Mom Knows Best -- Originally Published December 15, 2007

Today is the first day of the pre-op antibiotics. Last Thursday we saw the pulmonologist for our pre-op checkup with them. On Tuesday, we start pre-op nebulizers. I guess we really are going forward -- it is starting to feel pretty real.

We also had an interesting discussion with the pulmonologist last Thursday, too. We were discussing pre-op preparation (medicines, etc.), and they wanted to have Michael on a low-stress dose of steriods by the anesthesiologist "because he has had systemic steroids before." He has? I didn't remember that, and neither did Daddy. We grilled the doctor -- "which medicines were steroids?" He mentioned a few I KNOW Michael had never had. He was sure Michael had had them -- we were sure he hadn't. The closest we got to steroids was a discussion about what happened if Michael didn't kick the last infection on antibiotics alone. But, it was never necessary. They checked and checked the records. They checked his last hospital stay, too, but nothing. We get the feeling that they had him confused with another baby -- which is interesting because it means that despite being sick all of November, Michael was not as sick as they had remembered him being and in fact was substantially better off. (We even think that until their recollection was refreshed, they had thought Michael's stay in the hospital overnight for observation had been lung related and had been longer then the overnight that it was.)

None of this is very important except that it is encouraging to know that Michael is stronger than expected and has handled his infections better than the doctors' recollections or expectations. It is nice to know when things are going well. And, it is a good warning to us that if we want Michael's airway to be measured in the winter, we will need to remind them of all the reasons we think he is a good candidate for winter testing despite the greater risks of infection. (One of his doctors is not in favor of testing until spring, but the others have not said, "no" yet.) As tempting as it is to think that our kid is so cute and special that everyone remembers everything, he really is one of hundreds they see every week.

Michael continues to play the nap game. He will nap for some nurses and absolutely refuses to for the rookies. He plays them like a fiddle and tries to convince them he really isn't tired. He cries, they pick him up .... you know. For mom, at least, he tries a different tack. He beats himself on the head to stay awake -- crazy kid!

Anyway, in truth, Michael is not relaxed around some of the nurses, and it doesn't matter whether I am in the room or not. If he gives in to sleep, he jerks himself awake at the slightest sound or movement, which is exactly the opposite of what he does with the experienced nurses or in the evenings with us. It makes me think that post-op might be a napping nightmare if Michael's anxiety kicks in. We will all have a lot of work to do to keep him calm, cool and collected. We've asked his favorite nurse from home to stop by the hospital on Friday to say hi if she can. Maybe seeing her will make things better. And, there is a small chance that one of Michael's favorite NICU nurses will be his post-op nurse in the PICU. We're actually hoping so, but we'll have to see if the scheduling works out.

Well, all we can do is wait and hope that no illness gets in the way between now and Thursday!