The big day

I woke up around 5am this morning when Nicholas made a little sound, so I got up and had some breakfast, got cleaned up, etc. I went back to see him around 5:30 and managed to get dressed before he woke up. I changed his diaper and we got in the car and headed to CHEO.

Once we got here, we knew exactly where to go and everyone has been super nice and helpful. It’s a really great hospital. Nicholas got to play in the waiting room and climb over every chair and bench and make pretty eyes to all the other patients and nurses. He flirted constantly. One of the nurses checked him over and we were back in the playroom. Eventually, she came to get us and Nicholas got some pre-medication (slow-down drugs) and some Tylenol and we made some bubbles for a while. His eyes started to close a bit, but he fought with all his might to stay active. At least he was ok in my arms – without the drugs, he would have been running around all the hallways. We hung out for a little while longer and his anesthetists came to see him, check him over and explain things again. His surgeon/urologist also came by to check things out and put his initials near the location of the incision. He found the teste very easily by palpating, so didn’t believe he would need to do a laparoscopy and it should be a simple surgery.

Once everyone saw him and were satisfied and they were ready, they dressed me up and we went to the operating room. We laid him on the stretcher and I sang to him as they held a mask on his face to put him to sleep. He fought it a fair bit, but did quite well. Once he was asleep, I had to leave him, but I think he was in good hands. Once asleep, they put in an intravenous and give him the meds that way.

I then went down to the café to get a coffee and came back to the waiting room so they can find me when things are over (it was 8:15 when I was sitting down again). From there, I don’t have any details of how things went. Dr. Guerra, the urologist who performed the surgery came to see me after the surgery (9:30). He said everything went well, no issues. I’ll spare the details.

Shortly after, the nurse came to get me so I could be with Nicholas. She said he was really hungry! He woke up crying, but settled very very quickly after they gave him a bottle of sugar water. I guess if he’s really desperate, he’ll take a bottle!! He also drank a ton of apple juice, so he was much happier after that. He was very groggy from the morphine and other drugs in his system, so he slept on my shoulder on and off for the next couple of hours. We hung out with a nurse coming to check every now and again. Around 11 or so, she felt good that everything was ok, so I got him changed back into his pj’s and left the hospital around 11:30. We stopped by Shoppers to fill the prescription (codeine) and pick up some polysporin and headed back to the Herages. He ate well, had a massive pee and poop (it was everywhere! – probably from all the AJ) and is now sleeping in the pack’n’play. I’ll have a nice shower.

He was full of it (piss and vinegar!) after lunch, so doesn’t seem to be in pain. For now, we’ll stick to just Tylenol, but if he’s looking like he’s in pain, we’ll give him the codeine (or if he’s uncontrollable and jumping on the couches :) ). Hopefully everything heals well and he continues on the road to recovery!

Green light

Nicholas' and my travels to Ottawa were pretty uneventful. The plane was almost empty, so we had two seats which was really fantastic. Nicholas got to roll around and climb up and down the seat next to me for 2 hours. He was a happy baby/toddler.

When we got to Ottawa, Ed was already there waiting for me (thank you!). We drove down to Brockville and Nicholas slept the entire day. He's adjusting a bit (aka not sleeping all that great), but overall not doing too bad. Hopefully he'll go to sleep early tonight and be in full swing tomorrow.

We met with the anesthesiologist today and everything looks good. Nicholas has developed a bit of a runny nose and cough over the last couple of days, but I truly believe it's teeth related and not a cold. As long as he doesn't pick up something before 8am tomorrow, in all likelihood, he's going into surgery.

So, tonight and tomorrow night for sure, we're at the Herages (thank you!). We'll get up super early tomorrow morning to be at CHEO for 6:30am. They'll give him some premedication to help him relax (ok, so for those who know Nicholas, you'll know why! they need him to be a little slower...) and get him ready for surgery to start around 8am. It should last less than 1.5 hours, depending on where things are, etc. He'll wake up very shortly after that and depending on how he's doing, I'll either be with him from then on or he'll be recovering on his own for a little bit. He'll likely be under observation for about 4-6 hours, depending on his drinking, eating and peeing. And then we'll be headed back to the Herages. I'll try to write sometime tomorrow to give an update of how things went.

Speaking of peeing - he won't have a catheter for the procedure!! So guess where the pee is going if he has the urge during surgery!! :) Not sure sure how sanitary that is, but that's what they do!

Until then, positive thoughts and prayers!