Jay and Julie: Theo surgery 2 -- Hernia Repair

Theo had a small surgery today, a hernia repair.

We have talked about it the last several days to prepare him. Yesterday he was so excited to get his hernia fixed, and asked if the scratch on his ankle could get fixed at the same time.

I tried hard to not scare him, but educate him about what surgery is so that he was expecting to not feel immediately better after surgery.

I got the book Madeline for him. In it, Madeline is crying and needs her appendix out. It was a really great book to read with him before surgery. On one page the doctor carries her in his arms.

"See? He's taking care of her."

Then she shows off her scar to her friends, 2 weeks after surgery. I pulled up an anatomy picture of the appendix and then we pointed to his hernia. We talked about how he would go to sleep and the doctor would make cuts to fix what is wrong.

Last night after his bath he started scratching his skin. He got really upset when I told him that he wasn't allowed to have lotions or creams on his skin before surgery. So far that is the only crying he has done (at least in front of me, but the anesthesiologist said he was good and mellow).

We woke him before 6 a.m. and then headed off to the hospital. He didn't ask for food or drink and mostly was tired since he typically sleeps in to 8.

Before surgery he was good for all the weighing and pulse and everything. A child life specialist brought him a squishy ball and a landscape paper and dinosaur stickers to put on it. Theo was really into the picture. He did a really good job pulling the stickers off in 1 piece and then choosing good places to put the stickers. The volcano went with the mountains. The pterodactyl flew right side up in the sky. Dinosaurs walked and swam. Trees were straight with their roots in the earth.

I guess it's been awhile since we have done a sticker scene like that. Previously he mostly enjoyed a page of stickers that had grey pictures to match your sticker with so he knew exactly where to place everything.

I kissed him goodbye as they wheeled him away. He didn't look up from his picture. He ignored the person trying to show him an iPad.

Things went well.

We got to see him 1 hour and 40 minutes after he got back. The nurse said he'd just woken up. He didn't seem to want to wake, but she said that was sleepiness and that he definitely woke. He was practically a rag doll as I held and dressed him. Then I asked if he wanted apple juice.

He magically sat up and declared, "Yes."

When we got in the car he said he wanted to stop for a treat -- he meant a toy. With previous hospital visits we got him a new toy. I told him that he was actually having a toy delivered, a toy with doors and keys, later today from Amazon. He has been asking for a toy like that for ages and I couldn't find one in stores. He said he really wanted to stop right then anyway.

We went to the dollar store and got him pudding and dark blue alphabet stickers. When we got home he asked if he could nap now. I set him in bed, then went back out to grab stuff out of the car. When I got back he was already asleep, clutching his new stickers.