Numb3rs

3 Days in Anchorage
3 Sunny Days (The most that we have seen in Anchorage in a row, unfortunately, it was cold and difficult to walk anywhere. The views though were phenomenal.)
2 Hours in a plane (round trip)
1 IV
1 Bag of IV fluid
4 hours in the hospital
45 minutes is how long Michael's surgery was
40 drops of blood on the floor and my pants from Michael's IV being pulled out
1 pair of designer jeans ruined by the blood

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All of these equal 4,320 minutes and counting of worrying. Which to a mother can seem infinite...really, really.

Michael was born with a foreskin attached to the penis. We didn't know this of course, until he was 2 days old and we decided to have him circumcised. Thank God we decided to this. I signed the medical release to have him wheeled down to the room that they perform the circs. They took a teddy bear with him to keep him comfortable. The teddy bear makes womb sounds and since he was popped out of there just days before we figured it would be best for him. Scott went down the hall too so he could watch. I stayed in my recovery room packing things up before they discharged us. 2 seconds later Scott was back. He said that they wouldn't let him watch. When the Dr.s noticed he was peering through the window they closed them and went back to what they were doing.

About 7 minutes later, Michael was back in our room with company. He had 2 Dr.'s with him. I knew this wasn't good. They told us ( I don't remember which one spoke anymore, it's just a blur in my mind's eye.) that they did make an incision but hit an adhesion. They then told us that if we wanted the job done we would have to see a urologist. They referred us to the urologist, he looked and told us he was too young and that he didn't understand what the big deal was and that we should just take him back to the pediatrician. We did, he looked. He called in another pediatrician. This one is known for loving to do circumcisions. She looked, she left. We got a referral to go to a pediatric urologist in Anchorage. He looked and he said, "Not a problem, just wait until he is 6 months old so we can put him under." We, of course, are procrastinators and waited until he was 9 months and 15 days.

November 20, 2006 We arrived at the hospital at 6 am. We waited around for over an hour and a half. I don't know why they asked us to be there so early. I think that it would be better to be late. That way you miss out on the anxiousness that accompanies the waiting. I don't know if that would have worked though. The Dr. was late, that didn't help the worrying either. Scott and I both knew and still know that it is a minor surgery. The problem is that Michael had to be put under. I think any parent would be nervous with anesthesia. I wasn't sure how he would react to the medication since he had never really had anything other than Tylenol and dimetapp. They gave him some sort of gas to help him sleep then they gave them an IV while he was out and then a penial block (lidocaine). The Dr. said that there was soooooo much tissue to take care of. I got the feeling he was surprised by how many adhesions there were.

He is recovering fine but is definitely not himself yet. He has glimpses of old Mikey but he is still a little under the weather. I don't think that the pain medication helps with his cognitive abilities. All of this worrying has made me sleepy. Luckily, my boss said I could skip tomorrow to stay home with Michael. Thanks God for that.

Now to why we went ahead with the surgery.

1. We wanted to do it when he was young so he wouldn't remember.

2. If we waited past the age of 2 he could have some psychological problems with sex and stuff since it is in a sensitive area. We didn't want him to associate that organ with pain. Plus, he could become fixated on it and who knows what would happen then.

3. If we waited until he could consent, he might already have pain down there. If he gets an erection the skin that was attached to the foreskin was also attached to the head of his penis, causing a pulling and inevitable pain.

4. The final reason is the reason we wanted him to have a circumcision in the first place. That's a personal reason and we don't need to discuss it.

A funny part of the surgery was that in the recovery room they tried to make him feel better by giving him a bottle and an Elmo doll to play with. Michael went strait to the sippy cup around 4 months so the bottle didn't work. The best and most funny part was that Michael is TERRIFIED of Elmo. Unfortunately, they didn't know that. He was crying so hard that he busted the capillaries under his eyes. I don't think that it was just the Elmo, I am sure he was confused when he awoke. It took an hour or so to calm him down. The day was not fun. Glad I got to share it with you.

Here are some post-op pictures

Michael and Daddy reading and relaxingMom I am fiiiine....quit worryingOn our way back Dad takes the time to show Mikey around . (I like these pictures, because they didn't know that I took them) Daddy kissing Mikey.