Storming and Peppers... Oh MY!

We are home.

 

The surgery went very very well!

 

 

 

 

The plates are out and Aaron's pain level has been fairly low.  That's a relief because he has four incisions that need to heal.

 

 

He's not ready to bend his knees yet but we are hopeful that once the healing takes place, he will be able to gain back his lost range of motion.  He so very much wants to be able to bend his knees without pain again.  He wants to ride his bike again.  He wants to be able to jump again on the trampoline.  All of these things have been lost to him since March and he is so ready to get them back.

 

For those who are my facebook friends - you had the privilege of following Aaron's after-surgery struggle to fight off the anesthesia.

 

It was quite the battle.

 

 

 

When he arrived in recovery he was 'storming' BIG TIME.  Screaming.  Crying.  Fighting.  Holding his breath almost to the point of passing out.   They immediately called me down hoping that I could bring him out of it.  My bag of tricks was left at home because he continued to storm for two hours despite trying everything we could think of to get him to wake up.   It was bizarre and terribly sad to watch.  Every doctor and nurse in recovery had met him just a few hours before when he was happy and talking.  He has been there enough times that they KNOW him and KNOW that he is the sweetest little guy.  So for all of us to watch him go through that torment... it was HARD.  One of the nurses likened it to a nightmare that he couldn't wake up from.  Aaron would scream and fight and rage for several minutes and then go into a zombie like sleep-state for a few minutes and then start back up again.   We all felt like we were caught in a horror film.  During that entire time he never opened his eyes and only once did he respond to me coherently. 

 

As I talked to the anesthesiologist and the nurses and the doctors - the hardest part was knowing that most likely his body was reacting to the drugs because of his former drug encounters.  Aaron spent the first three years of his life in and out of the hospital.  He had surgeries and traumas and sicknesses that kept him stuck in a hospital bed over and over and over again.  Each time he went into the hospital, chances are, he was given a whole tubful of drugs to keep him contained and calm.  Chances are the dosages he received were much greater than he should have been given (adult dosages).  Three years of on again off again drugging is not good for little bodies.

 

I hated watching his storming.

 

I hated being in that room of horrors with my son. 

 

I felt sick watching his body fight the medication.  I was so darn helpless as he stormed... wondering what in the world was going on inside his mind.. worried that he truly was in a never-ending nightmare...

 

I rarely allow myself to consider those years he spent alone in the hospital. 

 

I just can't go there with my brain.

 

I'll be honest... It was a HUGE relief when he finally emerged from down under.  In the recovery room, he stormed for well over two hours and then went into a sleep so deep that we couldn't rouse him.  By the time he woke up we had been moved to a regular room despite the fact that we were out-patient.  I was oh so happy to see his sleepy little eyes and hear his sweet little voice. 

 

 

We left that place as fast as we could get packed....

 

 

 

We celebrated with dinner at the Ronald McDonald House.

 

 I LOVE spaghetti and after a long hard day... seeing spaghetti being served was such a wonderful comfort food.  Both Aaron and I were so happy to eat something we both loved.   UNFORTUNATELY - Someone thought it would be COOL to put HOT PEPPERS in the spaghetti sauce.   COME ON PEOPLE.... This is a place for CHILDREN.  Who puts Hot Peppers in spaghetti sauce and serves it to children??? 

 

Poor Aaron was starving and HOT SPAGHETTI was a HUGE disappointment.

 

So what did this Mama do???

 

I loaded him up on delicious banana pudding and a blue cupcake...

 

 

 

 

Now THAT is a delicious dinner!

 

 

We are so so glad to be home.

 

I think I'm going to make spaghetti for dinner.....