Surgery

Inmate #4 went in to have his tonsils out today.  He was quite nervous, but he was such a trooper.  The I.V. was no sweat at all.  The nurse kind of chastised me for not praising him more for what a good job he did.  I guess she sees all kinds--kids who scream and carry on and such.  She doesn't know this kid.  He's mellow; to be honest, most of the Hess kids are (they get it from their father).  #4 has a fairly high pain tolerance.

I waited in the waiting room for about 45 minutes and was called back just as he was waking up.  YIKES!  He was thrashing and crying out--tears streaming.  It broke my heart.  Such a contrast to what I'd seen wheeled out of the room.  He had twisted himself right out of his gown and was saying how it "hurt like heck."  He responded to no one, so I couldn't even tell if he could hear me.  They had to remove part of his I.V., so he wouldn't yank it out with all the flailing.  They told me that sometimes this kind of reaction happens with kids.  They all kind of stepped back and let me take care of it.  Wow!  What was I supposed to do?

He eventually calmed down once they got him some pain meds.  As he relaxed, he kept clearing his throat and saying how he couldn't breathe.  He was fine.  It just hurt.

As he got more calm, he turns to me and says, "Mom, did you take pictures?"

"Yah, buddy, I did before you went in."

"Did you take some while I was in surgery?"

"No, buddy, I was in the waiting room.  Do you want me to take one now?"

Please remember this kid is still pretty loopy at this point.  He chimes in with, "Yah, and put it on your blog."

Laughing, I reply, "Okay.  You want to be part of the blog, huh?"

"...And on Facebook."

I clicked this one: