Our Brave Boy

This little man is the biggest champion in my book.

As soon as my guy started feeling better!

He is tough.

This is Andrew's 'before picture'.  We will take an after picture when it heals up a bit.

I went in to last Thursday as the most nervous momma.  I didn't sleep a wink on Wednesday night and I kept going back and fourth in my mind, trying to decide if we were making the right decision.  I'd heard that this procedure was extremely painful and I started wondering if it were worth it.  If the outcome would be significant enough to be worth the pain it was going to cause my sweet boy.

And...when we got to the doctor's office, the nurses didn't put my mind at ease {ugh!}.  They told me that I would not want to be in the room.  That I wouldn't want to hear my sweet boy's cries...and I did what they recommended because I knew {deep deep down} that they were right.  But, Brandon stayed.  He said he could handle it.

Keep in mind...before the left home we gave Andrew a Valium and once we got to the doctor's office they gave him Nitrate gas to make him feel pretty good about what was going on.  He was a little loopy...singing and smiling and thinking everything was silly.  He was relaxed and that's just how we wanted it.

Andrew's drowsy, silly face.

I went to the waiting room, talked with the receptionist for a few minutes, changed the channel on the TV, got a cup of coffee, took a couple of sips....and they were done!  It was super fast.

I went back to the room and there was my sweet boy {with a swollen mouth and a a sad face} who immediately climbed to my lap, got some love from his Momma, and said he was ready to go home.  We got some instructions from the doc and then we headed home.

Brandon said he was the bravest kid he'd ever seen.  I mean, shots in your mouth and then a laser....ouch!  But Brandon said he was tough and just whimpered a little.

The Nitrous Gas was flavored like bubble gum and this is what they used in the mask.  Andrew loved the way it smelled so they sent it home with him. This goofy boy wanted to wear it on Friday and look like a piggy.

It seemed like smooth sailing from here, but Thursday's pain medicine quickly wore off and it was hard on my Andrew-Man.  It was painful.  He was sad and hungry and tired and all of us were pretty excited to just call it a night on Thursday.

These two are also so amazing.  They put up with my stressed out nerves and helped take care of Andrew.  They are the sweetest boys!

We ended up giving Andrew 1/4 of a dosage of some pain medicine {my paranoia about medication was in full force} and after that he was a completely different kid!  He woke up on Friday morning and it was like nothing was any different than it was before the surgery.  He ate a cinnamon roll, watched some cartoons, played some games, and we even attempted a trip to the playground!! {Although it was pretty hot!}

Ever since then, Andrew's been his normal, sweet, spunky, silly, jabbering guy!  And...he's enjoyed a lot of bomb pops!

Bomb Pops for breakfast!

After hearing horror stories about this {seemingly simple} procedure, I had no idea what to expect from our Andrew-Man, but I have been so amazed at his attitude about this whole thing.  It's like he knows what it's going to do for him.

Almost every day, I tell Andrew how proud I am of him for being so brave.  His response, "No, Mom, me not brave...me is scared."  It melts my heart, because isn't that what bravery is?  Doing something, even though you're scared.  I wish he wasn't scared, but I am truly amazed at his bravery and his spirit about going through this procedure.

He is our brave boy.