Payton's Surgery

Today Payton had surgery at Cook Children's. For those who didn't know, he had to have surgery to remove a potentially cancerous spot on his leg and in his lower abdomen. The surgery was supposed to be done November 20th, but with Brayden being born early and Miranda still in the hospital at the time, we had to move it. Payton has had many surgeries as you know but as he gets older, he is getting more aware of what is going on. Before he would walk in and do what the nurses said and not ask questions. Today he walked in and when they told me to wait in another room while Miranda went with him so they could get his vitals, he began to cry. The nurse asked which one of us was going to into the room with him and I said I would wait for them in the prep room. Miranda told me when they went in he began crying and told the nurse he said both of us. She said he kept saying both of us.

After thee met up with me in the prep room he would look at us and begin to cry, just a few tears would streak down his face, tears of fear. He kept saying he didn't want us to leave him. When it was time for him to go into the preop room they told us again that only one of us could stay with him. So I kissed him on the forehead and told him I loved him. After about 15 minutes, Miranda came out and we began to wait. When you sit in the waiting room while your child is going under, time seems to creep by. The surgery was only supposed to take an hour. At the 1.5 hour mark we began to get worried. Then the doctor came out and said everything went well, the spot in his abdomen took a little digging to get too. After Payton got out of recovery, Miranda dropped me off at the NICU so I could spend some time with Brayden. I waited till shift change to leave and come home and that's when Miranda told me about Payton.

While driving home in Ft. Worth traffic Payton was sleeping in the back seat, Miranda would talk to him every few minutes to make sure he was doing ok. Then while sitting in traffic he didn't respond. She yelled his name and he still didn't answer. She turned around to look at him and his face was pale and his lips were blue, he had quit breathing. She reached back and grabbed his hand and shook it, raised it up and it fell limp on the seat of the car. She began to panic and scream his name hysterically. She grabbed his arm and began shaking it vigorously all the while yelling his name at the top of her lungs. After what I'm sure felt like minutes he opened his eyes and said," what mommy" like nothing had happened. After that she began talking to him every minute or two trying not to let him go to sleep again. She told me that after her heart quit racing he began sobbing and shaking. You think that after your kids get older they are safer, but you can never let your guard down, anything can happen in an instant. As I sit here writing this I can't help but tear up as thought of what might have happened if Miranda had not been paying attention and keeping an eye on him. Sometimes I pick on her about being over protective but the truth is I don't know what I would do without her. She is an excellent mother and a wonderful wife. She has saved that little boys life more than once.

She is amazing!!

After I got home, she jumped back in the car and is now back at the NICU with Brayden while I keep watch over our first little miracle. Who by the is supposed to be resting and taking it easy because of the hole in his leg and the stitches in his stomach, just managed to climb down off his bunk bed without telling me he was getting down. A parent's worry never ends.



Payton after his surgery. Right before this video he told me his surgery made him feel like an old man. I ran and grabed the camera to try and catch this. He was trying to climb in his bed earlier and I tried to help him but he told me NO, he was a big boy and he didn't need help.