BRAVE

I know this is a little late but wasn't sure I should post pictures of this day but thought I should so we could remember how BRAVE Noah was for his first and hopefully last surgery.  Noah had a pilomatrixoma (fancy word for a benign cyst) on his right cheek for almost a year and according to the specialists it would never go away and possibly could get bigger so we thought it would be best to have it removed.  Noah was so good.  Poor thing could only have clear liquids the morning of and then wasn't able to eat for hours before his surgery on December 14th at 1pm.  The surgery was at Children's Hospital so when we got there he saw the McDonald's and asked if he could eat there after his surgery was done, I of course said YES.  We got to the hospital 2 hours before the surgery so the poor guy had to wait 2 hours and he kept asking "when is my surgery, I want to eat McDonald's."  Children's was great though and helped with the waiting time by giving Noah a new toy at every check in station.  When it was Noah's turn to finally go to the pre-op area he began to get a little nervous but never cried.  I was surprised when the nurse was telling me Noah would be under general anesthesia and would need to be intubated- "what for a little cyst, I seriously pictured conscious sedation."  Once the anesthetist came in and told me yes they would be using general but would use a LMA I was still nervous but what could I do.  Noah was smiling all the way up until the doctors took him into the operating room.  The doctors took him by the hands and Noah never looked back to see where mom and dad were going, he was so BRAVE.  The doctor came out and told us the surgery went perfect and Noah never once complained.  We then had to wait another hour to see Noah which made me nervous but I guess he was having a hard time waking up.  Noah was still half asleep once we saw him but right away was asking for McDonald's.  I thought better of my previous YES and told him it probably would make him sick but he insisted.  He was so ready to go and eat but seriously looked so out of it.  He then showed me his oxygen mask and told me what they did with it and said it tasted like bubble gum.  He asked to take the mask home but somehow it never made it home!  The only time he cried was when they put a band-aide on his hand where they took out the IV, really not when they took out the IV but having a band-aide on his hand is what made him cry- silly boy!  Once I took off the band-aide he was just fine.  It was a rainy day so Dan pulled the car up to the front but Noah had to go to McDonald's with me so there I was running in my heels holding a big 4 year old!  He seriously downed his cheese hamburger and apples along with his sprite.  Once we were home he was back to his hyper self.  I was so glad and thankful for my little BRAVE boy, he made the experience so much better by never crying which would have broke my heart.  He still has a tiny little red mark on his right cheek and will leave a little scar but well worth getting rid of his "bump" (as he called it).