4 Means Active

I've discovered that when a doctor tells you that your child will be lethargic, groggy, and sleep most of the day following surgery, he is not taking into account that your child is four. Four years old means "active" regardless if they were just under the knife!

Yesterday was a full day. Mason was the complete picture of calm leading up to the surgery. He was not anxious or nervous at all and smiled good-bye when whisked away to the OR. (Mommy on the other hand felt like I needed a dose of Valium!) Next time he has surgery and gets to "sleep" while they take care of a problem he won't be so naive to think that waking up will be like waking up on a Sunday morning to the smell of cinnamon rolls! He cried and cried and cried when he woke up. The first thing he said was, "It hurts. It hurts. I want my bump back on. It hurts!" I crawled into the bed with him and held him as he cried, but knew that the crying was only making the pain worse as it was stretching his lip filled with stitches. :( We finally got him calm by saying that the doctors will not let him leave if they think he is in such pain and that they needed to see him not crying so that they knew he was okay enough to go home. That seemed to do the trick. I thought we were in for a long day.

Little did I know that hours later he'd be on the floor playing trains, jumping in circles, and I'd be shouting, "Stop running!" He's four. He's active. He was no longer in pain. No pain = play hard. I have been so stressed out today trying to keep this boy from doing headstands on the couch. (If you think I'm kidding...I'm not!) He even got a nice little head-butt right on the mouth from a frustrated Caleb which induced a nice scream and some blood to go with it.

We've been instructed NOT to let him be active for at least a week. We've been instructed that if the stitches break, we'll be back for another surgery. This is a daunting task I have before me....to keep twin four year old boys from all of life's dangerous adventures they find to do on a daily basis. Michael even stopped on his way home to pick up a baseball helmet for Mason with a face mask to try to prevent some unnecessary accidents!

Please pray his lip will stay in tact and that I won't lose my mind in the process. And thank you for your prayers for the surgery. It went as well as can be expected. His lip is extremely swollen and there are a lot more stitches than we anticipated, but the doctor tells us he thinks we'll be pleased. I'm just pleased that he is alive and well and not in pain!