16 Month Surgery

Asher started having ear troubles off and on as soon as he turned one.  It was time to wave the white flag and have ear tubes put in to keep him from getting fluid buildups and be more comfortable in the night.  It is a very quick routine procedure, but still was very stressful and exhausting to this worrying mom!  We have some amazing friends who cared for Eli and took him to school that morning (he says he'd like to move in with them ha ha), and Cora got to go play with her best friend for a few hours and had a blast.  It gave me such peace of mind knowing they were in great hands.  Asher was a trooper and did quite well without food and water after midnight and charmed everyone in the waiting room.  He happily dressed in his gown and played with a coloring book/stickers before the procedure.  I now know I should have brought WAY more toys and distractions for the pre-surgery waiting period, but we made it through by letting him call and talk to all his grandparents.  It was very hard to watch the nurses carry him away while he was crying and calling "Mama", but the anesthesiologist had assured me that the more they are crying the faster they go under and in 30 seconds he would be out.  It was about a 12 minutes surgery and the ENT came out and told me he had done great (they had successfully removed the fluid and put the tubes in) and they would come and get me when he was waking up.  An amazing God thing about this all is that our church leader's wife was Asher's recovery nurse.  I had e-mailed her before and she happened to be scheduled the same day!  They came and got us before he was even fully awake and I got to hold him while he was sort of thrashing around in a daze.  He was completely out of it, but after settling down in my arms and napping a few minutes he popped up and we gave him some applesauce and a drink and he was completely himself.  He very excitedly picked a soccer ball out of the treasure box and we were on our way (we were only in recovery for probably 15 min...total time there was two hours).  You would have NEVER known he had had surgery.  He never acted like he was in pain and it never slowed him down a bit.  He ran around and played as usual.  I am very thankful that it is over with and we can move forward!