Well as most of you know, Sam is having surgery bright and early tomorrow morning. Due to the construction we will be leaving the house around 5:30am... that will give me about 2 hours to drive the normally 35 minute route to the hospital. He will undergo 3 procedures done by 3 different surgeons. He will be having wax build up removed from his ears (boy there is a lot in there) and ear tubes replaced. Then he will have his hydrocele repaired...again. A Hydrocele is when there is too much fluid around the testicle...it is not painful but very enlarged. In most cases there is a less than 1% chance of a hydrocele re-communicating (coming back) after surgery... so wouldn't you know it... Sam's came back... of course. Finally he will be having some dental work. He will have x-rays to determine just how many extractions he will need... on initial exam the dentist is guessing 4-6, then he will have a really good cleaning and his back teeth sealed. All three procedures should take about 3 hours (not including pre-op and post-op recovery) and we hope to be home by dinner. Typically Sam does really well recovering from surgery and I pray that this time is no different. He starts school on Monday and I hope that he will be in attendance on the first day. So if you could, say a little prayer for Sam.
And... his foot seems to be healing nicely and he is walking on it again.... yay!
On another note...
I often times struggle with finding rewards for Sam. Being that he is 100% g-tube fed, a McDonald's Happy Meal, M&Ms or other tasty treat that would please most children is lost on Sam. There are things he likes... like taking baths or going to the pool, but those things are not immediate rewards and although he likes them he does not understand the cause and effect... If I behave well in the store we will go to the pool... If I don't we will just go home. So I try to find things that please Sam that give him an immediate reward and satisfaction for behavior that I want him to continue, such as hugging, kissing, high 5's and so on. Well I think I found something even better.... So I walk into the kitchen today and Sam is sitting in the middle of the floor with a rubber stamp. He obviously plucked it from somewhere. Well there he was stamping his hand and arm (no ink) and then throwing his arms out and saying "TA-DA" as only Sam can. At school they stamp the kids hands for doing well in gym class and I never realized how much this meant to him. So he continued to stamp himself and then he put the stamp back on the table. After seeing this I think I am going to start carrying a little stamp with me and stamp Sam's hand when he does a good job (keeping his hands to himself, taking turns, not throwing his toys etc) because it is clear that he associates the hand stamp with a job well done.
2 comments:
Here's praying that tomorrow is relatively smooth sailing and Sam is able to endure the pain well and recover quickly. He is so sweet Rae and you already know what kind of place he holds in my heart,but you know, every time I see his darling face I fall in love all over again.The "ta da"thing,I so wish I could hear that.Thinking of you and lots of prayers.
Hope your day went smoothly and you are home by bedtime! What an exhausting day for Sam. I love the stamp idea and it's much better than candy or McDonalds!
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