Sleep, the Doctor's Best Medicine

I actually have a few minutes to write a bit more than two sentences so I'll try to summarize today:

Since Tristan is fourteen, his surgery was scheduled for 12:30 p.m., allowing younger patients to have their procedures done earlier in the day.  We didn't need to arrive at the hospital until 11:00 a.m., so being the cruel parents we are, we had Tristan head to school for the first 2 1/2 hours.  While this might just seem a bit mean and nasty, it actually helped keep Tristan a bit distracted and more relaxed about what was coming up.

Check in at the hospital went seamlessly.  Tristan has his father's sense of humor and had the nurses chuckling at check in already, when he remarked how good he looked in his check in photo. ;)
After check in, it was off to pre-op where we caught up with Tristan's Uncle Doug and Aunt Kristy as well as two of his youth group leaders.  Jokes about possible surgical techniques such as leeches, had not only all of us laughing, but also the medical staff.  Never a dull moment when the Salls are in a hospital room!  Tristan said the best part was getting his IV in because he got to play a Dude Perfect game on an iPad to distract him from the IV poke.

I think the most difficult part of our day so far, was watching our child be wheeled away from us and headed toward a procedure that will undoubtedly bring him pain, in addition to healing.  It's the pain that leaves a lump in this mama's throat.

It was about 1 3/4 hours from the time Tristan was wheeled back to the O.R. until we were called to meet with his doctor.  Thankfully, the time passed quite quickly as we chatted and ate lunch with Doug and Kris and even were surprised by a quick visit from one of Kevin's cousins and his wife.  Dr. Schlatter gave us the best news we could here as parents, "It went perfectly." (Huge sigh of relief!)

Thirty minutes later we were lead to the most beautiful sight a parent can see...our sleeping child!  He awoke to our voices and smiled and our hearts were filled with peace once again.  It's amazing how different his chest looks! (I will try to post a couple pics tomorrow.)  If you know anything about Tristan, he loves learning.  His brain just never seems to shut down.  Even in his drug induced state, he kept asking questions and trying to rehash exactly what he had just experienced, what he remembered and what was happening now.  All we kept telling him was, "Just sleep".  He would doze off for a couple minutes and the questions would begin again. It made us smile. :)

It wasn't long before Tristan was issued a hospital room and we were on the move up to the pediatric floor.  As an aside, Helen DeVos Children's Hospital is fantastic!  We've had nothing but fantastic nurses, staff and Tristan has a beautiful, huge room that has plenty of space for both Kevin and I to stay comfortably with him.

After about a half and hour of settling in, Tristan finally fell into a deep sleep.  Never have I been so happy to hear a deep, resounding snore! ;)  Our hearts are so full!

For those of you who would like to know, our current prayer requests are:

• to be able to get Tristan into a good rhythm of pain management
• that he is able to get the healing sleep his body needs
• that our other kiddos would also be comforted and sleep well tonight even without Mom and Dad at home. (Thankfully, Noah is holding down the fort!)

Thanks for all your thoughts, prayers, texts and food! ;)