Lucas Camilo

Lucas getting “nuzzled” by Stanley as he arrives at the hospital.

Lucas made it through surgery!  This afternoon he’s drowsy, but he’s still asking everyone at the hospital their name and telling them that he’s a dinosaur guy and a whale guy.

Our morning started at 5 am, with a hospital check-in at 6:30.  Lucas was amazing — he cheerfully chatted up everyone who came into the pre-op room.  And if you haven’t had surgery recently, let me tell you that means A LOT of people.  While we were feeling grumpy about having to answer the same questions a million times (the questions on the hospital standardized lists, not necessarily the questions most pertinent to Lucas’s unique needs), Lucas stayed goofy and fun throughout.  He introduced everyone to Stanley (his stuffed stegosaurus), and he convinced the doctors to let Stanley come into surgery with him.

I was able to go into the operating room and – this is maybe a story for another post – when I started questioning the anesthesiologists vent settings they tried to usher me out of the room before Lucas fell asleep.  Needless to say, I stayed next to Lucas until he was completely out.  Even as the nitrous oxide kicked in, he was asking me about the different sounds in the room and making sure Stanley was nearby, curious but wonderfully worry-free.

The four hour wait was hard, but I felt lucky that Burke and I could both be here.  Burke’s job gives him the flexibility to work from anywhere, and then take off the hours that he needs to be there for Lucas.  So we took turns getting antsy and then making coffee runs and trying to read/work/email to distract ourselves.

We’ve been with Lucas in recovery since about 1:30 this afternoon.  For the first couple hours his voice was very faint and his eyes at half mast, but the anesthesia seems to be wearing off now.  His voice is louder, and he’s paying close attention to the dino story he’s listening to.  We had hoped we’d go home today, but its looking like he’ll probably spend the night just so that the docs are sure that he’s totally stable before discharge.

Lucas and Daddy and Stanley checking Lucas’s email post-op.

Lucas immediately wanted to check his email and he has loved the messages of support — thank you all for the love!  He was especially taken with the multiple dinosaur poems.  John Helmiere wrote his own (!!), but Lucas is also happy with pictures, poems, links… anything off the magical internet.  His other new favorite thing are emojis.

Finally, we want to send out shout out to Lucas’s grandfather (aka Papa) who also went through surgery today on his knee.  He’s recovering across town, and hopefully everyone will be home and healthy soon.