Brave

We got back from the Hospital at around 6.15 pm. Despite being very apprehensive this morning, Ethan kept asking when we were going. We finally left here at around 11.00 am, and wandered up the road to the train station to get the train into town. When we got off the train, we made a quick pitstop into Somerfield and then got to the Hospital just before twelve.

A student nurse came and explained everything to Ethan, and did his weight, blood pressure and pulse etc and then put anaesthetic cream on the back of both his hands, and then we saw the anaesthetist, who explained how they would do the anaesthetic via a cannula in his hand. Next visit was from the SHO, who explained the ins and outs of the operation, and then we saw the Registrar, who went through all the risks with us (some of which were new to me - like the risk of recurrence of the problem, and the risk of damage to the vas and/or vessels with the resultant death of the testicle). Nevertheless, it is important to get this done, as undescended testes can cause infertility, and an increased risk of testicular cancer.

Eventually they led us to a bed for Ethan, and I popped off to the loo. I came back to find that he had been called for surgery and was already in his gown, ready to go. We walked up to the Theatre with him and into the anaesthetic room. Crikey, he went under so fast ... literally seconds after the anaesthetist started putting the white liquid through the cannula - I had time for a quick sleepy kiss and that was it, he was out for the count.

We went back to the ward, and I ate my lunch (Colin ate his literally as soon as we got on the ward at midday, which I wasn't too pleased about given that Ethan was hungry and it wasn't really fair or nice to sit eating in front of him when he couldn't have any). Colin went to sleep (how very typical), and I did a few more rows of my Hedera socks and then played a bit of My Sims Kingdom on my DS, before it was time to go back up to Theatre (we'd been warned the procedure would take about an hour, but it was around one hour twenty minutes). When we arrived in Theatres he was just coming round and seemed happy to see us.

Back on the ward again, they got him settled in his bed, and then the blankets came off so that they could check the wounds and we could see what had been done. Poor little man, he almost has a caesarean-type scar - he has two cuts each about 3-4 inches long on his 'bikini line', and then a cut right across his scrotum. I must say they have done a very neat job though.

Ethan being Ethan demanded food. Unbelievably he scoffed a cheese sandwich, a bag of crisps, a chocolate flapjack, a yogurt, and then they brought round dinner, so he had sausage, beans and chips and some ice-cream too (little fat piggywiggy). The nurse said he could get dressed, but when he got off the bed and we took his gown off, he bled a little bit - but the nurse said that is to be expected. He looks very bruised too, bless him. We managed to dress him, and then armed with his discharge papers and medication we set off for home. We took a taxi home, and thankfully the driver was fairly gentle with his driving so that Ethan wasn't bumped around too much.

Since we've been home, his shorts have come off, and he's been lying on the couch demanding to watch what he wants on TV. I've just had a look at his wounds, and they were sticking to his boxer shorts a bit, poor little fella, but he's okay. He had some Calpol at 7.00 pm, and he can have some Ibuprofen at 10.00 pm, and I think he's relatively comfortable all things considered.

I am just totally blown away by how incredibly brave he's been. There wasn't one tear, or murmur or anything. He just trustingly did whatever was asked of him, and I couldn't be any prouder of him. I'm the luckiest Mummy on the planet (naturally) to have such an inspirational, fabulous, wonderful little boy. *wonder whether I will still feel like that after two or three days of being his personal slave though!*

It also seems that the information we were given at pre-op was wrong - we were told he could go back to school after 2-3 days, but today we've been told he has to have a week off. Not a problem really, as I could really do with a week off, and at least I will get to spend lots of time with my wounded soldier. Anyway, I'm glad the worst is over, and I can stop worrying about it. Now we've just got to hope that everything heals nice and quickly with no complications.