I have to admit, on the inside, I was a complete wreck the few weeks leading up to the surgery. My head was telling my heart things that were not pretty. Although, they were all justifiable, I was worrying, which I means, in my opinion, I wasn’t trusting God. When your surgeon tells you, many times, over a two year period, if the surgery doesn’t go well, we won’t take our son home with us, as in he will not make it, you can probably imagine, what was going through my head.

My husband would tell you he was pretty much a punching bag the last few days before surgery. He’s right. I can only say thank you to him for letting me. Ya know the whole Yin and Yang thing? Well, l can tell you, after twenty years. It’s for real, at least with us, it is. Corny, I know, but I couldn’t do this journey as well as I have without him by my side.

The day of surgery was, of course busy, but quiet. Sam’s nurse even commented on how unusually quiet Sean and I were that morning. We had Sam’s normal six bags to leave the house and this time, my suitcase packed. His normal bags, just to leave the house, include oxygen, an emergency bag (the size of a large diaper bag), feeding backpack, suction machine, pulse oximeter, and of course, a regular diaper bag. Although you would find many things in Sam’s regular diaper bag you would not in a typical toddlers diaper bag. Sam had his nebs, meds, a bath, trach and g-tube (feeding tube) cares done. On the outside, we were all ready to go.

Our nurse helped us pack Sam in the van and we were off, me driving and Sean in the back. Someone always has to be with Sam in the back, in case he needs to be suctioned or any other nursing duties need to be done. When we arrived at the hospital, Sean and I realized neither of us said a word to each other the entire drive, which is not normal for us. Later, Sean told me he was planning Sam’s funeral in his head. My thoughts weren’t very far off from his. My stomach was in knots. When we finally got to the hospital, we found our normal handicap spot and sat there silently for what felt like an hour, but was probably only a few minutes. As we started unpacking the van, Sean suggested going home. I said, okay, with a smile. I think we were both a bit serious, but knew we couldn’t.

We unpacked all of Sam’s things, strategically placed them in their special spots on the stroller, and again, quietly walked across the skyway to the Welcome Desk at Children’s, like we have so many times.

Sam was more than ready. Per the anesthesiologist who saw him this time, you would think he would not be this happy here, especially considering how many times he has had to go through this. He’s a trooper alright.

We said goodbye to Sam for the thirty somethingth time and went to our usual private family waiting room in the surgery waiting area. Eat. Pray. Wait. Pray. Wait. Pray. Wait. Pray. Wait…

Thankfully, there was a GI surgeon to check Sam out before the surgery to make sure he didn’t need another dilation, which would have cancelled the surgery, again. Sean would tell you he was kind of hoping that’s what would have happened. When GI was done, as they always do, he came and showed us the results. I’ve seen A LOT of pictures of Sam’s esophagus, and for the first time in Sam’s life, it looked beautiful!

As soon as the GI surgeon walked out of the room, Sean and I just looked at each other with fear in our eyes. I told him, “He’s (Sam) got this.” And again, we waited. Pray. Wait. Pray. Wait. Pray. Wait. Pray. Wait…

About two and a half hours later, which really isn’t too long in our world of surgery waiting time, Sam’s ENT surgeon walked into the room with a big smile on his face, two hands in the air, both his pointer and middle fingers crossed. Whew. I’ve been told he’s not a surgeon to be nervous or at least show any nervousness. He was definitely nervous that day. In the two years, we’ve know him, I’ve only seen him nervous once. He was very happy, but told us not to thank him yet, and “knocked on wood” several times. He looked at me with sincere relief, reminding me of what could have happened, and I know, a weight was lifted off his shoulders.

The reason Sam’s ENT didn’t want us to thank him yet is because we won’t know until November 27th if the surgery worked or not. Basically they sewed the hole in Sam’s airway shut and the sutures can easily break open, especially when Sam refluxes, which is something he does quite a bit.

They will do a swallow study to make sure the food only goes down his esophagus and not into his lungs. I’m not sure how they do a swallow study on a kid who’s never eaten anything by mouth. No one else seems to know the answer to that question either, but they scheduled the appointment so someone must know the answer. We’ll see. I like to burn those bridges when we get there. There’s no sense in worrying about something I have no control over. Yes, I’m eating my words right now. ; )

We will go into the appointment with high hopes, low expectations. As some of you might recall, I wrote about this on Sam’s CaringBridge back in August of 2017. My thoughts haven’t changed…

High hopes, but low expectations, leaves less room for disappointment. Some might disagree, but I believe life is easier this way and there leaves little room for premeditated resentment. William Shakespeare once wrote, “Expectation is the root of all heartache”. I think he was pretty spot on. In life, there is very little we can control. I want my kids to see I choose happiness over hopelessness and faith over fear in every situation we face. I want them to see how attitude can change everything, even when things don’t go the way we think they should.

I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving! I know my list of things to be thankful for is pretty long, life being my number one, right now. One of Sam’s nurses shared with me something her wise mother, in my opinion, encouraged her to do every day, ever since she was a little girl. She told her, no matter what she’s going through, each day, find three things to be thankful for. Life isn’t perfect, we are not perfect, but I’ve found gratitude can sure make the road quite a bit smoother.