And it went just fine.  We made it to All Children's Hospital this morning.  And guess what - it's been so long since we've been there - I GOT LOST!!!   Tim woke up sick so I had to call my mom at 5:30 a.m. to come along (I've gotten bold lately, but I'm not doing a jaunt to the hospital as the lone adult) and I took the wrong exit.  I knew I was somewhere near where I was supposed to be, and I kept wanting to say "oh, this is a sign we should go home" but really it wasn't that big of a deal. 

 

They had said to be there at 7:30 and I dropped off Sam and Nana at about 7:40 at the door, insurance cards and all, while I parked the van.  I told mom "Just go on in and tell them I'll be there in a second." Then I made a wrong turn, rolled on through a detour, had to wait at a light, got questioned by a guard (there's construction so I guess EVERYBODY wants to get into the ACH parking lot) got into the proper lot, and ran through the rain back to the hospital.  When I got in, they were just filling out paperwork and the intake clerk was very impressed with how quickly I got there.  I think it was about 7:46 - seriously.  If I've learned one thing in the past three years, it's how NOT to spend any more time than necessary in a hospital.

 

So we got to the short stay unit, and everyone was wonderful.  Got into a short stay room, where the nurse was wonderful.  And in walked the guy who came to take blood.  DUH DUH DUHHHHHH.   (That's the high drama music.)  Sam's veins were blown as an infant in the NICU from having so many IV's - many he didn't need; they just stayed put in case he ever needed them.  As a result, they are filled with scar tissue and it's almost impossible to draw blood from him.  But, he tried and tried, and Sam screamed and screamed.  Finally, he gave up, did a finger stick and got a couple of vials from his finger tips.  My question (now that we're beyond it all) is this:  if it was good enough then, why wasn't it good enough ten minutes earlier?!?!?  All they wanted was to make sure he had enough potassium.  Anyway.  His veins should recover eventually, provided he stays out of the hospital.  And I intend to do all I can about that.  (Apparently, it's a skill of mine.  I would blow my own horn now but I don't know how.)

 

On that note.  (I can't believe I'm going on and on tonight.  I intended to say "he's fine; I'm tired; goodnight")  I got to have some pleasant conversations about Sam over and over and over again.  Last week, someone called from the hospital to pre-register him, and she wanted to get the facts on him.  She asked what meds he's on, and I told he he isn't on any.  She thought I misunderstood, and she said no, I don't mean is he sick, I mean daily prescriptions, any medications, anything he takes, and I told her again, no, he isn't on anything at all, and we went back and forth for a while about that until she understood that he isn't on any medicine, and she was very impressed. 

 

Then she said that somehow his chart must not have been updated because it didn't show any recent hospital stays, and I told her he didn't have any since he was about 5 months old (and explained it was their fault then too) and she was VERY impressed and excited about that.  Then she was saying what he could eat and told me to turn off the Pediasure at night and to bring his formula to the hospital and I told her he isn't on any of that stuff but he gets real food through the feeding tube and she said "WHA-A-a?!_" and was very surprised and happy about that as well.  And those conversations were repeated about 6 times once we got to the hospital (they kept telling me why we had to keep going over the same things again and again, but I really didn't mind this time) but it was kind of nice. 

 

So, we went back to the "holding area" (isn't that a prison term?), and Sam went in for surgery about 9:15.  We knew he needed a right ear tube, and was having the left ear tube checked.  The nurse came out to tell us that he needed a replacement tube in the left ear a few minutes later, and probably 10 minutes after that, Dr Cressman came out and told us it went just fine. 

 

We waited for Sam - I had already told them NOT to tell me he was coming until he was actually on his way, and he was awake and fine when he got to us.  He sneezed and a bunch of blood came out of the trach - I almost hid it just to get out of there without them knowing; that's how much I don't want to be in a hospital, but I decided to ask, (I thought it would be mighty pathetic to actually have his lungs be bleeding in the flipping recovery room and me not say anything) but nobody seemed bothered.  I cleaned it up myself, and on the way out we discovered it was coming from his nose, from the surgery, and was no big deal. 

 

We high-tailed it to the parking lot and came home. I snuggled him on my lap most of the day, only briefly surrendering him to his grandmother so I could make dinner and such, and right now he's head-to-head with his brother on the pull-out couch.  It almost looks like life is normal. 

 

Okay, so enough of my yammering.  He's fine.  I'm tired.  Goodnight. 

 

 

and not in a fun way.  Sam has to go for an ear tube tomorrow morning at 6 to All Children's Hospital in St Petersburg.  (We don't normally go to a hospital unless someone has burst into flames, but they won't do it at a drive through, apparently.  Jerks.)  Last year, he had one placed, and we wanted this one put in then too - since he would already be under the anesthesia and it would make a lot of sense.  But, the ENT didn't want to do it, so here we go again.  So pray it's dull and we're out of there early.  Last year they said "he's on his way back up - he'll be coming around the corner any second" and 30 minutes later he still wasn't back.  After my running up and down the halls like a mad woman, we found out that some one had forgotten to sign a form before leaving for coffee, and because Sam wasn't screaming for me, they left him in the recovery room while they went to find this particular someone.  No big deal, right?  AARRGGH.  All the while Tim and I are thinking something has gone seriously awry (of course - what else could cause such a delay?!?!) and the nurse is trying frantically to get someone to return her call (what else could cause them not to return her page than an emergency).  Just one more reason we don't do hospitals well. 

Sam's day really couldn't have been any better.  We had so many people show up - people I wasn't expecting (even Marie showed up!)   I was hoping not to need the  suction machine while we were at the baptismal font, but we did - Sam was pretty much quiet the rest of the service, but that really shouldn't surprise me. 

 

We had a totally beautiful day at the park, even if it was summer-in-Florida-hot.  I think we might have had about 100 people show up!   We had lots of kids running around with hula hoops and beach balls and Sam was being loved on and it was a very good day. 

 

I was shaky and weepy at first - it's just a hard day for me to relive, and I have a hard time not looking at the clock saying "okay, at this time 3 years ago somebody should have been doing something different" but it helped TREMENDOUSLY having everyone around supporting us and Sam. 

 

I'll get some pictures posted soon, maybe tonight even.