Nathan's surgery

After traveling for 3 days straight from Thailand to LA to Lima to Cusco, Jeff & the boys picked me up at the airport in Cusco. It was sooo amazing to see my husband and boys again after being gone for 3 weeks. There were many comments directed towards my growing belly--like, "wow, your belly is HUGE", etc. It was a wonderful reunion.

What the boys did NOT know, however, was that they would be dropping Nathan and I off at the missionary hospital about an hour and half from home where we would stay the night and Nathan would have a minor reparation surgery the next day. It was a tearful goodbye again when Jeff and the oldest boys had to get in the car again, knowing that I still hadn't made it home yet. Nathan and I spent the evening doing homework and just "catching up" from my being gone.

The next morning Nathan and I went to the hospital around 8am, the doctors were expecting us and guided us to one of the rooms where Nathan got to experience the lovely hospital gown. He thought it felt funny to have it on and nothing else underneath! :o) The thing that gave me the most laughs though, was when the anesthesiologist gave Nathan a pill to swallow that would make him sleepy. She was out of the other anesthetic that is easier to take, but he was a trooper and swallowed that thing right down. So the funny part was when it started to take effect...I had kept asking him if he was getting sleepy yet, but he kept saying, "nope, not yet". All of a sudden he looked at me with these glazed-over eyes and in a slurred voice said, "Mommy, you have four mouths and four noses!" I just started laughing and told the nurse that I thought the meds had kicked in.

They came in a got him, he was asleep by then, and rolled him into surgery. The surgery was to repair a "not so well done" circumcision, but since it was so minor, it only took about 45 minutes. Then I was allowed to come in and sit with him, I got to don a gown, fancy green crocs and an elastic head covering. He continued sleeping while they monitored him, and finally, though he hadn't woke up, his oxygen levels were good enough to take him off the oxygen and send him back to his room. It took him a good 2 hours to wake up.

I was so proud of him, he was so brave and didn't complain even one time. When he woke up, all he wanted to do was get on his clothes and eat something (he couldn't eat from dinner the night before and was SO hungry). They told me to wait a bit to let him eat, that he could drink some tea, but nothing else for awhile to make sure it stayed down. I had thought we would be taking a taxi back to Abancay, but when I talked with Jeff he told me to stay put and that him and the boys would drive to get us! I was so glad, it's an hour and a half to get to the hospital on yucky roads, so I thought this was a very sacrificial thing to do--and I appreciate it so much as it gave me more time to catch up with everyone.

Anyhow, Nathan has healed fine and you'd never know he had any sort of surgery. I am so thankful for such sweet boys!