No More Bump

Jacob's surgery was successful and pretty uneventful. We tried to prepare him as much as we could, to the point that he seemed tired of hearing about it. The weekend before surgery, we took him to Build-a-Bear to pick out a "hospital buddy." He had a lot of fun doing that. Then, a couple of days later, we had a tour and information session at the children's day surgery center. That was very helpful, for us and for Jacob. He got to check out some of the equipment they used, like the anesthesia mask and the heart rate monitor. We were very impressed.

Jacob and "Moe"

When we arrived for the surgery, he was weighed and had his blood pressure taken. Then he got to find the room with his name on it, where we changed him into his hospital pajamas. After that, he had time to play in a fun toy area until it was time to go to sleep.

They had a garbage truck! Best hospital ever!

We were both able to go into the anesthesia room with Jacob, and he sat on my lap while they administered the gas. He hummed a bit, and then flailed his arms a bit as he fell asleep, but within a minute or so he was out. It was hard to put him on the table and watch them wheel him away, but we knew that soon he would be good as new. The operation itself only lasted about 20 minutes, according to the information screen in the waiting room. When the surgeon spoke to us afterward, he said it was a "medium sized" hernia and was very easy to repair. We had to wait a bit longer while he woke up, and then a nurse came to get us. Jacob was unhappy and disoriented, and they let me sit with him in a rocking chair. Even though he was kind of miserable, it was nice to sit and snuggle with my boy for what seemed like the first time since before he could crawl. It took him about a half hour of whimpering and drifting in and out to feel up to a popsicle. It took about 5 minutes after the popsicle for him to perk right up and demand to go home. Our Jacob had returned.

Changed back into his own pajamas, watching TV and waiting to be discharged

Instead of wheelchairs, the little kids get a wagon ride out to the car. How fun!

We went home with instructions to have him take it easy for a day or two, and restrict his activities for 2 weeks. Jacob had other ideas. He wanted nothing to do with resting, even right after we got home that day. We had been prepared with movies and shows that he likes, so he could sit on the couch and soak up the TV to his heart's content, and all he wanted to do was go outside and run around. Afraid that he would pull his stitches, we tried everything we could think of to get him to sit still, to no avail. Luckily, he has healed quickly and completely, and as of 6/12 his strips have fallen off. He has one more check up in a couple of weeks, and then we are done with this. As Jacob told us, the bump is gone!