The Pre-Surgery Post

Picture courtesy of Nicholson Photography.

Less than 36 hours until David's surgery, and I'm definitely starting to freak out a little bit. Our little household is trying to function as normally as possible, but the strain is almost palpable at times. Until the last few days, I've dealt with the upcoming surgery largely by ignoring it. Honestly, that's worked well for me. I can't change anything by worrying about the surgery, so when it crops up in my thoughts I say a prayer and try to focus on being mentally present with David and Ian. Yesterday and today, though, I've been facing the reality of what's coming, sharing my hopes and fears (okay, mostly my fears) with those around me. As much as I don't want to think about these fears, stating them out loud -- fears of death, paralysis, etc. -- lessens their hold on me.

To help me wrap my mind around the surgery a little bit more, I reached out to some friends who also have had young children go through surgery or illness. These friends offered some wonderful thoughts on their own experiences, and I would like to share them with you.

• Lori prepared for her baby's surgery by talking with other parents with similar experiences. She also took before and after pictures that she gave to the doctor as a gift and a testament to the success of the surgery.
• Tara says to be prepared emotionally for the surgery to be delayed if the schedule is running slow that day, and take some toys to distract the little one while waiting for the surgery. A nurse practitioner friend also mentioned that surgeries are sometimes delayed a couple of hours.
• Being informed helps Mark when his son goes through procedures. He recommends talking to the doctors to find out exactly what they will be doing, how long it will take, and what will happen if any complications arise. He also recommends finding out what we'll see when David is in recovery as far as ivs, monitors, etc. Mark says, "Tubes and wires and whatnot aren't so bad when you know they're going to be there!" Mark also says the surgeries ALWAYS take longer than they say, so don't panic when that happens. (Tara confirms that one, too.)
• To stay calm during the surgery, my friend Mollie recommends saying a prayer and then getting lost in some escape fiction. Chris chose to snuggle his daughter's toy elephant and not fight the tears. 
• After the surgery, Lori focused on comforting her baby as much as possible with snuggling, holding, and singing. Tara found it difficult to hold her baby because she had an epidural and lots of tubes, but the nurses brought a big hospital bed so Tara could snuggle her and help her sleep. 
• Tara also recommends being straightforward with questions and concerns, since the doctors and nurses are there to help!
• Packing recommendations from everybody: phone chargers, good toilet paper, David's favorite toys, pillows, books/movies/CDs (anything to keep us occupied), snacks, toiletries, Bible, comfy jammies.

I definitely feel better having heard from so many of you about your experiences. Thank you for so honestly sharing your success stories, your fears, your regrets, and your wisdom. 

If you, dear readers, have more experiences to share, I would love to hear about them in the comments!

Treed

We thought we escaped unscathed from the severe storms of May, until our lawn guy corrected this misconception. We have a very deep, half-acre lot, and the back of the lot is a tangle of brush, shrubs, and trees. The planty chaos didn't look any different when we observed it from our civilized fenced area, but lawnmower man informed us that we had lost a sizeable tree. The felled wood combined with a tree lost in the winter to make the back of our lot inaccessible. So no real damage, but some inconvenience.

Last Sunday afternoon I was enjoying the calmer rain brought by June. I had just put both boys down for naps, and I was reading a magazine while listening to the gentle thunder of the summer storm. Suddenly -- CRACK! Uh-oh. I knew that sound from when the maples at my childhood home succumbed to ice storms. Yep, we lost another tree.

This tree, instead of falling harmlessly on the back of our property, decided to take out part of our fence and position itself over my son's swingset. Not good, tree, not good.

To add to the fun, this was a weekend when Paul was in Texas for family and business, and he wouldn't get back until late Monday night.

My parents came over to the house on Sunday night and helped me patch up the fence with a screen and lumber to make sure the dog wouldn't get out. I called the fence guy to come out and give me an estimate for repairing the fence. Paul started making tentative plans to find a chainsaw and some guys to help him move the tree after he got home.

Then a great blessing fell into our laps. Alan Murdock, relief coordinator extraordinaire, posted on our neighborhood listserv that some volunteers were in town to help people with storm cleanup. Their planned cleanup site already had enough help, so they needed a new place to work. I let Alan know that we could use some help.

Monday afternoon, a cleanup crew got to work on our yard. They cut up the tree that had crashed through the fence, stacked the wood neatly in our yard, straightened the fence, and proceeded to clean up the fallen trees in the back of our yard as well.

The volunteers were so kind and helpful, working hard despite the 90-degree heat (and despite the fact that they were Red Wings fans).  Without their help, we would have taken weeks if not months to accomplish all of those tasks. Now we probably won't even need to have the fence repaired. During what is already a crazy month, the help from the volunteers was an amazing blessing that took a lot of stress out of our lives.
Have you been gifted with help from a stranger this week?

Going Underground

We're about to disappear from real life for a few weeks. David's surgery is June 22nd, and to make sure the surgery doesn't get delayed we have to do our best to keep him well. So we'll be avoiding sick people and germy situations like the plague (ha!).

With a toddler and a baby, pretty much every situation has the potential to be germy, so we're essentially going to be isolated for a couple of weeks. No playgroups, no library trips, no Y, no church. We might be around a few healthy adults, but definitely no kids.

I am going to have one bored, stir-crazy toddler on my hands, folks. Ian loves our weekly excursions to the YMCA and neighborhood playgroups, and I love not having to think of ways to entertain him all the time. I was planning to spend much of the next two weeks outside, but it looks like the temps are going to be in the high 90s, so we'll have to limit our outside time, as well. Play-doh and crayons to the rescue, I suppose. Ian is a big fan of the dustbuster; maybe I can use the time to have him vacuum all our carpets.