The day is here for Jake's surgery

Of course, Joel and I stayed up till all hours of the night avoiding going to bed.  We knew that when we went to bed, we would soon wake up and get ready to take Jake to his surgery.  That may have backfired on us as we are exhausted now, but everyone deals with things in their own way right :)!  Well, needless to say, it was inevitable for this day to come.  It is here....today, the day that we have been dreading since we heard the word "possible surgery."  Want it or not it was going to happen!  So we get up and Jake happens to wake up earlier than he normally does, what are the chances?  We've now got to occupy a 4 year old to not want to eat or drink anything until his surgery at 11:10am?  I banned the entire house of eating or drinking anything until he left to surgery.  Let me just tell you this, it is possible, because he did it!  Amazingly he never really asked for anything, and I thank my in-laws for being here that made this possible!

He was playing, giggling, and having all kinds of fun!  Meanwhile, I am watching him with my eyes flooding with tears already and we hadn't even gotten to the surgery center yet!  Geez, this is going to be a tough day, I say to myself as I try to get myself ready.  On the way to the surgery center he got some toys and made an angel, and says, "look mommy an angel!"  I said, "wow," and he said, "remember when I made an angel in the snow?"  "Yes, I remember Jake!"  At that moment, I knew that he was surrounded with angels and that he was protected!  It was pretty awesome, it was exactly what I needed!  Earlier in the morning, my cousin called me who recently lost her 15 year old daughter, Alexis, out of nowhere with an illness that she got.  Well, my cousin called me crying and told me that she told her daughter Alexis to be with Jake through this.  She also told me that she told Alexis to let me know that she was with Jake and I believe that when he made an angel out of toys, that was it!

Mommy, enough kisses!

Silly Juice with smiley face in his left ear

We get to the surgery center and it is time, just like that!  Wow, Jake is a champ!  He is one of the bravest kids I know!  He goes back to surgery with his Captain America doll and his Halloween Garfield movie playing on the dvd player.  Life is good on silly juice!  Let me tell you, I was about to ask for a shot of that silly juice myself, because my anxiety was through the roof!  Of course, I cried the tears that I had been holding back since I woke up that morning and my most AWESOME husband comes to my rescue with, "he's going to be fine, Annette, we've got to believe that he's going to be fine."  I don't know what I would do without my husband, he truly is amazing!  So the tick of the clock starts as the countdown starts for a 3 hour surgery.  It was probably the longest 3 hours of my life.  It felt like a lifetime, but we managed through it!  "Mr. and Mrs. Garcia, the doctor is ready to talk to you!"  Joel and I could not run over there fast enough!  "He did great!"  What a relief!  The doctor stated that he fixed the hole with the skin graft, which he believes will be successful!  He also stated that he did not touch the bones, because during a reflex test the bones were functioning the way they should.  The doctors gut was telling him not to touch them, to leave them alone, and see how Jake's body tries to mend them back together!  Another relief!  This journey is still not quite over yet, but the surgery was over and it was a great moment for us!  It is now time to see Jake!  Jake was quite, but awake!  He slurped on his popsicle that was given to him and was ready to go home.  We got home and he bounced back to himself, which was so great to see.

Came out showing Gig'em :)

Let's go  home!

I'm so happy to be home!

  He has truly amazed me in this journey and I believe that all the support and prayers is what has given him the strength and courageousness to endure this experience that he has had to go through!  We will continue to take this journey day by day and continue to have faith that god is here with us every step of the way!  I pray for a quick and speedy recovery and that Jake continues to be pain-free and able to swim, something that he is been wanting to do, sooner than we expected!  Lots of love to everyone!
Jake, Ayden, Annette, and Joel

It has been a long day!