Surgery

I wasn't green today.  Today I took my daughter up to Akron Children's Hospital for outpatient surgery.  She had to be sedated, which is very far from natural.  I was scared to death, she was fine.  It was only for a mole on her left temple to be removed, not a huge invasive surgery, but just that small procedure requires general anesthesia when it's so close to her eye and she's a squirmy five-year-old.   It gave me a new appreciation for parents of special needs kids who are constantly in and out of the hospital for medical procedures.  It was really hard to trust someone else with her life like that.  I don't usually think of myself as someone who doesn't trust doctors or avoids going to the doctor until things are REALLY bad.  I was surprised how easily I was spooked by the whole thing.  It was more about the anesthesia than the procedure.  I've had moles removed...they take about 5 minutes in the doctor's office.  But I've never been under general anesthesia.  I've been in the hospital 4 times, my birth and the birth of my three kids.  Only one of those kids was with anesthesia, which wasn't a good experience. The idea that she was going to have heavy, strong medications in her body made me nervous.  I didn't know if she would have a bad reaction, if she would have a hard time recovering from the anesthesia, or if everything would be fine. 
It turned out to be the latter, luckily, but for that hour that she was under, I was going through lots of bad scenarios in my head.  None of them happened, so I'm not going to dwell on it.  I'm just going to think about how much I was surprised by my fear for my child.  It let me have a little glimpse into the mind of those parents who shun all medical intervention.  It's scary! But today I  realized that although I do my best to stay green and as natural as I can, I'm not one of those parents.  It was hard to let go of that control and trust strangers with her life, but I'm glad I did it.  The staff at Children's really lived up to it's reputation.  I was very pleased with our entire visit from admitting to discharge.  So thank you Children's Hospital!  I appreciate how well you cared for my child and how you helped me up my comfort level with hospital grade medical care. It made me so thankful that THIS was my initiation into the world of pediatric hospitalization and not the poor kid in the burn unit that I overheard my daughter's surgeon telling his staff they were going to see next, or the crying toddler in the bed next to her in recovery who had been traced and was crying with the raspiest voice I've ever heard, or the kid across the hall who was sobbing because his throat hurt and his mom was telling him he couldn't go home until he drank some fluids and took his meds.  I was lucky.  And I recognize that.  I have 3 3/4 kids.  Something tells me that this is not going to be my last visit to Children's Hospital.  Chances are the next visit may not be as planned and minor as mole removal.