Big "O" Number Two

This coming Thursday, April 25th, Joel is having back surgery.  He will have two metal rods placed into his back to correct his scoliosis.  Without it,  his frail body will continue to twist and will eventually squish all of his intestines, organs and lungs.  Without it, it would only be a matter of time before he dies.

The surgery is, obviously, a big surgery.  It will take 10 hours to perform and will require at least a week long hospital stay.  None of us are looking forward to it, Joel included.  His concern is evident in the fact that he continually asks us whether he is going to die and, if he does, who will come to his funeral.  Mike is calm in reassuring him that he's not going to die and lists off all of Joel's friends and the people that care about him and who know Joel will be just fine.  When Joel asks me, I give him quite a different answer.  I tell him that if he dies, we'll have his room rented out within a day or so.  When he asks about his funeral, I tell him that all of Hollywood will attend.  Obviously, this gets him laughing until he farts and it eases his mind.

Because of the week long stay in S'toon, there are many details to be worked out, but our plan is coming together.  Our dog will stay with friends of ours (whose young girls are beyond excited and are already fighting over whose bed Shandi is going to sleep on).  We will stay with Mike's sister/brother-in-law and Mike's mom will be there as well.  On the day of surgery, only Mike and I will be at the hospital and Mike's mom and Colby will look after Miss K and Bubbaloo.  In the first few days that follow, between Mike, myself and Mike's mom, we will do a rotating shift so that someone is always at Joel's side.  After a few days, if all is well and it's just recovery at that point, the kids and I will return home.  We have to, since one of my parents' tenants are moving out and I need to do my first ever tenant transition.  Not sure how I'm going to pull off the walk-through with the kids in tow, but it has to be done.

I am dreading the packing for this trip.  The list of things to bring for Bubbaloo alone takes up an entire page...bottles and all the accessories (warmer, bottle rack, brush, formula, lids etc), everything regarding diaper changes, clothes, toys, bibs, spoons, jar food, playpen, pillows, blankets, face cloths and the list goes on.  It's a much simpler list for Miss K...basically just clothes and her iPod.  She is three, going on thirteen.

For myself and Mike, the most important item to remember is the Ativan.  Mike will take a bigger dose than me because I'm going to need to step up and be the strong one on this day.  No matter how the surgery goes, there will be tears throughout the day.  Handing your child over into the care of a surgeon is a terrifying thing, let alone for a surgery where the doctors have to switch off because of the length of time it will take.

For those of you that are the praying type, please keep us in your prayers on that day.  For those of you that don't pray, please think positive thoughts.  For those of you who don't do either of those things, please just send money :)

I will most definitely update from S'toon to let you know how the surgery went.  Fingers crossed.