C-Dog Mama: Surgery

In my mind, surgery is never something to take lightly. Whether one goes under the knife for a life saving procedure or for a cosmetic augmentation, surgery is still surgery. The patient is placed under anesthesia and a surgeon works magic by making incisions in the body. I hate the thought of ever having to undergo surgery. I was extremely grateful that I was not required to have a c-section when giving birth because of my fear and ill feelings about surgery. I have thought about a possible breast reduction down the road but hesitate because I do not want to have surgery if it is not necessary. It scares me immensely.

When my pediatrician told me that my not yet one year old son, Charlie, would most likely need surgery, let’s just say that I did not take the news lightly. I tried to put my fears aside and focus on the positives. Having the surgery and determining the cause of his “missing testicle” could have a positive impact on Charlie’s life. Not having the surgery could leave a messy problem unsolved that would only need resolving later. Not having the surgery might also increase his chances of getting testicular cancer later in life. Thus, we opted to go with the pediatrician’s advice and allow someone to cut into my precious son.

The days prior to Charlie’s procedure were filled with apprehension on my part. While I felt right about our decision to move forward with the operation, I couldn’t help but think of the worst possible scenarios. Now, I’m not usually the kind of person who always jumps to the most horrible conclusion for such events, but with my kid, my baby, I couldn’t zap these thoughts from my head. I had visions of the doctor coming out of the operating room with a long and sad face, ready to tell me the bad news. My biggest fear was that Charlie would have a negative reaction to the anesthesia that would affect him for the rest of his life.

And now for my rant…Last Tuesday, just 3 days before Charlie’s surgery, I received a call from the urologist’s office stating that my insurance will not cover his surgery if we had it at the already scheduled location. They told me that I would need to reschedule it for another location, which would require us to wait 2 months AND would be during the time that Neal would be out of town. Again, they call with this information only 3 days before his scheduled surgery. Not feeling satisfied with this information, and in a fit of anger, I called the insurance company. I got the same response that I had gotten from the doctor’s office. The gist was that we would be covered at Baptist and at LeBonheur Downtown but NOT at LeBonheur East. Does this make sense to anyone? Well, it did not make a bit a sense to me. So, while waiting not so patiently on the phone with my insurance company, I began to cry in frustration. I tearfully and plainly told to customer service representative that I was mad. I was mad that I was given this information only 3 days before my son, MY BABY’s, surgery. I was mad because the stupid policy did not make sense. I was mad that I had to wait on hold for 5 minutes only to accidentally get hung up on, requiring me to call back and wait on hold again. I was mad. Period.

Finally, the CSR decided to get her manager involved. Apparently, when checking to see if an insurance company covers procedures at certain locations, they use the office's tax i.d. So, when the urologist’s office gave the 2 tax i.d.s that they use, the person at the insurance company only checked one. The wrong one. When she checked with her manager, who told her to check the other i.d. #, it was determined that in fact, I could keep my appointment at LeBonheur East and that it would be covered. So, the moral to this part of the story? When it comes to insurance companies, don’t take anything at face value.

We went through with Charlie’s surgery as originally scheduled. The mystery of his missing testicle was solved once the doctors were able to take a look at him from the inside. A hernia. A hernia! A small hernia in his abdomen left the perfect little opening for his testicle to retract into. They pulled his little testicle into place, repaired, the hernia, and voila – done. It was painful to watch him wake up from the anesthesia. He was in such a state of confusion and discomfort. The poor thing was dizzy and crying; his lips were even a little purple because his crying led to a slight lack of oxygen. He finally fell back asleep in my arms. We took home and babied him for the rest of the day. It took all of Friday for the effects of the medication to wear off, but on Saturday, he was back to his usual self, runny nose and all.

Watching my baby be whisked off to surgery was one of the most difficult things I have had to go through since leaving him in the NICU after his early arrival. I don’t think he has any clue what he went through on Friday, and I am grateful for it. He will probably look back on these pictures and feel proud because he was so brave. I’m certainly proud of his bravery. And grateful that this is behind us.

This is how we distracted Charlie since he was not allowed to eat or drink anything prior to surgery. It surprisingly worked!