Mummy Hand & Conehead

Meet Mummy Hand.

Mummy Hand, aka Lane, started off his spring break a day early by having outpatient surgery this morning to remove what everyone thought was a ganglion cyst on his wrist. He had to be at the surgery center at 6:45 a.m. (!!!!) for his 8:00 a.m. procedure. We arrived and they took him back, changed him into a cute hospital gown, hospital-issue non-skid socks and lovely compression stockings that he has to continue to wear until Wednesday! I would've loved to have a picture of those, but in the process I think I would've found out that my camera is, in fact, destructible. They hooked him up with an I.V. (he was not fond of THAT) and 30 minutes after they should have started, wheeled him back to surgery. It turned out that it wasn't a ganglion cyst after all, but a vascular lesion - a tangle of blood vessels that he's probably had since birth, but as he grew, so did they. All of it was removed and sent off to pathology, though there seems to be no cause for concern. After almost two hours in recovery and lengthy post-op instructions, he changed back into street clothes (along with the fashionable stockings) and put into a wheelchair for his trip out to the car. He did not think any of this was necessary. He was ready to hop up out of bed and move on with his life. The nurses were a little more on the cautious side. So was I and thought he'd be pretty wiped out, at least for today. But he IS a tough guy, or at least has age and health on his side. We were given prescriptions for three medications: an antibiotic to prevent infection, Darvocet for pain and an anti-nausea medicine. I only filled the antibiotic as, even now 12 hours later, he has no pain or nausea and does not understand why I will not let him go off to hang out with his friends tomorrow. I'm being completely unreasonable apparently.

Meet Conehead.

Conehead, aka Maisie began pawing at her eye, squinting and having icky eye discharge last night. My unprofessional diagnosis: doggy pink eye. But as the vet was closed last night and I had Mummy Hand to deal with this morning, the vet visit was postponed to this afternoon. After a couple of tests, his professional diagnosis: Corneal ulcer, also known as...doggy pink eye. So she's got an antibiotic cream and eye drops and her own fashion statement of this lovely canine Elizabethan collar. Poor thing has no peripheral vision and keeps bumping into things, but we can't have her scratching her eye.

So I'll be passing out meds to the boy and his dog for the next several days. And Tim will spend the first half of his spring break chauffeuring boy, dog and other children to assorted medical appointments. Followup appointments for Mummy Hand and Conehead, a well-check for Reed, a checkup with Lane's ADHD doctor and the piece de resistance...BRACES REMOVAL on Monday! Stay tuned for a new post with pictures of the new and improved Lane!