Almost there

Just a few more days to go. We have to be at the hospital early Friday morning in case something happens with Dr. Petit's first scheduled surgery and we get bumped up from the second spot. Either way, since Jackson can't eat or drink beforehand, we're hoping we don't have to spend too many hours in a continuous round of responses as he signs "I'm thirsty" and "I'm hungry."

When Darrell took him for the body scan last November, Jackson couldn't eat or drink then, either. It was especially tough on him that day because the scheduling got messed up and the procedure happened way later than it was supposed to. I wonder what that lady thought when Jackson picked up her coke in the waiting room and started drinking it.

The pre-surgery part, however, doesn't concern me nearly as much as the post-surgery part. Jackson has never stayed overnight in the hospital (except as a baby), and as I've shared before, he's intolerant of any medical professional doing anything to him. Anesthesia makes it even worse because he's confused and extremely upset when he wakes up.

After both of his outpatient dental surgeries, Jackson was in recovery for hours while Angy and I tried comforting and calming him. The last time, it took both of us and two nurses to restrain Jackson. He fussed and cried, made loud, guttural noises, gagged, threw up, and generally created havoc. (I felt the most sorry for Jackson, but also for the other people in the recovery room.) When we finally got him in the wheelchair to go home, he clapped and smiled, then remained calm and content.

Jackson and I spent the afternoon together on MLK Day last week since we both had the day off. We did what we usually do when he visits—relaxed on my bed while he played with the radio on the headboard, played with my hair, blew kisses, and watched Sprout on TV. I muted the TV because we were listening to snippets of all kinds of songs, including Christian, country, rock, pop, classical, jazz, and Tejano.

At home on his computer, Jackson listens a lot to Justin Timberlake and Miley Cyrus—our "baby Jack" is growing up! His favorite song is apparently Justin's "Cry Me a River." My mom (Mema) said he listened to it at her house for hours in the middle of the night.

During Jackson's visit, he was on my computer for a little while, searching for videos using words like "anesthesia" and "infusion pump." He watched several related videos, the last of which was "FDA Studying Cleaning Procedures for Arthroscopic Shavers." I guess he's trying to learn all he can before his surgery.

We also went on Jackson's favorite outing—to Walgreens for body spray and jelly beans. (The photo was taken after an outing with Mema.) Jackson is obsessed with spraying the air and himself. As usual, I let him spray some out the car window, occasionally on himself in the bedroom, and all he wanted to outside on the patio. Recently when Robert and I forgot to hide the body sprays and colognes before Jackson came over, our bedroom was virtually uninhabitable that night, and the smell lingered for days. One inside place I'll probably let him spray is his hospital room. (Oh yeah, I'll be packing a bottle.)

Please pray that everything on Friday goes well—the waiting, the surgery, the recovery—and that we don't get in trouble with the nurses.