating room and said everything went fine.
After that, Mal and I headed downstairs to the lobby to buy some snacks. We both ate an early breakfast, so we were more than ready to eat. Plus, I think we just wanted to do something to distract ourselves from worrying nonstop about our little guy. We brought our snacks up to one of the waiting rooms and tried to do work on our laptops. Neither of us could concentrate, but it wasn’t long before we saw Quinn’s doctor with a big smile on his face. He said everything went great and asked us if we had any questions. About 10 minutes later, a nurse led us back to the recovery room to see our boy.
The little guy was laying in one of the hospital cribs softly crying. Ugh, it absolutely broke my heart. I immediately scooped him up and gave him a big hug. He put his head on my shoulder and cried a little more, but he calmed down fairly fast. At this point, I burst into tears and rocked him back and forth for a long while (basically until my back hurt and I needed to sit down) and questioned whether we did the right thing.
Quinn ended up falling asleep on me in kind of a weird position. The nurse could tell I was uncomfortable, so she suggested moving Quinn back to the crib. He didn’t wake up at all and slept peacefully for awhile.
About an hour later, Quinn woke up crying and then vomited all over himself. Poor guy. The nurses said the anesthesia likely upset his stomach. They got him all cleaned up and, after that, he seemed to feel better. I’m sure the popsicles and Sponge Bob Square Pants helped too!
We spent another couple of hours in the recovery room while Quinn slept and we waited for a room to open up. (Quinn’s doctor wanted him to stay overnight since he had some prior sleep apnea issues.)
We finally got settled in our room in the early evening. We watched movies, read books, and then Quinn went to bed… after a 2-hour freak out session. Mal and I tried everything to calm him down, but Quinn was just not having it. We think he was upset about having an IV in his hand and all sorts of wires attached to him. I actually think he was more upset about that than the pain from the surgery. He eventually wore himself out and fell asleep. Poor boy.
After that, I grabbed dinner for Mal and me at the 24-hour Au Bon Pain in the lobby. We ate and then went to bed. There was only one fold-out chair/bed for sleeping, so we decided to share it, which was ridiculous. It was definitely intended for one person! We were like two 10-year-olds at a sleepover, laughing and giggling, because the situation was so funny to us. I don’t know how we managed to fit, but we actually slept for 3-4 hours and then another hour or so in the early morning. The nurses were in and out all night long, checking on Quinn and giving him meds. Quinn also decided to take out his IV (well, he yanked it hard enough that it wouldn’t work anymore), so we had to mitigate the situation. (See, he REALLY didn’t like it!)
The next morning, Quinn woke up feeling so much better. He literally hit the ground running, so we explored the hospital and had a grand old time!
He even ate pancakes later that morning!
We were discharged mid-morning and the little dude continues to improve everyday. Many thanks for the prayers and well wishes!
P.S. It’s the last day to get your FREE Paleo/healthy living downloads. There’s over 1,000 resources!! Get them here!
