Update from surgery day...

Jackson and Alexis spent the night with my sister - Thanks sis!



I woke Jonathan up at 6:30am. The nurse had told me he could have clear liquids until 7am. I had made him peach Jello the night before (Jello is something that I very rarely have in my home - it freaks me out... is just sugar, dye, and a bunch of other yucky stuff) and he had apple juice. Peach Jello and Apple juice... what a combo! I let him pick out a few toys to take with us and what clothes he wanted to wear. We left the house around 7:30ish and we spent the next 2 hours in traffic! Jonathan enjoyed 1 and 1/2 movies while I was profusely sweating - worrying that we would not make it to the surgery pavilion on time! We pulled into the parking deck at 9:20am! We were suppose to be there at 9:30! I quickly shoved everything into his stroller (including him!), then I ran to the elevators. I walked into the office right on time, but I was a mess - it took me a few minutes to catch my breath and chill out. I filled out the paperwork while he played. Within a few minutes of me turning the paperwork in, the nurse called us back. Jonathan had a meltdown because he was happy playing with the toys, but fortunately the nurse bribed him with more toys that were waiting for him in his room (gotta love the children's hospital - they know how to win over the little ones!). Jonathan played with "his" toys in "his room" while I answered a million questions and talked to 5 or 6 Drs/nurses. I was informed that the DR was running late... gee, could it be because of all that TRAFFIC!?!? I don't see how people drive in that mess everyday! Around 10:30am the nurse gave Jonathan some Loratoab. I thought this was to help calm him down, but I quickly learned that Loratab just makes Jonathan louder and more ramped up! I called in the nurse to ask her why he was acting more obnoxious, I thought the idea was to make him groggy... she explained that Loratab was just to help with the pain after surgery and that they would NOT be giving Jonathan anything to calm him down before surgery....GREAT, you have got to be kidding me!!!! I asked if I could get something and she just laughed! Shortly after that the Eye DR came in to talk to me (whoo hoo the DR is in the building!!!). Jonathan said "Dr Lipsky, I'm not tired, I do not want to go to sleep!" Thank God, Dr Lipsky had a good answer... he said "ok that's fine, but will you play my Buzz Lightyear Game?" Of course, he had Jonathan with the words "Buzz Lightyear!" So Dr Lipsky explained that he had a Buzz lightyear mask back in his special room and all Jonathan needed to do was put that mask on and take 10 deep breaths, then yell "to infinity and beyond!" Jonathan happily agreed to do it. So the Dr left the room and Jonathan was now freaking out about seeing Buzz Lightyear! So in an effort to distract Jonathan I allowed him to make a few phone calls from my cell phone - he called my mom and then my MIL. As he was leaving my MIL a voicemail message the nurse came in and said it was time to go. That was around 11:20. I put on my scrubs and carried him back to the OR. I laid him down on the table, then the nurse showed him the Buzz mask. Once he put it on and took a few deep breaths, they told him to yell "to Infinity and beyond" but he only muttered a couple of words then he was out. I do not care how many times I have been through this routine with him (he has had several surgeries since we have had him) , it is never easy! I had to fight back the tears as I walked back to his room to wait for him. One of the nurses told me it would be a while before they brought him back to me so I could get a snack/drink from the vending area. That is when I realized that I had NO CASH, No Change, nothing! I vowed to NEVER have cash in my purse again after my bad experience at Chuckie Cheese a couple of weeks ago. I had all six kids at Chuckie Cheese and while I was distracted someone stole $200 out of my purse! SO.. I have not had cash in my purse since then! Well that backfired on me... I needed money and had none! Luckily I dug through the stroller and found some change (.97 to be exact!). I put .65 to get some chips... the bag of chips got hung and would not drop. I had to walk to the nurses station and explain that normally I would just put more money in and move on, but I did not have any more money with me. The nurse gave me .65 and I tried again. This time I was successful - I got a bag of some funky chips. I did not have money for a drink, but another nurse took pity on me and brought me a coke (the cokes in the vending area were $1.50!). Thank God there were some nice nurses! So while I waited for Jon, I put together the gift bag I am sending the host kids. The gift bag includes: more pictures, 3 GA Aquarium shirts, letters for each child, my girlfriend Liz, had her daughters write letters to the kids and she sent little gifts for each child. The trick is that I had to cram all of this into one gallon size Ziploc bag! I probably looked pretty funny sitting on the bag as I was trying to get it to close! (The NHFC mission team were taking these bag in there checked luggage and we had to pay $50 for them to do this for us. The use this as a fundraiser to help pay for their trip.) I had just finished the bag when the Dr came in to say that the surgery went well and as soon as Jonathan woke up they would bring him to me. I was told that should take another 30 -45 mins, but about 10 mins later they brought him to me! I was SHOCKED to see him! He had blood running down his face! His face was so swollen! He looked awful! I asked him if he was ok and he said "I'm in pain mama!" NOT what I wanted to hear! I asked the nurse if they could give him something and she said no, he had some in the OR, so he will not get anything else. She then warned me that kids who have the eye muscle surgery are more likely to vomit... GREAT! Why didn't someone tell me this stuff before the surgery so that I could mentally prepare myself?... not to mention I could have had someone come with me to sit in the back seat with him in case he is vomiting - we have a long drive back home!!!
So anywho, I asked for a couple of wet wash clothes. I cleaned his face, then I laid a cool cloth over his eyes to help with the pain and swelling. He was very clam, but he would say "it hurts so bad!" or "I can't see!" Which made my heart sink! About an hour later one of the nurses came in and said it was time for us to go home. She had read in his chart that he was adopted and so she struck up a conversation. She asked the dreaded question right in front of Jonathan... "Why in the world would you go over there to get a kid when there are so many kids right here that need families?!?!" Keep in mind that I am exhausted, and sick from seeing my baby hurting... I am not in the mood for this kind of question, but I feel that it is my duty as an adoptive mom to answer her, so I said "Actually, we looked into adopting through the US Foster System and we submitted our home study for many children and for one reason or another we were never picked. We went through 2 years of Hell while we waited to bring home a child. We didn't care where the child was from, what sex, or what color his/her skin was... we just wanted a child. It just happened that God had our son in Kazakhstan so that's where we went!" She went on to make some nasty comments about Russians. I put her in her place by asking her if she personally knew any Russian. She said no. This was an African American women, so I asked her if it was fair for people to judge her by the color of her skin - she said no, so I said - well, it is not fair for you to judge them (Russians) because of their Nationality. My Son is Russian and Kazakh - and nobody better say a bad thing about either one! :) She finished up with Jonathan and then she left the room. I proceeded to dress Jonathan in his favorite Buzz Light year Shirt and then I packed him and all of our stuff into the stroller. As I walked out of his room the nurse with all the questions and opinions said "God Bless you!" I don't know if she felt bad for saying what she did, but I just wish people would keep their questions to themselves sometimes! I get tired of being nice about it! And honestly, Jonathan is only 4 - he shouldn't have to hear rude questions! We get ever worse questions regarding his disabilities! People say Crazy things!

