July 2009

First off and most importantly, I want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who chimed in on Twitter & Facebook with their well wishes and prayers and quick smiles. I’m very privileged to have such a large group of awesome friends who care enough to say a little something or even spend a few moments sending positive vibes our way. Seriously, it’s incredibly humbling to read your tweets and comments and come home to hundreds of emails. You are all amazing and my family and I thank you for your warmth and caring!

Everything went great today. Will was in good spirits and I got a good night’s sleep, which made it easier for me to act like a giant goofball and keep him smiling. My wife was amazing as she always is and we got Will down to the hospital in good time, driving in from outside of Boston.

We knew going in that Will had a fantastic surgeon assigned to him. Dr. Mandel is actually the CEO of Children’s Hospital in Boston and having met the man a few times, he’s absolutely fantastic. His confidence, demeanor, and way with kids is astounding. He’s the kind of guy who makes you feel great just being around him. Definitely a plus.

As we waited, we knew the anesthesiologist would be coming around to visit before the surgery as well. We overheard one of them talking to the family next to us and cringed. Every other word out of her mouth was “pain” and “hurt.” All we could think was, “Please don’t come over here.” When our dude showed up, he was awesome. He totally picked up on the “magic journey” vibe we were using with Will and our silly wisecracks, and in no time had Will laughing and smiling. My wife and I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Children’s lets one of the parents come into the OR and wait with their child, so I got suited up in my funky hair net, respirator, and coveralls and went in with Will. (And yes, I’ll post the obligatory pic of us in my typically ridiculous fashion) Once we got him on to the bed proper, they got him squared away and put the mask over with the grape smell that he liked. Thirty seconds later, he was out.

That was the toughest moment for me, having to leave him there and walk out of the OR. I knew he was in the best hands possible, but the idea of leaving him behind…yeah, definitely a toughie.

Outside, we waited and about an hour later, Dr. Mandel came out and gave us the good news that everything went perfectly. Again, his demeanor was incredible. Can’t say enough great things about him and his team.

We went in about twenty minutes later and Will was already awake, eating a cherry popsicle. He was a little out of it, naturally, but seemed well enough to request an orange popsicle after that. By about 11:45 we were in the lobby getting ready to hit the road for home. But not before the obligatory gift shop stop where we grabbed him and his brother some balloons, and a few other gifts.

And that’s it. Nothing too serious, but you’ll forgive me if I don’t go into exact detail about what this procedure was for. It’s not germane to the conversation at hand. And I think it’s enough to say that everything went exactly as it should have, much to the relief of his cool, calm mother and his neurotic father, lol…

Once again, thanks to everyone who chimed in. It means the world to me.

So my youngest son goes into the hospital tomorrow and I’m nervous.

Now, this isn’t something serious (thank god), but he does need to go under general anesthesia. I’m not nervous about the procedure itself, because it’s pretty minor. But I’m nervous because this is the first time he’s going to have to deal with being scared of something he’s got to go through. In other words, mom and dad can’t handle it for him.

I’ve often told people that when I was younger, I thought I knew what fear was. I’ve been in plenty of bad situations and have gone through many encounters and met plenty of bad folks along the way that pretty much gave me a fairly good idea of what fear was and how to best handle it. Well, I also tell people that I was wrong to define it only based on myself. Because as soon as I became a parent, fear took on a whole new meaning. Any parent will tell you that there’s nothing quite so scary as suddenly realizing that your children will have to go through their own bad times and face their own forms of evil…without you around to rely on. The best any parent can do is to try to prepare their children as well as they know how and hope for the best.

So tomorrow’s one of “those times.” My wife and I have tried to make it fun for him, but I know that when he wakes up tomorrow and we drive in to Children’s Hospital, the poor little guy will have that gnawing fear in the pit of his stomach. It’s a feeling I know all too well. My little man is going to have to take a deep breath and walk through it.

I’ll be taking my own deep breath as well. Probably a lot of them.