Thursday, December 12, 2013

Surgery Over - Jack Is A Tough Little Guy

The surgery is over and we are home. Jack did great!!
I dropped Julianna off at my friend's house at 5 am. I then went to pick up my friend Cathy who was kind enough to accompany me to NYU for Jack's surgery. We parked at about 6:15 and made it to the sign in area by 6:30, just when we were supposed to be there.
All the paperwork went smoothly. Each doctor came in to speak to me before the procedure. I explained Jack's lung issues to the anesthesiologist. She said she would get some extra things set up in case he had any problems. Dr. Roland came in and he told us it should take about 2 1/2 hours in the operating room. He said the actual procedure would be about 45 minutes per ear.
Almost exactly 2 1/2 hours later Dr. Roland came out to speak to me. He said Jack did well, but he did have some breathing issues during the surgery. His oxygen saturation dropped significantly at one point and the anesthesiologist gave him an albuterol treatment. He responded positively to that and they were able to keep going. They did not have trouble extubating him.
I saw him in recovery pretty quickly. He had some blow by oxygen but he was still sleeping. He had a huge bandage on his head. When he starting waking up we gave him a small bottle of water, then diluted juice and finally formula. He was obviously in pain and they wanted to give him fentanyl. I asked if we could try him on tylenol first. They finally agreed and he fell asleep shortly after the tylenol.
We left NYU a little before 2 pm. I made it home in time for the school bus. Julianna was happy to see me and Jack but she was also pretty happy that my frind's college age daughter would be taking her to ice skating. She also took her to school in the morning and helped her with the kindergarten Christmas project, a milk carton and graham cracker gingerbread house. I was supposed to go with her but I could not because of Jack's surgery. They were allowed to bring another special person if a parent couldn't go. I was a little worried about not attending this, but she seemed to have a great time.
Jack had a bit of a restless night. He had significant bleeding and his bandage was soaked through by the morning. Dr. Roland told me to expect this. He also said Jack would have a lot of bloody drainage because he has the tubes in his ears and they allow more drainage out. I took the bandage off this morning (as directed) and I was amazed to see that the incision lines are barely noticeable. They are behind his ears and there are no sutures. Dr. Roland told me he was closing it all from behind and there would only be two absorbing stitches. I am not sure how they do this, but it is pretty amazing. His head does look a little swollen. His body does not look too swollen today, but it did yesterday. They gave him some steroids just before the surgery (for his lungs) and that made him pretty puffy.
I am glad the surgery is over. We will be going for activation in the beginning of January. Thanks for all the good thoughts, prayer and assistance!!!

2 comments:

  1. FANTASTIC!! I've been thinking about you! I am so glad you are on the other side of the surgery. I hope Jack recovers quickly and you get to have some nice quiet holiday time before gearing up for activation day. So happy for you :-)

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  2. Glad for you all went well.
    Your kids have a great mom.
    Bspector@rogers.blackberry.net

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