Mason's surgery

Our sweet Bobby Mason had to have surgery in November.  He had an inguinal hernia that wasn't going to resolve itself, so he needed to have it fixed.  It was a simple day surgery, but kind of sad, nonetheless.  

What I originally thought was a major inconvenience actually turned into quite a blessing.  Mason's surgery wasn't scheduled until 1:30 on his surgery day.  Usually, surgeons work from youngest to oldest.  Unfortunately for Mason, he was the oldest patient of the day, as the doctor was the pediatric urologist.  The other patients that day were all under one year.  One of the babies was only four months.  But by about 1:00, Mason was starving and exhausted, so Matt took him for a walk and he conked out.  We were able to keep him asleep while they got everything ready for the surgery.  He was still sleeping when they wheeled him away in his little hospital crib.  It was still sad to see him go, but it was good because they were able to put the gas up to his face while he was still sleeping.  It was much less traumatizing for everyone that way.  

Sometimes you can swipe things from the hospital, like the little cute jammies they let the babies wear, but I wasn't about to mess around with these jammies.  US Government?  I think I'll let them keep their jammies.  : )

One of the best things about having a husband that works and the Naval Medical Center is he knows the other residents that were working that day.  He also had the chance to work with the pediatric urologist while he was working in the peds ward.  Matt was able to give them all a heads up that Mason was his son and he needed some extra love.  : )

Mason was really sad coming out of anesthesia.  I can't blame him.  It's hard to wake up in a new place and feel totally weird.  He's such a sweetie.

His whole arm was wrapped in a bandage to keep his IV covered.  Mason wasn't thrilled about it, but he was funny because when the corpsman took out Mason's IV, Mason didn't flinch.  He just sat there and watched the corpsman take the needle out. (On a side note: a corpsman is the Navy's version of an MA.)  

Mason recovered surprisingly well.  The next day he was trying to climb up on the trampoline and jump with Graham.  Only once did he seem like he hurt, but only after he fell down and bumped his sore incision.  

We're really grateful to live in a time when we have such great medical care.  We're also glad to have the Naval hospital around.  They have some great doctors and residents. (Especially Matt. : )  )