Exhale

Well, Austin's Orchiopexy surgery is over. He did amazingly well. He came too after the surgery and was grumpy (I can relate.) When we got home, around 10am, we all took a monster three hour nap.

When Austin awoke he was in a great mood. The sun was shining and it was warm so we went for a walk. It was St. Patrick's Day and we just happened to pass an Irish pub. We sat down and had a few celebratory pints. Austin was in great form and ate a lot. Amazing.

My mind and body went from wound up and stressed to relieved as soon as he opened his eyes. I could literally feel the tension leave my body once the surgeon, Dr. Hseih ("shay") said all went well. In addition to the planned intervention, which went perfectly, the doctor also had to fix a hernia that is common with this procedure. Huh. I guess he needed it.

Children's Hospital in DC was pretty good. As with most medical facilities, the administrative part was terrible. Lots of down computers and snippy receptionists. On the latter, I started to get quite indignant and then I re-imagined that the terseness was perhaps a coping mechanism. Perhaps these women were steeling themselves against the steady stream of sick kids and stressed out parents. Perhaps. Although Hayden pointed out that the nurses and doctors don't act that way.

In any case, the doctors, both Hseih and the anesthesiologists were great. All were very calm and confident. They shared exactly what they needed to try and ease our minds and the anesthesiologist actually carried Austin in her arms to the OR. He cried but a minute when he left my arms. He recovered quickly when he spotted a bouquet of balloons. They administered laughing gas that knocked him out immediately and then administered the general anesthesia and a blocker, like an epidural, for pain.

We were called to meet the doctor an hour later and he told us all went very well. We were brought back to see Austin about 20 minutes later. He was still knocked out hooked up to all the monitors which showed stable vitals.

When the blood pressure cuff turned on, he woke up and was none too pleased. But he nursed and when we left about 30 minutes later, he let Hayden carry him out.

And then we got home and all was well and we all passed out, including the dog.

A PS - Since I have yet to post this, I might as well add a little update. Austin is still recovering quite well from his surgery. That's the good news. But over the weekend, red spots started appearing all over his body and worsening and growing. He had a fever and was up most of Sunday night. Another trip to the pediatrician revealed the ear infection was still there and was now in the other ear (despite 9 days of antibiotics.) It also turns out that he may be allergic to penicillin, hence the hives and high fever (it was 103 when we were at the doctor's office). Poor baby. He is now on another antibiotic and Benadryl and Tylenol. This seems to be helping though. He was improved this morning. The red splotches are subsiding a bit. He was a little warm, but otherwise he ate well. And he is back to issuing his favorite commands: "Daddy!" "Jeter, bad boy!!"