A Dry Run!

If your child has a cold, the anesthesiologist will not want to administer the anesthesia.  Someone should tell you this in advance of your son's surgery.  They should say, "Oh, hey, just so you know, if your child is coughing and has a runny nose, don't bother showing up, registering, signing all the paperwork, sitting in two different waiting rooms, having your son undressed and redressed in the hospital gown and hospital socks, and having him hooked up to the heart monitor.  Don't bother having the surgeon change into his special surgeon clothes and mark up his butt and penis with a purple pen whose ink shall not wash off for two days.  Don't bother starving your child for six hours prior to surgery, waking him up at one thirty in the morning for a night bottle that will only confuse him and disrupt his normal sleep schedule.  Don't bother spending a sleepless night worrying about the impending surgery, because it ain't going to happen.  Oh, were you going to inconvenience your mother-in-law by having her take off work to watch your older son?  Well, if your child has a runny nose, again- don't bother.  It'll all be for nothing."

I didn't know that giving anesthesia to an infant with a cold was something that would elevate them to a high risk patient and that they wouldn't want to do it.  Perhaps this is obvious and I SHOULD have known, but I didn't, and no one told me.  The day before, when I noticed Alex was sniffling and coughing a little, I googled "baby with a cold anesthesia" and the only thing I found was that having a fever was cause for alarm and a reason to possible cancel and postpone surgery.  Did Alex have a fever?  No.  I know this because I checked at least five times.  Did Alex have a cold?  Well, yeah. It's winter, and he's had a cold for months.  Did anyone tell me that having a cold was a reason to postpone his operation?  Again.  NO.  No one said anything until we were seconds away from having him put under.

The whole morning and day was draining, emotionally and mentally and physically.  To know that we have to do this whole thing again in two weeks (this whole thing, only this time with the actual surgery) after his cold has subsided makes me want to curl up and cry a little.  It's a good thing I'm all cried out from the series finale of "Six Feet Under" eight years ago.  Since then, I can only cry for real tragedies, not just stressful inconveniences.  Or when I'm about to get my epidural during the birth of my second child.  That was a real sob fest, and I still can't explain why.  Other than the extreme pain and the overwhelming nature of the whole ordeal.  Also, "Marley and Me."  And I don't even like dogs.  I mean, not even a little.

Anyway.

So, let this be a lesson to those with babies who are scheduled for surgery.  If your kid is coughing and has a runny nose, for God's sake call ahead.