Target...it's not just for shopping anymore!

We got the call on Wednesday night. Zac was scheduled for a 3 p.m. surgery. He has never had a late surgery before. He's always been up first. A 3 p.m. surgery can eat up until 7:30 a.m. and then after that...nothing but clear liquids until 1 p.m. We had to be at the hospital at 1:45. Unfortunately, the no milk after 7:30 rule definitely tipped Zac off. He knew what was going down and kept saying "Josh..." and "bye-bye". He had a total meltdown and it was all I could do to throw everything I thought I needed for the hospital into a bag and put him in the car. So my friends...what do you do when you have almost 4 hours until you have to be at the hospital and you have to keep your child's mind off of food. You do what any quick-thinking woman would do...you head to Target. Yep...that's right. Target, the third happiest place on Earth (after Disneyland and Starbucks of course). I spent over 3 hours in Target, a lot of it in the toy aisle. It worked great to distract Zac and I even filled his prescription while I was there - they really should pay me for this free advertisment LOL.

When it was time to head to the hospital though, the fit started up again. When we got into the hospital room, it was unlike I had ever seen him before. You see, the wonderful thing about doing these surgeries so early is that these little ones won't remember much, if anything at all and usually, they don't have a clue what is happening. The trade off is...instead of getting easier each time, they get a little harder because children become more aware. Zac was screaming for his "jacket" and "hat" because to him that meant we were going bye-bye. The nurses were not shocked since they see this a lot I am sure, they kept asking me if I was okay and all I could think was..."do I have a choice??" Then it happened. I reached that point...that point where you can no longer hold back and I started to cry. I shut my eyes and said a short prayer for strength for me and peace for Zac. And it was answered with some anti-anxiety medication for Zac...and for me...God sent friends.

Just when I thought I reached the breaking point, there were Mim & Susan from Dr. Bauer's office there for nothing else but to give me support. I am sure that Christine had something to do with it because she was amazingly committed to making my birthday special. After Zac (and Tow Mater) went in for surgery. The nurses at pre-op presented me with a birthday brownie and Mim and Susan kept me distracted at the hospital cafeteria with great conversation and a bright pink and yellow box of chocolates. I am so grateful to those two women not only are they amazing medical professionals but they are phenomenal, compassionate ladies and I am so lucky to have them in my corner.

It seemed like only minutes after heading to the surgical waiting room that Dr. Bauer came in to tell me about Zac's surgery. Zac had a small skin tag removed from his right ear, removal of the rest of the two satellites on his left leg and two expanders placed. One expander on the top chest area that will hold 750cc of saline; One expander from the front, left abdomen diagonally across the side up to the shoulder that will hold 1000cc!! The biggest tissue expander we've had yet. We spent the night in the hospital because the surgery was so late in the day and had the same excellent care that I have come to expect from the hospital. While Zac stayed distracted watching Cars 2 and cuddling with Tow Mater and his musical seahorse, he managed to get the rest he needed and stayed comfortable. I even got my birthday cake - a very yummy mini-bunt cake with white frosting, sprinkles and an edible candle - courtesy of The Meltons ;)

We headed back to the hotel, took a nap and woke up to a flurry of snow!! Zac is resting well surrounded by a plethora of cars and watching Cars 2 on the iPad for the 15th time today. Please continue to pray that he has little pain and heals quickly. He is definitely vocalizing the pain more than he did previously...and that hurts mommy too. Thank you everyone for your overwhelming birthday wishes and prayers for Zac - that was the best birthday present ever!!!