Giving his momma gray hair

Matthew started to have a lot of swelling in his cheek Thursday.  It just kept getting bigger and bigger to the point his eye was swollen shut and his cheek was rock hard. The surgeon's office told us to come back in.   As we travelled up there he started vomiting.   Thank goodness Shelby tagged along with us to take care of him while I drove.  The doctor immediately said he needed to go back into surgery to reopen his incision and drain it.  Our hearts sank. We were sent back over to the surgery center and he knew right away where he was.  He cried out to "go go go".  I called Jeff and he raced up to the hospital to meet us there.  Poor little guy had to go back to anesthesia without us this time, there wasn't a dry eye among us seeing him wheeled away.  The surgeon later told informed us, after they made it back there, he went and picked him and held him till he settled down.  

The surgery went well and he was glad to see us afterwards. There appears to have been a bleed in the tissue of his cheek.  When it was time to be taken back to his room,  Matthew was not too happy to be wheeled anywhere, since last time he was wheeled away without us.  The attendant was very sweet and offered to let me ride with him on the bed,  he even included car sound effects the whole way there.  The perfect solution to settle his scared little heart.    I ended up spending the night in the hospital with him.  Our stay went better then expected and I became quite talented at keeping a two year old in bed with so many wires and tubes.  The hospital certainly wasn't a place of rest though with all the beeps, whirs, vital checks, crying children and helicopters buzzing in and out though, but overall a good stay and with very caring staff.

They discharged us on late Friday morning, but the drain is going to be left in place through Monday.  Good news though - the tissue they removed came back as being lymphatic and not cancerous! The large birthmark on his belly turned out to be an epidermal nevus - which we need to go back to the dermatologist to see how to handle and possibly  get surgically removed.  This son of mine is really having me expand my comfort zone - travelling to China, spending the night in the hospital, surgery, changing diapers again and now emptying surgical drains -now I am a little worried to see what's next!  Regardless I am blessed that I get to be a part of it all.