Over the past couple of months, Adam had a mole appear on his face and start to rapidly grow. It grew so fast that we felt a little concerned about it, and after a couple of visits to the pediatrician and dermatologist, everyone decided it was time for the mole to come off.
We went in on Wednesday, the 4th of December, to see the plastic surgeon, Dr. Delyeyiannis, who was going to be doing the surgery to remove the mole. Upon looking at it, Dr. D decided that it was so close to his eye and growing so fast that the surgery needed to be done immediately. His surgery schedule was booked up through February, but told us to come on Friday and he would do Adam’s surgery after his last case of the day.
Whew! That set off a whirlwind of phone calls and other appointments at The Children’s Hospital- getting approval from the cardiologists and getting all the pre-op stuff done. It is funny how usually it is so hard to get in to see specialists, but as soon as they decided he needed surgery in two days, everyone was clamoring to fit Adam into their schedules!
Friday dawned, and I have to admit, I was a basket case. I knew it was just a minor surgery, but I think I was experiencing some emotional carry-over from when Adam had open-heart surgery. Plus, I think no matter what, it is always hard to watch your child go under general anesthesia. And, I worried about the impact of the surgery on Adam’s cute face (which we still haven’t seen because it is bandaged up, but I wasn’t excited about Dr. Delyeyiannis making a big incision right next to Adam’s eye.
Adam was nervous too. He cried a few times on Wednesday and Thursday, but only for a minute. I was in the car with him on Thursday, lost in my own thoughts, when I heard him in the back seat saying, “Get off my face, mole!” I thought I would make it a bit more lighthearted and responded in my best high, squeaky mole voice, “I’ll get off on Friday, Adam!” He said angrily, “No. Get off right now!!” I asked him if that was so he wouldn’t have to go on Friday and he said that it was.
That little boy is so brave! He woke up on Friday morning and got on the comfy clothes the hospital told him to wear. He wasn’t allowed to eat or drink, so he brushed his teeth, went potty, washed his hands, then said, “Okay Mom, I’m ready!” and bravely headed for the garage door.
Looking out the window at the hospital…
Adam was so cute the whole time we were there. They had him change into some cute little hospital pajamas and sit in his little bed. He was so nervous that he would hardly talk, but he had a nervous grin on his face the whole time. All the nurses commented on how smiley he was. He did insist on holding my hand under the blanket the whole time (although that may have been just as much for me!)
The nurse brought him toys to play with and promised him a popsicle slushy when he was all done.
Glenn and I got to suit up as well, to go back to the operating room with Adam.
When the time came, he rode on his “race car bed” through the hallway, then they had Glenn pick him up and carry him into the operating room while they quickly took the race car bed and reconfigured it into an operating table. They had Glenn lay Adam back down, and then they were quick. They instantly had a mask over his face, and the anesthesiologist was talking to him about the zoo. They assured us that things would be so confusing and scary for him in the operating room that he would cry, which would be fine because he would breathe in the medication faster. He never cried. He kept that nervous little smile on his face and looked around in confusion, nodding to answer the zoo animal questions until he finally closed his eyes and was asleep. Boy, it is hard to watch that process!
They had me kiss him on one cheek and Glenn kiss him on the other, then off we went to wait in the waiting room.
The surgery went well, and before too long (it seemed really short in comparison to his heart surgery!) we were headed back to see him. He had a really hard time waking up from the anesthesia, so we were there for a long time.
Adam was pretty funny, though. Before his surgery my Mom promised to bring him a chocolate milk shake to help him feel better when he got home. It was a big joke at home that he was going to have to share the milkshake with Glenn and me. He would laugh and insist that it was all for him. Well, after the surgery when we were trying to get him to wake up, he would open his eyes for awhile, but refused to talk (his throat hurt from being intubated) and was really groggy. Glenn was talking to him and said, “Adam, come on and wake up, Buddy! Don’t you want to go home and have a milkshake? Maybe I’ll just have to eat it instead!” Adam no longer had a sense of humor. He got a grumpy look on his face and started shaking his head really fast. We got such a kick out of it that we joked several more times with him about sharing his milkshake and he had the same grouchy reaction every time.
At least he got his promised popsicle slushy! We didn’t even ask him to share!
After awhile he finally woke up and his oxygen levels were high enough that they declared him well enough to go home. We changed him back into his comfy clothes and wheeled him out to the car.
I sat next to him on the ride home. He slept almost the whole way, but at one point he woke up and slowly looked over at me. He whispered, “Mom, are they going to take my mole off tomorrow?” You know it’s a success when he didn’t even realize that it happened!
It has been 3 weeks now, and we are still waiting for the bandage to fall off. (Dr. Delyeyiannis gave him stitches, then super glued over them, and stuck surgical tape to the glue.) We will meet with Dr. Delyeyiannis and the dermatologists in January about the biopsy results.
So, whew! We made it through another surgery! I HOPE this is Adam’s last!! He is a brave, loveable boy, that’s for sure!
