Surgery Day 9/13/12

We got a late start on the way to the hospital. Between getting everyone up and out we actually got to the hospital at around 9 and change, but we were due to be checked in by 9. We got there and got everyone to the check in desk and I pulled out my wallet to give them my ID and it wasn't there. *sigh* I told you all it would happen too! I made an extra note on my list and everything. I never put it back in my wallet after we checked in at RHMC (they needed to make a copy) So the options were either (A) go back to RHMC and be SUPER late to go in or (B) them go up and check him in without me and then take me back later. So I had sent them up and then realized, hey I have the insurance cards. Leave it to me, sigh. After about 20 minutes of frantic searching through the diaper bag and a near heart attack about completely missing his surgery, a security guard  came to my rescue and was like "If you've been here before it will be in our system" well thats nice, why the heck didn't the front desk mention that while I was standing there freaking out?!

So I finally made it upstairs to the surgery check in and had all the paperwork signed and insurance cards run. They took our numbers so they could call/text us when there were updates about the surgery. We all hung out in the play area of the main surgical waiting room to keep the boys occupied. We finally got taken into the back to the pre-surgery wing. All the normal blood pressure, weight, height, etc was  taken. We were in there for what felt like forever. We met with the anesthesiologist, a few different nurses and a child life specialist. She tried to get Logan to like the mask to put him under (he had to use it 3 times before, NOT A FAN). It so did not happen.

So much time went by that we heard nothing, it went 2 hours past our start time. My poor munchkin hadn't eaten anything since "dinner" the night before, which was cheese and crackers at the zoo. He kept asking for water. We tried to distract him but he was so hungry and so thirsty. It broke my heart every time. It was like torture, you could see the desperation in his eyes. We gave up on watching TV in the back pre-op room and moved onto the pre-op play room. FINALLY we saw the doctor. We had our conversation sitting in little kiddie chairs. He told us that there had been a trauma case which made the whole situation way more understandable. We did a once over talk and signed another piece of paper. We were given 2 free meal tickets for Logan for the inconvenience of waiting so long. Dr. Magge also asked if we wanted him to save the hair. It never even occurred to me to do that but I said yes, it'll be good for a scrap book one day.

So back we went to the pre-op room with the anesthesiologist. He gave Logan a drink that made him a bit loopy so he wouldn't fight the sleepy gas as bad. We couldn't go back with him while he was completely sedated because the room was sterile. So we said our "I love you's" and gave our kisses and he was wheeled away.

We went back into the family room to wait. Children's National has a TV alert system set up in the waiting room. It lists all of the surgeries by number and is color coded. White for surgeries that have yet to start; yellow for surgeries in progress; red for surgeries that are finished; and blue (or maybe it was green?) for those who had been transferred to the PICU. They also listed the time it was last updated, even if there was no change in status. So we waited and waited and waited. Took some cafeteria trips, Talon took a nap, Nammy and Pops got there. We waited and waited and waited some more. Our screen hardly ever updated.  We did get some good nurse reports. Nothing substantial though. Just "So far so good" "He's doing really well" "They're almost done" etc. We met a really sweet lady in the waiting room. Her name is Melissa too. Her son is 17 and was getting a port put in his chest. He has sickle cell anemia. Our kids were the last ones in surgery, the waiting room was otherwise empty (even the front desk), so we got to talk a lot. We all sat down with some really bad coffee; charging our phones which had all died by this point too. 

We left Logan in the hands of the anesthesiologists around 1:45. We got notice that they were starting to close at 5:45 and didn't see the surgeon until 6:45. Longest 5 hours of my life. Talon was super restless at this point, running around like a mad man. He made friends with some toy dinosaurs. We were all rather stir-crazy.

Our whole crew piled into one little discussion room to hear what Dr. Magge had to say. He told us that everything had gone great and that there was very little blood loss. He also told us that he discovered a few other incidental issues. His dura was thicker than normal, he has a bifida in the first vertebrate, there was a good amount of scar tissue, and a whole lot of extra tension and fibers where there shouldn't have been.  There is a bit of debate among the family as to what he actually said they did and what happened so when I get the technical surgical notes I'll post more details. The point is though, that they fixed everything they found, and that the blood and spinal fluid flow was noticeably improved immediately.

We were directed towards the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit)  shortly after the meeting. The group of us had to wait in the family waiting room until his room was all set up. We saw him being wheeled into his room through the double doors. That's when I made the last post, while we were waiting to finally see him. Some quick snackage was grabbed from the vending machines.

Danny and I walked into the room in the PICU, it was big and there were so many machines. He was so distressed. His eyes were swollen, he had blood dripping out of his nose, he hurt, it was so sad. Two IVs, an arterial line kept in place by brace, blood pressure cuff, three sticky wires on his chest, and a catheter. They had already taken out his breathing tube, you could tell how hurt his throat was (its still not entirely better).  I had held myself together up until we saw him, I lost it when he started crying. The first thing he said after he was coherent and talking to us was "I love you" to daddy. *cue tears* He kept saying "go peepee" too, proud mommy moment of him being so well potty trained, sad mommy moment knowing he couldn't physically get up to do it. He was crying about it, it made him really upset with himself, which in turn made me sad and pouty.

We traded family out one by one so they could see him. Pops was crying at the sight of Logan in this state. I can't blame him, I was too.

The night continued on with tons of medicine and beeping machines and no sleep. We had two VERY uncomfortable chairs that were SO not meant for sleeping in. Obviously there was no way they were going to be able to get rid of us though. I got a total of (maybe) three hours that night, and it wasn't consecutive. Its funny though because Danny only got 3 hours too, we kept missing each other.

The incision looks great, hes a real zipperhead now. By morning he had gone through maybe 6 different bandages on it. None would stick, he was so sweaty they kept sliding off. Towards the end of our stay in the PICU they gave up and just covered it up and wrapped half his neck in tape to keep it in place.

Over the course of the stay he's been on morphine, valium, tylenol, steroids, zantac, antibiotics, fluids.

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The next post is going to depict the days following, however, I'm sure they will blur together on here, because they blur together in my memory.