I can't find my little stack of pics from Calvins week in the hopstial. I am sure they will turn up eventually but for now they are not here. Bummer. I do have a couple that turned up in the house which I had mailed home to my dad.
Oct 1st wed-- surgery day. We checked in early. Surgery was scheduled for 5 hours. We waited in the waiting room -- as I recall we got one call from the dr. during surgery to let us know all was going okay and then a call when it was over letting us know they were done. Even after it was over we had to wait a while before we could go see Calvin in the ICU. Overall I think he was gone from us from 7am-2pm. This was the longest I had ever been away from him before. He was still nursing so during that time at one point I had to go to the NICU to pump (the NICU had the best pumps in the hospital!
When we went to see Calvin in the ICU I didn't even recognize him. His head was wrapped and there was a drain coming out of his head. He was wearing a gown and a diaper and that's all. He was drugged up and sleeping.
The ICU has strict visiitng hours and small rooms with only a small chair for one visitor. Dave and I and his mom rotated taking shifts to be with him. It was nice to have Dave's mom there to take turns. That first night she stayed the middle of the night shift so Dave and I could sleep. We stayed at the Ronald McDonald house. I LOVE the Ronald McDonald house. I will someday donate $$ to them. It is great -- provides free food and very cheap (like $10/day or even free if necessary) housing for families who have kids in the hospital. It is so stressful to have a kid in the hospital and their services do so much to make life a little easier for those families who are there for a long long time. we were only there a few days but there are some who stay so much longer and have so much suffering.
Day 2 th- we moved to a regular floor at some point. Calvin was very sensitive and sleeping most of the time. He would throw up when people came and woke him up to bother him for vitals.
Day 3 fri- I held him for the first time after surgery. He was super swollen. I posted a sign on our door asking drs and nurses to speak softly when they came into our room so they wouldn't wake him every time they came in! :)
Day 4- sat - started to get the old Calvin back. smiling and happy
Day 5- sun - we thought we might get to go home but they decided to keep us one more day.
Day 6 - 2.5hour drive home. Lisa brought us dinner :) poppyseed chicken and chocolate revel bars. YUM:)
ONe thing I remember is how much suffering we saw in the hospital (not ours). There is nothing like a stay in the hospital to make you realize how lucky you are. I remember one child in particular who was on our floor. At the time he seemed big - since my baby was still a baby - but he was probably 2 or 3 years old. He was on his 4th surgery and an inpatient for cancer/chemotherapy/radiation etc. The hospital had become home. It was sad. I also remember another family staying in the ronald mcdonald house with us. They had a baby also. The baby had been in a car accident with both parents. The parents were both killed and the baby had brain damage and was being operated on by the same neurosurgeon we were using. The grandparents were taking care of the baby. Anyway, I saw so many people in a worse situation than we were in. There is nothing like seeing the suffering of others to make you grateful for what you have.
When we got home Calvin was back to his normal self and (we thought) our journey was over. We were so happy to have a healthy boy and so glad things went smoothly. He had stitches in for a while but they mostly came out on their own and we had no complications. Calvin looked good.
We thought of doing something freaky with his stiches showing for Halloween but we decided to just dress him up like his dad. (we have since had to throw away these shirts becuase they are too Michigan-y)!
4 comments:
Those are the most Michigan-y shirts I've ever seen... and I live in Michigan! Poor Calvin.
Your boys never looked so good! I love those shirts.
handsome guys! wow, i can't believe you remember what i brought! what a stressful time. that would be a good place to donate $$ to...that is a huge relief for families, glad they have that.
We stayed at the Ronald McDonald house too when we went to Chapel Hill a few times. It was so nice. We were planning on staying there when Natalie had her surgery, but I had strep so we got a hotel instead, which actually ended up being nicer.
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