Children's PASS clinic appt.

Yesterday was a LONG day for Tommy. And in general, he let me know it was too long all day. We had developmental playgroup from 9-10:30am at Whatcom Center for Early Learning. I should have known that his fussiness then was a sign that the rest of the day would be similar. I took Liam to Promise for the rest of the day and then Tommy and I drove to my parent's house for a wonderful lunch and visit.

Then continued down to Children's for PASS clinic which is the prequalify anesthesia surgery clinic. He will be in surgery on June 3rd for clogged tear ducs and second set of ear tubes and needed their approval for anesthesia clearance. And that is where the decibel level got really high, he screamed and screamed and screamed. Nothing worked. He knew exactly where he was and who the nurses were and he wanted nothing to do with anything. It breaks my heart that as much as I use my words to inform him and my arms to comfort him, there is nothing that is helpful. We are now at the point of parenting Tommy that we simply need to make the best decisions for his medical care and trust that God is walking with us, and carefully tend to his emotions, but in the end he will be so upset and not understand. It is heartwrenching. I would love to know from each of you ideas for kids with cognitive delay in gaining comfort in places that they know it's going to be painful. Next time I'm bringing our portable dvd player and continuing "Finding Nemo" for the fifth time that day. Honestly, it gets him through. It is his happy place, watching that movie might have gotten him thru the appointment. But, in the end, the two nurse practicioners couldn't get a blood pressure, no oxygen saturation, no conclusive clear lungs, nada. One pointless trip. The nurses simply said we have been thru enough surgeries to know if he is okay on the 3rd and use our judgement. Heavy sigh.

So, I needed a little 'pick me up' after that appt and so did Tommy. We ran around outside Children's to get our smiles back on and then decided to visit our friend E who was at a neighboring hospital. He is slightly younger than Tommy, equally as handsome, and has Ds along with Hirschsprung's disease. Tommy was THRILLED to see E's mom and immediately wanted outta the ergopack. I was thrilled to see E's mom and E and know they are well and healing quickly. E's mom is intelligent and savy about medical issues and over cold hamburgers we got a chance to catch up. Oh the joys of having medically involved kiddos.

So, I'm asking for input on bringing Tommy comfort at clinic appts. He does really well traveling so that's not an issue. It's just once we get into the clinic room he knows he doesn't want to be there. Yelp.