So once we got down to the parking deck I wrangled with the car seat to recline it as far as it would go. I got Jonathan all comfy. His eyes are very sensitive to the sunlight and they were still bleeding pretty bad so I laid the wash clothes over his eyes, packed the car and we were off! Thank goodness the parking deck accepted credit cards! My next concern was finding a gas station! Once we were filled up, I ran over to the NHFC office to drop off my gallon size bag of goodies for the ladies to take to our host kids. Then we were on our way home. Jonathan slept most of the way home. I did not give him any food in the car because I was afraid he would vomit or get choked (he chokes easily).

When we arrived home I laid my sweet boy on the couch and he quickly reminded me that I did not feed him breakfast or lunch. I asked him what he wanted he said crackers with peanut butter, luckily I have a jar of PB that is almost gone (so I know it is safe to eat - given all the problems with PB). SO I made him a few PB crackers and got him some Apple juice. Then my sister came in with Jack and Alexis. They had brought Jonathan a new stuffed animal and a balloon. Then my girlfriend, Liz came over with her 3 kids. They had brought Jonathan a new stuffed animal and DINNER! Liz made a wonderful chicken stew, bread, salad and cookies! It was delicious! Jonathan ate 2 bowels of the stew, a bunch of bread! I have the best friends in the world!!!

Josh had a meeting, so he was pretty late getting in, but he helped me give Jonathan his eye drops. I gave Jonathan his special donut with sprinkles that I had promised him and he fell asleep while he was eating it! What-a-day! He is such a little trooper! He always takes things in stride.

This morning he woke up as wild as ever. He says his eyes are still painful and it is a little weird seeing out of them, but they are not slowing him down one bit! The Dr told me to keep him clam for 10 days... that is not going to happen! I would have to sedate him! :)