Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Caleb's pre-surgery class

Last night Caleb and I went on a special date. We drove up to Primary Children's for a pre-surgery class. It was awesome. They showed us a cute video about all the different things that will happen next week (on tuesday). Then they took the kids to one side of the room and the parents to another area. They explained all the pre and post op instructions and registration type stuff to us while the kids got to see things like IV's, stethoscopes and other stuff. The let the kids smell different smells that they can give them in masks to make them fall asleep (the anesthesia). Then the kids each got a "hospital buddy" and some dr gear and they got to play with all the equipment. Yes, as you can see from the pictures Caleb chose the only African American buddy in the pile. Hey, but that's ok. I just thought it was funny. We named him Jamal. Caleb loves Jamal and has taken him everywhere with us today.



After the playing they took us on a tour of the out patient area and all the rooms they'd be visiting. Primary's is so amazing in how great they are for the kids. The have a huge play room to wait in before surgery; they let the kids choose if they want to ride in a big wagon, a wheel chair or their bed when they go off to surgery; they have lots of fish tanks and pictures painted on the ceilings and everything.

Going there also really put things into perspective. There was a little boy in the class that had no arms and no legs. Caleb said, "He has no feet. How come he has no hands or feet?" I said, "He was just born like that." He said "Was I born like that?" I said, "No, but you were born with a puffy lip. We were all born with different special things about us." There was also a girl with no ear. It was all closed shut. Makes me realize we don't have it so bad. Anyway, I am really glad we went to to the class. I think it helped a lot. After the class we went to Mc Donalds and had dinner and played. It was a great date!

11 comments:

Melissa said...

Oh cute! When's his surgery?

Melissa said...

Nevermind!!! Apparently I need to read more carefully. Good luck Caleb! Does he have to stay in the hospital overnight?

The Ackerman Family said...

Caleb looks so cute with all the Dr. stuff on! What a sweet experience! I hope all goes well!

Kelly said...

oh my goodness.. that got me all teary. Rog thought that was the coolest thing that they do that for kids. Please call me and let me know how everything goes.. love you all

Camille Law said...

Wishing you guys and Caleb all the best on his surgery next week. We will be praying for you. Thanks for a great visit with us in Vegas Linds! Miss you more! Next time we will be hitting the gym together. Thanks for your friendship.

courtneyb said...

oh, that's special. i'll be thinking about the little guy. Brody misses his bud so much!! If Ryan won't come home in December, I may just get pregnant now so I can come home with the kids without him. We've only been here a day but I feel bad for Brody. Maybe I should have never let them play together! j/k
good luck!

Cathie said...

What a great class for the kids and parents. Will be thinking about you and praying for Caleb...will check back to the blog to see how it went.
Great pictures and stories about the beach, the triathlon, etc.
p.s. maybe we'll get to see you all more often with Mary and Stan moving back to this area.

Anonymous said...

loved this post! i may or may not have gotten a little emotional just reading it...i just love him thats all :) anyways, good luck!

nicole said...

He is such a cute little boy! We will be praying that his surgery goes well!

Katrina said...

Good Luck on Tuesday! Go get 'em, Caleb and Jamal! :-)04

Saun and Wes said...

That is so cute! I wish Jackson could have surgery just so he could go experience a fun little class like that. You tell Cal-uv that we think he is so lucky to get to have surgery! That is so cool!