surgery tomorrow

Sometime tomorrow morning Joshua will have his 3rd (and hopefully final) surgery to close the hole in his eardrum. This time will be a much bigger deal than the last 2. We have to go downtown to the main campus of Children's Hospital because they need better equipment to do a longer more complicated surgery. He'll have a more difficult recovery because he'll be under sedation longer and because they'll be cutting through the back of his ear instead of going through his ear canal.

Last night a friend asked if he was nervous about it. I said I didn't think so. As far as he knows, it's no different than any other time. My theory was confirmed at breakfast this morning as I listened to a conversation between Joshua and Patience. I couldn't write it down at the time, so I can't pass it on word for word as I usually do, but you get the idea.

J: Tells P that he's having surgery tomorrow.
P: Asks if it's fun.
J: Assures her that it's really fun because you get to ride in a wheelchair and have a special treat. (They gave him an Icee last time after he woke up.)
P: Says she wishes she could have surgery, too.
J: Tells her she can't. She has to go to school. Then proceeds to describe in more detail how fun surgery is.

Despite Joshua's enthusiasm for tomorrow, we would appreciate prayers for him. The 2 of us will be fighting rush hour traffic to get into town. Then we'll have a long wait plus however long surgery and recovery take. I'm hoping to get caught up on my reading and finish one of the many books I'm in the middle of. We'll see.

I'll post a report once we're settled back at home.