Surgery Gone Wild: Part One

Susanne got a total of two hours of sleep last night. She was anxious about the day ahead of her. Paxton needed to be at Children's National Medical Center by 5:45am to check-in. In order to accomplish this, they needed to leave with time to spare. As always, this did not happen. Luckily, they arrived right on time. There were two other families ahead of them at the registration counter. The first mother was not prepared. She didn't know what her child was having done, what the doctor's name was that was doing her child's surgery, or where she was supposed to go. The gentleman informed her that she should have received a phone call the night before with all of that information. He only had minimal access to patients' information. She was not so pleasant and really didn't set an appropriate tone for the morning.

After signing in and filling out the appropriate paperwork, the waiting began. They hurried up to get there to just wait. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Finally, they were called back. Paxton's vital signs were taken. Both surgeon's and the anesthesiologist stopped by to review the plan for the morning. Once everything was confirmed, Susanne had to put Paxton in a hospital gown. It was the cutest thing she had ever seen. Susanne asked if she could walk Paxton back to the operating room just as she had done in the past. The anesthesiologist responded that they only allow the parents to do this when the child is at an age to care. This struck a nerve with her. She wanted to think that Paxton already cared that she was by his side and that he knew she was there. If this was too far fetched, then at least let her go for her sake.

Susanne was informed that Paxton would be under anesthesia for about two and a half hours. She was encouraged to go to the cafeteria to try to relax and eat some breakfast. Susanne was wishing that the waiting room wasn't so strict with their rules. She couldn't think of any other waiting room where you couldn't eat food, drink, talk on your cell phone, access the internet...etc. It was just ridiculous. Susanne and Moppy decided that they should probably go get a bite to eat. Just as Susanne was ordering her breakfast, the pager went off. Susanne started to panic. She set down the drink she picked up and started a slow jog...okay full-on-run... back to the waiting room. On the way, she was hoping that it was just an update. It just seemed too soon after Paxton was taken back for them to already be finished with any of the procedures. Low and behold, that was what it was. The ear tube placement was completed. Phew! Susanne headed back to the cafeteria to reclaim her breakfast.

At the end of breakfast, Susanne noticed that her cell phone indicated that she had a missed call. This was confusing because she knew that her phone had not rung. She immediately listened to the message. It was from the receptionist in the surgery waiting room. How could this be? The cell phone service in the hospital was mediocre. This was not the time or place for this to be happening. After listening to the message, Susanne realized that she had missed the surgery nurse that had come out to the waiting room to give them an update. Seriously?!

Moppy and Susanne decided that they would not leave the waiting room again. They wanted to be available for the next update. Susanne realized that she needed to pump. She was escorted to an empty hospital room where she was set up. The whole time she worried that the surgeon would come out to the waiting room to give an update. Luckily, she didn't miss a thing.

Shortly thereafter, the surgeon came out to inform Susanne that all of the procedures went well. Paxton was in the process of being extubated. After they were finished, he would be taken to the recovery room where Susanne would finally be able to hold him again. She couldn't wait to see him.