Op time

So last Friday we got a call from the hospital that there was a vacancy on May 9th for Tom to go in for his operation.  Typical, and yes it is bad timing but also perfect timing as his classmate Fred is also going in on the same day for his grommet operation, how lucky is that?

On Tuesday morning both he and Fred went to the Children's ward for a look around.  They were able to play with the beds, play in the play room and a very good Children's Play Specialist took them (and us) what would happen during the day.  Get this, they have magic cream which they put on their hands where the cannula will go (obviously numbs the hand so they don't feel it go in).  The cannula was introduced as an airplane, lots of little touches which made them comfortable.  Tom thought the idea of sleeping in a bed there boring, but liked the idea of breakfast in bed.

They do the operations in age order, and there are 3 of them going in that day.  Fred will be first, then Tom then the other person.  Fred and Tom saw it as a big adventure.

We have to be there at 7.30 on Friday morning, they get weighed, temperature taken, blood pressure taken, then hands numbed and away they go.  Recovery time for Fred is 2 hours (he's just having grommets) and 4 hours for Tom as he's having his adenoids out as well, so we should be done by early afternoon.  The paperwork says we need to book a week off school - but we don't know if it is compulsory or dependent on recovery, I guess we will find out - the lady we saw wasn't medical at all so couldn't answer any technical questions.

So Tom had a huge dinner tonight, we have to give him breakfast when we go to bed tonight and then he has to have a cup of water at 6.30 tomorrow morning and then nothing until after the op.

There is one complication, Tom has a cold!  Typical that the boy who is never ill gets ill now!  We asked the question about this on Tuesday and they said that if it is the back end of a cold it should be alright.  Basically if he has a temperature or bad blood pressure they won't operate on him so we will have to cross our fingers and hope he is ok.  We have fed him full of fruit and veg this week in an attempt to make sure he is as well as possible.  He says he doesn't feel unwell - but he has a cough which doesn't sound very good.