The Tiger

Before the procedure, a relatively happy Santi.

Back in his "room" after waking up from the anesthesia.

Fell asleep after drinking his juice.

Showing where his IV had been.

Another nerve wracking experience to check off!! Santi's procedure went well, as far as I can tell, and he's now on the recovery bend. As you all know him well, it's not a surprise that the nurses in the pediatric ward nicknamed him, "The Tiger". He fought every single procedure - starting from putting on the wrist bands, to taking his blood pressure - so the anesthesiologist decided it was going to be easier for Santi if he was sedated. So they did and that allowed me to change him into his gown and walk with him to the operating ward where I had to kiss him goodbye. I'm glad he was sedated because even though his fiery self was still there, he didn't realize that mommy was crying and that she wasn't coming along.

The procedure lasted about an hour and the doctor came to let me know that all had gone well and that the hernia is a pretty good size. About 10 minutes later, a nurse came looking for me. It seems the Tiger had woken up and was fighting. When I arrived, the nurse was having a hard time keeping him down and keeping him from ripping the IV line from his hand. Thing is that he wasn't awake. He was in a complete state of delirium, his eyes were closed but all the strength that little body has was manifesting itself!! (In fact, the nurse was so impressed with his strength, that when I mentioned that he has to have his tooth fixed next week, she looked at me and asked how the dentist was going to manage that??? I need to call the dentist today and warn him!) I took him in my arms and calmed him down. He slept wrapped in my arms for the next three hours with periods of "waking" up and trying to remove the IV line. When he finally woke up, he was much calmer but still not all there. We arrived home at around 5pm. Since he hadn't eaten all day, I offered him some crackers, but he fell asleep eating. He slept the rest of the evening and the night, waking up this morning at 7am. He slept with me - I was concerned about the effects of the anesthesia, so I wanted to make sure that he was fine. He would wake up and reach out for me and say "Mommy" and then fall back asleep. He had a good breakfast, but he is in pain where the hernia was repaired.

But as I'm writing this, he's playing pirates with Mateo and Tio Cucu. I think he's clearly doing better!

Thank you all for your well-wishes and thoughts. It made the whole process easier on me knowing that he's loved!