Surgery

Kellin before the surgery - looking for Transformers on the TV.

So for most of you, I'm sure having your child to the hospital in nothing new - I know my sister Emily has had her kids there many times, and I assume it's the same for most moms, at least a few trips to the hospital. For me, it was the first time having one of my kids to the hospital for surgery and it was hard. I think mostly because I have only been in the hospital once (aside from my deliveries, of course) and have never been "put under". Kellin was diagnosed with sleep apnea and when we took him to the specialist he said that he had never seen tonsils so big, he was surprised Kellin could eat! So we scheduled him to have his tonsils & adnoids out. Kade was great with Kellin, and talked with Kellin about what would happen for a few days before he actually went in and it helped a lot that Kade has been through this a couple times before with nose & knee surgeries. Kellin was very brave at the hospital and they gave him some medicine to settle him down so they could do the IV which made him "drunk" as they said. He was so funny on the medicine and started singing songs we've never heard of and smiling lots and telling us how much he loved us - "as big as kamerica" as he says. I was really nervous and kept hearing the anestesiologist say that although death is unlikely it is estimated to happen in about every 1 in 100,000 patients. Great, so what if Kellin is the 1! Which is weird because I'm not a "what if" type of person usually, but I couldn't shake the feeling. So I carried a silent prayer in my heart through the hospital just to remind God how important Kellin is to me and that I really would be very, very angry if something happened to him (understatement). The surgery was done before I knew it and they brought Kellin down to the recovery room - and then the fun began. He was yelling and screaming and thrashing around, trying to pull the IV out and really completely inconsolable. This went on for almost an hour and again, I was so blessed to have Kade there because he stayed calm and worked to settle Kellin down. I just cried at seeing my little guy so upset. Finally the nurse cleared us to leave and took the IV out. Once we were in the car Kellin settled down and it has been smooth sailing since. His voice sounds very different which the doctor said would happen since he doesn't have these huge tonsils in his throat anymore. Last night Kellin wanted to sleep with us and usually we don't let him because he snores so loud that neither of us can sleep. So I decided to try it and see if the surgery fixed that and sure enough, we were all asleep in a few minutes in silence. I just have to say that I feel so much more now for parents who have to have their children in the hospital and my heart really goes out to those of you who have.