One Scared Mother

There have been times since I became a mother when things have happened to my children that caught me off guard, like Macey's two trips to stitches and glue.  Or different pregnancy moments where extra ultrasounds were needed to ensure the health of the baby for one reason or another.  But for the most part, my experience as a mother has been trial free.  And though my experience this past year is nothing compared to what so many mothers go through watching their child suffer from serious illness (mental or physical), it made me so much more grateful for the health of my 5 children and pray I never take it for granted.

In January, we had some friends over for dinner.  As we were cleaning up dinner, the wife asked what was wrong with Wes' neck.  Doug and I looked at each other confused and said, "What are you talking about?"  When she pointed out his neck, there was a large lump on the right side of his neck.  My friend, Evan immediately starts googling it to see what it could possibly be.  I took pictures and sent them to my dad.  And honestly I thought it wasn't a big deal.  The next morning my dad called to say he saw the picture and he felt like I needed to check it out.  I called my pediatrician who lets me come in right away.  He looks at it rather puzzled.  It is not in the right place to be a swollen lymph node.  He doesn't seem to show any sign of infection in his blood work (which was a little reassuring).  He and my dad felt like it needed to be seen by someone else to determine what it is and why it is there.  My pediatrician said he would make some calls and have a nurse call me that evening with a plan of action and not to be concerned.  So when the pediatrician calls me back within an hour telling me he had called a pediatric surgeon, oncologist and hematologist, my heart started beating a little faster.  I never thought I would hear those words needed for my child!  The starting (and thankfully ending but we didn't know at the time) place was the pediatric surgeon.  The next week was the longest week of my life.  This all started on a Thursday.  We were scheduled for Tuesday but due to a random ice storm in the Lowcountry we had to postpone until Thursday.  The diagnosis was a lymphangeoma, a lump of fatty tissue that grows for no apparent reason.  And the verdict was surgery.

So on April 14, 2014 Doug, Papa, Wes and I left our house at 4:45 am and headed to the Children's Hospital at Memorial Health in Savannah.  Wes was of course a hit among the staff charming most of the nurses. He made it clear when he didn't like something but he ended up complying with everything especially once they gave him his happy medicine.  They started surgery a little before 7 am and ended shortly before 9 am.  I was reunited with him after about two and a half hours apart.  In my head I knew God was with him, and I knew the doctors knew what they were doing (they had 3 surgeons working on him).  And I was so thankful for my dad and his medical expertise being there to sit with me through it.  But my heart has never been so shaky in my life.  And when a friend of mine hugged me the night before to say just that to me, I broke down in tears.  I knew she (whose daughter had open heart surgery at 2) knew what I was going through.  In moments like that we realize how weak our faith is.  We are no better than the doubting Israelites or the wavering disciples on the stormy ship.   I was thankful for my Savior sitting with me in the waiting room and holding my son on the operating room.  I experienced His Omnipresence in a new way.  I felt the comfort of my Heavenly Father through  my earthly father.  And my husband held my hand when I needed it, hugged me when I needed it, walked with me when I needed it, and then when they said, "One of you can come into recovery to see him." Doug looked at me and said, "You go, I know it would mean more to you."  And I ran through those doors not able to be reunited fast enough.

Wes recovered well.  He was in the hospital for the remainder of that day but due to the fact of my dad's history, the doctors let us go home that night.  He had a drain for 4 days.  And stayed sore about 5 days developing a head tilt.  But after a week, he was back to new.  And other than a cool 7 inch scar on the side of his neck, you would never know it happened.  Now we are back to enjoying our happy life with healthy kids.  Praising God for the good times and the hard times!

 Here we are waiting in our room before surgery for them to come get Wes ready.  Since we had to be there so early, it was a rather long wait so it was fun seeing Wes occupy himself and entertain us.

 Still waiting...once they put this scrub top on him, he was grumpy about it.  It didn't last though.

 Every patient needs an angry birds scrub hat to wear for surgery.

 I am reunited with my little boy.  I was there when he woke up which was a good thing. You can see his IV and heart monitor on.  And tell where his mask had been on his face.

 Settled into our room and trying to catch up on some sleep.

 He didn't want to move because he had an IV in his foot and his hand.  This made trips to the bathroom quite interesting.

 Here is a picture of the drain.

 And here is a picture of his dressing.  The incision went across the entire side of his neck.