Our First Family Surgery....and a New Truck

J.D. is now officially our first child to have undergone a surgery. He had a very minor procedure performed yesterday by an ortholaryngologist (ear, nose, and throat doctor) to insert ear tubes. J.D. has had chronic ear infections for the last year. He was hospitalized this last winter with ear infections and pneumonia, and finally our local pediatrician suggested we seek out a specialist's recommendation.

Our ortholaryngologist labeled J.D. "the perfect candidate" for ear tubes, and wanted to schedule the surgery immediately since J.D. had fluid in his ears. We made the appointment for a week and a half later, and trekked up to San Diego early Friday morning.

Children's Hospital in San Diego is such an awesome hospital. They have such a professional staff, clean and tidy offices, and wonderful, well-educated doctors. We felt completely at ease with their care.

Danny had to take J.D. in to the surgery. The hospital has a new policy, due to the swine flu, that no siblings are allowed into the surgery or even the waiting room in order to prevent the spread of infections. So, Cubby and I went shopping.

Danny, ever the dutiful dad, took care of J.D. for the entire three hours it took to register and wait for the doctor's arrival for the surgery. And to add to the difficulty, J.D. was not allowed to eat anything 24 hours before the surgery. So no breakfast, snacks, or lunch before his 12:30 PM surgery (which ended up taking place at 1:30 PM due to mysterious delays). Danny said the surgery took ten minutes, then he had to wait for J.D. to wake up, and the whole experience was over. We met in the lobby, and J.D. went immediately back to his old self, running, scampering, yelling, as if nothing had ever happened. The only things indicating any change were the tiny bandages sticking out of his ears.

So, we went to Casa de Pico where J.D. scarfed down everything in sight. We hit up Trader Joe's for some kitchen-remodeling-groceries (think tons of frozen dishes that I can microwave in a jiffy), and headed for home.

Everyone fell asleep on the way home, except me, of course since I was driving. I had a few moments of absolute peace and quiet, and I thanked God for this day, for this beautiful, eventful, family-filled, fun day. I thanked God for my kids, for my wonderful husband, and for mine and Danny's parents, who I never thank enough. We could never have made it through such trying times as these with so many young children without the constant and thankless help of our parents.

I just wanted to include some pictures of J.D. with his new truck Cubby and I picked out for him. He almost couldn't take the excitement of waiting for me to rip it out of the box.

Fire engine red.

"I know you're the big sis, but this is MY new truck, so back off!"

"Ok, dad, you can play with it."
See how the girls have slowly faded away into the background? They're over it.


"AND the ladder goes up?! Sweet!"

What surgery?