Giggle Juice

This morning, Aaron had his procedure done. If you need to ask what procedure, then you probably stumbled upon this blog accidentally. I won't direct you to the posts that discuss his procedure (likewise, I won't be labeling this one!), seeing as we already made the decision to have it done.

Tim and I discussed with Aaron what the day would hold. Luckily, we were able to get an early surgery time. Aaron could not have food after 11:00 pm at night, and water was forbidden after 5 am, so I think the 9 am surgery time was perfect. He was too tired when we woke him up to give us any grief about being tired and thirsty.

I waited for the babysitter to get here while Tim went ahead with Aaron. When I reached the hospital, my little redhead was on the bed, snuggled up with his toy pteranadon, hospital band on his wrist. I actually was not a wreck...something I had not predicted. The child was going to be put under, and I really thought that I would not hold up emotionally.

Aaron was pretty quiet with the wonderful hospital staff. We answered the same questions several times, which I was glad to do. The more people that ask the question means that they have the same answer in several places! The nurses explained what would happen, and the surgeon himself came in to say hello. He again went over the options for us (go ahead with the procedure, or don't). The anesthesiologist was the last person in, and he seemed approachable and calm. Just what I wanted.

Because the procedure required general anesthesia, they gave Aaron a mixture of Versed and Tylenol. The nurse had referred to the mixture as Giggle Juice. Aaron was not happy with the taste, and once he took it, he settled back to watch Curious George.

About 5-10 minutes later, Aaron slowly turned his head toward us and said, "I think the medicine is starting to work." After that, Tim and I were giggling in our chairs: Aaron was clearly under the influence of the medicine. He giggled a bit, snuggled in with his animal, and peeked out from under his arm with a huge grin on his face. Aaron looked through the bars of his bed and said we were in jail, and then laughed! He seemed drunk, and Tim and I both said we'd be able to tell when the kid decides to try alcohol in the future (not until you are 30, buddy!!). He won't remember any of what occurred after he drank the Giggle Juice, but I had to at least write about it so that he can read about it later.

I choked up a bit when they took him away, but I was confident we had made the right decision. A quick peck on the cheek, and he was gone. An hour and a half later, the surgeon came in and said things had gone well. According to him, his urethral opening had been narrowed far too much by the foreskin. He asked if Aaron had ever had any infections, and I think he was somewhat surprised when we said no. Either way, the procedure had gone well, and we'd see Aaron soon.

When Aaron was wheeled back into the room, he looked like a little baby. He was so sleepy and cute, I just wanted to hug him. But I couldn't. A smooch and a touch of the cheek was the best I could do. I was relieved that all had gone well, and happy to know that he wanted a red popsicle. Since I knew he was going to be there for about an hour more, I made sure to smooch him again, and headed off to get Tylenol and some clear fluids, and then get home so the babysitter could be off to her next assignment.

I realized today that some families go through this all of the time. Tim and I used to volunteer for the Ronald McDonald house, and we interacted with families that had children undergoing surgeries. These kids and families were real troopers, and at the time, I probably didn't truly understand it. My heart reaches out to those that require surgeries just to live. I think we'll add them to the prayer list each night.

Sorry to be so open, but Aaron just went to the bathroom a couple of minutes ago. I encouraged him to go outside, so that he didn't have to aim. I was amazed at the stream the boy had. Not only was it straight, but the diameter was so much better. The difference seems to me like this: pre-procedure = coffee stirrer, post-procedure = McDonald's straw.

Do I now advocate circumcision for everyone? Absolutely not. There are kids out there that are just fine with an intact penis. If I had another boy, I'd likely think about leaving the penis intact again. If I had to do it over again, I'd do the same thing. Choices, choices. We all have them. Let's not judge another person by our own choices.

Comments

TamiJ said…
YAY Aaron! So glad to hear that everything went well.

And thank you for the reminder that we all make the best choices for ourselves, at the time, with what we have to work with.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

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