The Prep Work

Blog post 1 of 3.

In following up from my update from our quarterly CF appointment and our consultations our surgery date was scheduled. It was about a month in between the consultations and the surgery date. Who knew there would be so much that could be crammed into that time frame. First thing I did was to hop on the CF Mama pages to see what everyone else’s experiences had been with the procedures that Maddox was scheduled to have. Then to find other mommy blog posts to find some tricks to get through the whole entire ordeal.

In the beginning of the month, it was emails and phone calls to Billie to make sure the paperwork for insurance was lined up perfectly and that they didn’t need anything from us specifically. It was also asking her what options we had to make sure he was calm before he would leave us and head to the OR. My biggest concern was him leaving us while he was awake as they were rolling him away that he would have a meltdown and not to have the IVs or anything administered while he was awake which we both agreed since the last blood draw event.

Then the week before surgery hit and it became real that my little man was going under for his procedures. Our prep week started on a Sunday. We bought a puzzle and we sat at the kitchen table together and I casually brought up to Maddox that he was going to go the doctor to have a procedure to say bye bye to his tonsils. We would go to the registration desk, get checked in, get the bracelet and head to the 4th floor. From there we would play some games, drink some juice and take a nap. When he would wake up, his tonsils would be gone. He seemed to be ok with the conversation. Nick jumped in stating that he had his out when he was younger and that he had all the Popsicles that he could eat and Maddox perked right up.

Throughout the rest of the week, we would bring it up nonchalantly on the ride to school or when we were sitting on the couch and he never seemed to have a concern with it. He would state that he understood what he were saying and didn’t have any questions. One of the biggest discussion points that I read was; do you spring it on the kids the day of the procedure or do you prep them ahead of time. Tough choice as you don’t want to build the anxiety ahead of time but kids also need to mentally prep themselves.

Friday night came and him and I went to Build a Bear to get Blue Bear a new outfit. We actually walked out of Build a Bear with 3 new outfits as Blue Bear and Packer bear had to have matching PJs besides the outfit I was looking for. We discussed that Dr Johnson and Dr Hunt would be wearing this outfit and that Blue Bear would be matching everyone when we got there!

On Saturday, he had a sleep over at Grandma and Grandpa’s. When he came home on Sunday, Maddox and I headed to the grocery store and we raided the shelves of stuff he could have post surgery. Jell-O, popsicles and Juice! Also, all the blogs that I read and the personal messages I had from family and friends was to make sure to stay on top of the pain meds and that once you are behind, you can’t catch up. The kids wouldn’t drink anything anymore and would end up in the ER for dehydration – so this momma stocked up for sure.

The night before surgery, we had a going away party for his tonsils. We went to Red Robin. Yum! He ordered a ton of food and actually ate a ton as we told him that he couldn’t eat in the morning. When we got home, we took a bath and opened up Momma Salon so we could get our nails cut and course pick a new toe nail color for the occasion. He stayed up super late as he couldn’t have anything to eat or drink after midnight. Super late meaning that he crashed at 10 and crashed hard. I honestly think he was fighting a little bit of a cold too.

The month seemed to fly by. The intent was that we wanted to go on vacation this winter but everything was put on hold for his surgery. Never fails as the last couple of years, he had something serious happen in February (RSV for a week at St Vincent’s in 2016, RSV in 2017 and the flu in 2018). Now that we knew what his surgery date was and when all the follow up appointments were scheduled (part of all the 15 million phone calls I had) we actually have a family vacation planned to celebrate no more tonsils and get away from the snow. Stay tuned for blog Post #2 coming soon!