Kellen's Surgery

Well I cant say I'm completely shocked, it was bound to happen sooner a later, a broken bone that is. It started out like any other day my little monkey was jumping and playing and happy as can be. It was the "Zebra sit and spins" fault for being so fun to jump off of. It was only a foot off the ground but it was enough to break an elbow. I knew immediately it was broke (must be that nurse in me) and I stayed calm as we headed to the ER. Kellen was calm too. In fact he was a complete ham in the ER and I was beginning to second guess my diagnosis, that is until the x-ray results were back.

We were bummed to have a little guy with a broken bone during the best part of the year. We were just getting over the fact that there would be no more swimming, sand, ect. Baths were now a 2 person job, and his poor pathetic arm sling. And then 4 days later we got news we weren't expecting, Immediate SURGERY! What?!

I remained calm on the inside but I had flashes in my mind of my baby waking up from anesthesia scared and without me. The thought of him being intubated (respiratory life support) made me sick to my stomach. And how do I prepare a 2 year old for surgery?!

Luckily he has some idea of the medical world. I told him we were going to Mommy's work (the hospital) to have a special doctor (surgeon) fix his arm (Putting pins in his elbow). I said he'd get special clothes to put on (hospital gown) and we would go to a room where all the people were wearing clothes like mommy wears to work (scrubs) and masks and hats (surgical gear). I said he got a really special mask to wear (anesthesia) and he would take a little nap (ok so that's really sugar coating it). I said when he woke up he would see bright lights (OR lights) and people in the masks. For some reason he was REALLY excited about the masks. He wanted to wear one immediately so we used a paint mask for practice. The following pics are the day of surgery. I'm still wondering how we remained so cool, calm, and collect.

Getting dressed in hospital clothes


Snuggles on the way to the O.R., mom sporting the hot paper scrubs

drowsy from the pre-op sedative (Versed is great!)

OK, can you start to see the fear in our eyes?

My Post-OP hero, so strong! He just wanted a wagon ride and a Popsicle and he was happy.

Wearing a mask because he didn't get to play with the anesthesia mask long enough (oh ya, or maybe the versed made him not remember)

The infamous open back hospital gown, I couldn't resist :)

There are a few perks to working at the hospital: I was able to be with him as he "fell asleep" and when he "woke" from anesthesia so he never knew I wasn't there. We also didn't have to be admitted to the pediatric unit because a mommy that is a nurse can take care of her kid better than a stranger that's a nurse. Plus Kellen was doing awesome and was only concerned with getting wagon rides. In fact, he was refusing to leave the hospital. They give him Popsicles, and juice that isn't watered down after all, so we had to wheel him out to the car via little red wagon.

It's been a week since surgery and Kellen is adapting well. Having a bum arm is way more of an inconvenience to me than him. With all the down time we've been reading "No more monkey's jumping on the bed" a little more, it seems to resonate with Kellen a bit more now :)