Posted on October 24, 2007 - by Justin Hartman
Making a grown man cry
This morning Luke had his operation and thank God, all went well. I was dead scared about this operation but thanks to some great comments in my earlier post I lost a lot of the pre-op concerns and in truth I was completely fine up until Luke got his anesthetic.
His courage right throughout amazed me and he took to the dreaded mask without a fight or a complaint and I was seriously expecting worse. At the point of losing consciousness Luke started to freak out a little and I was forced to pin him down until he was out and that was my turning point in the whole experience.
Guilt, helplessness and fear all overcame me and I just wanted to get him out of there – I cried instead.
What I’ve learned through this experience:
- Kids are tougher than we give them credit for.
- Trust the experts, they know how.
- Emotionally I was ready – practically I simply wasn’t.
- Time in the recovery room is longer than the operation itself.
- Don’t plan to be at a 9:30am meeting when the op is scheduled for 8:00am.
- Take the day off work. I didn’t.
- Make sure there’s lots of yogurt, custard and juice – with straws.
- Always have a comfort present for afterwards. We had to get one.
- This is certainly not something I’m going to do again in a hurry.
- It doesn’t take much to make me cry…
Luke and Mom are at home recovering and when I left for work he seemed almost back to his normal self.
21 Comments
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October 24, 2007
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Glad to hear it all went ok. Frightening experience, but all worked out great in the end
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October 24, 2007
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glad it went ok man. It must be tough on a parent to go through that! hope the little guy feels better soon!
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October 24, 2007
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Marc all thanks to you man. We used the blowing balloon trick on Luke last night and I definitely think it helped prep him for what to expect. Personally I wasn’t sure how to make him feel more comfortable with it but some balloon blowing last night did the trick.
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October 24, 2007
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Thanks Steven, yeah I think he’ll be back to normal tomorrow.
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October 24, 2007
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Dude, just caught up w. this today. Can’t imagine what that must have felt like but am glad all went well.
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October 24, 2007
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Only makes you a stronger dad. And you are exactly right – we don’t have a clue how strong the little guys [and girls] actually are. Glad you are all well!
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October 24, 2007
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Glad to hear it all went ok. Frightening experience, but all worked out great in the end
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October 24, 2007
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glad it went ok man. It must be tough on a parent to go through that! hope the little guy feels better soon!
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October 24, 2007
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Marc all thanks to you man. We used the blowing balloon trick on Luke last night and I definitely think it helped prep him for what to expect. Personally I wasn't sure how to make him feel more comfortable with it but some balloon blowing last night did the trick.
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October 24, 2007
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Thanks Steven, yeah I think he'll be back to normal tomorrow.
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October 24, 2007
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Hi Justin, I’m very, very glad that everything went well. I think it’s the total feeling of helplessness that is so overwhelming, that can make a grown man cry (we, woman, just cry and don’t need that feeling …). Nobody (I mean by that no decent and caring parent) would hurt their child intentionally. But I couldn’t help feeling guilty and be part of this “experiment” to hurt my child. We did, after all, consent to Ian’s operation. It’s a horrible experience for a parent, but in a year’s time, he wouldn’t even remember it!
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October 24, 2007
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Dude, just caught up w. this today. Can't imagine what that must have felt like but am glad all went well.
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October 24, 2007
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Only makes you a stronger dad. And you are exactly right – we don't have a clue how strong the little guys [and girls] actually are. Glad you are all well!
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October 24, 2007
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Hi Justin, I'm very, very glad that everything went well. I think it's the total feeling of helplessness that is so overwhelming, that can make a grown man cry (we, woman, just cry and don't need that feeling …). Nobody (I mean by that no decent and caring parent) would hurt their child intentionally. But I couldn't help feeling guilty and be part of this “experiment” to hurt my child. We did, after all, consent to Ian's operation. It's a horrible experience for a parent, but in a year's time, he wouldn't even remember it!
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October 26, 2007
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Sheesh, that is not something I am looking forward to with my own son. I am glad he is ok and appreciate you sharing your experience!
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October 26, 2007
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Glad all went well. Know what its like when your kids go down. My son was on a drip for five days in hospital when he was about six months old after getting nailed by a virus – worse five days of my life, so I sympathise!
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October 26, 2007
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Sheesh, that is not something I am looking forward to with my own son. I am glad he is ok and appreciate you sharing your experience!
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October 26, 2007
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Glad all went well. Know what its like when your kids go down. My son was on a drip for five days in hospital when he was about six months old after getting nailed by a virus – worse five days of my life, so I sympathise!
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November 15, 2007
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Man i love reading your blog, interesting posts !…
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November 15, 2007
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Man i love reading your blog, interesting posts !…
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November 22, 2007
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[...] recent weeks Luke had a minor operation and Colette had an Amniocentesis to test for downs-syndrome in our unborn [...]