We have been preparing since May for the impending surgery to correct Tres scoliosis. Even though he has been through multiple orthopedic surgeries I have been dreading this one. He has been counting down the days. His back has been causing him so much pain, he could barely tolerate more than a few hours in his wheel chair. Per my usual routine, I was up very late the night before surgery. Keeping myself busy on daily life rituals kept my mind away from worry filled “what if” kinda thoughts. I finished a few cases for work, made sure everyone had clean clothes for the week and loaded the dishwasher in the hopes that someone would remember to unload it the next morning. We had to be at the hospital by 6:00 am. His surgery was 5 hours long. How I detest waiting rooms. Long hours waiting on a few second calls here and there from the surgical team to let us know how he is doing. Watching other families pace back and forth and hearing one mom’s sobs as she heard news from the trauma team about her son stretched my nerves thin. Finally the call to let us know Tres was moving to the recovery room. The doctor came in to review the before and after x rays of his back. The results were amazing. The first x-ray showed an almost hook shaped spine while the second was perfectly straight. To me it was a beautiful reassurance that we made the right choice by going with the surgery. Tres daily life will be better for it. Later looking down on his face grimacing with pain I had to remind myself of those thoughts and tell myself day two would be better.