OK, Feel Sorry!

Got up at 4:30 AM again this Tue. morning, but it didn't hurt quite as bad because I "knew" we were going to get Ben's braces/cast off and have his stitches removed. To top it off, my parents had "big-boy-sat" again and were bringing them down to Charlottesville (where the hospital is) to meet us that afternoon to celebrate my wife's birthday. I might even get to eat at my favorite restaurant (Melting Pot).

Ye ... as dear old mom always said; "Wish in one hand and ...." (you get the idea). Well, we got the "other hand"!

First, the hand specialist who had done the original surgery was out of town, so he asked a colleague to "over see" (my words) stuff today and left his "competent, but lost" attending/fellow in charge, apparently--though she again didn't seem to have real "control" of anything yet. We asked to first try and remove the bandages and stitches without anesthesia (yes, they wanted to "put him under" to do this). This is a tough kid who besides being the youngest of 3 boys, has been genuinely interested in the process of caring for his injury, so is able to sit very still and seems to have a fairly high pain threshold. At first this seemed like a completely foreign idea, but as they allowed themselves (there seemed to be another attending/fellow that carried weight in decision making along for the ride) to think outside the box they realized that this would be easier on them--two extra hands, those of a trusted parent ... DUH! But unfortunately, the old routine kicked in and they claimed the need to be in the operating room where they had everything in case of an emergency--he needed pain meds. HELLO! He is a tough kid and a little discomfort is not going to kill him and if it starts to ... he has his mommy right there. Besides, what is it, like a 20 second walk around the corner to the OR? Many chefs ruin the stew! (Teaching hospital = 2 attending/resident/fellow surgeons, 3 anesthesiologists, 2+ nurses, and apparently somewhere a chief plastic surgeon--but we never saw nor heard from him)

Anyway, what was suppose to be a 15 minute thing, took about an hour, though they didn't end up intubating or giving him any pain meds ... AH, what did I tell you?!?!?!?

There was good news ... No more cast on his foot, yay! But we do now just have exposed stitches. Ye, a 2 year old is going to leave those alone for sure!

AND ... apparently, once a magician, always a magician. He was delivered back to us with both arms once again tied across his chest! When the "competent, but lost" attending/fellow told me she had strapped him up, I said, "That's not good!" To which she replied, "Why?" UHM, he is 2 freakin' years old and as already had his arms tied across his chest for a week. Have you ever had your arms tied across your chest for a week ... what about for 17 days?!?!?!?!

So in short, if you would like you may now begin to feel bad for Ben ... and us!