The Surgery Rundown

After sleeping for maybe about 4 hours, I woke up to my alarm immediately!  I was so nervous that I’d oversleep and arrive late to the hospital, so it seemed like I slept with one eye open.  Anyone else do that when you have to be somewhere really early in the morning?

Our bags were packed and we were as ready as we were ever gonna be.  We woke Brady up at the last possible moment.  He was as happy as ever and had no clue that this was the last time he’d wake up with his special mouth.  Luckily, he didn’t act hungry in the least, since he was not able to eat or drink anything until after surgery.

We kissed Savannah, told her goodbye (she was fast asleep and didn’t hear a thing) and then we were off.  We had to be at the hospital by 6am, but we left our house a good 45 minutes before that to ensure we found everything okay.  We made especially good time and arrived at the VCU Medical Center around 5:30am, only to realize that valet parking doesn’t begin until 6am (they recommended we use valet to make it easier).  Sometimes it doesn’t pay to arrive too early, huh?

We changed our little guy into his “gown” and met briefly with all the teams that would be caring for Brady.  It took some time because there were so many people to talk with and we had to sign our life away!  I also got in lots of snuggles, which was fine with me!

The crazy thing was that between all the different doctors, residents, and nurses, we probably spoke with about 15 people who would be participating in Brady’s surgery.  Everyone was wonderful and so very kind.  (The anesthetist didn’t have much personality, but he was still nice and very professional.)

Once we had the go ahead, the anesthesia resident gave Brady some medicine to make him groggy.  (Once back in the OR, they would use some gas to put him to sleep, place the IV, and then administer the general anesthesia medicine).  While anesthetist was nice, I especially appreciated the resident.  He gave me some time to give my final hugs and kisses and then I handed him over to him to take him down to surgery.  He was so gentle with him. 

They took him back around 7:30am or so and Kev and I headed to the cafeteria to get some breakfast, where I got a little choked up.  The OR nurse told us she would call us all throughout the morning to let us know how things were going.  She held true to her word and was so wonderful!  I appreciated the constant communication so much!  Here’s a brief timeline.

8:00am – Got the call that IV’s were set and the ENT portion was beginning.

9:00am – Got a call from the ENT who placed the ear tubes.  Things went well and Brady passed the hearing test once the fluid in his ears had been drained! {PRAISE THE LORD!}

9:30am – Got the call confirming what the ENT had already told us and to let us know that Dr. Rhodes was starting the cleft palate repair portion!

10:30am – Got the call that the cleft repair was going very well and they would be wrapping up shortly.

11:15am – Got the call that he was out of surgery and was snuggling with one of the nurses in recovery. {PRAISE THE LORD!}

Dr. Rhodes came to the waiting room and spoke to us briefly after she had finished up.  She warned us that his mouth would look like a bomb blew up, but that it was totally normally and would heal up just fine.

We were called back and taken up to the recovery area for a bit.  I was so happy to see Brady again and get to hold him.  We spent a little while up there while we waited for our room in the Pediatric Progressive Care Unit (step down unit from the PICU).  Brady had to be monitored for 24 hours since his breathing was going to feel different after the cleft was closed. 

He was super groggy and not a happy boy, but I was so thankful to get my hands on him.  He slept a lot and I literally held him the entire time that we waited for the room.
 
We finally made it to our “room” in the PPCU.  There were curtains instead of walls and lots of beeps and alarms to be heard, as well as moans and cries from babies/toddlers/children.  As much as I hated the idea of spending the night in a recliner, I was thankful they would be monitoring him closely.

I wish I could say that our afternoon was smooth sailing but it really wasn’t.  For a while there, I felt like all the nurses were doing was drugging our little guy.  He was pretty inconsolable in the late afternoon/evening and the only thing that helped was Atavan (an anti-anxiety med).  Thankfully, Dr. Rhodes checked back in with us and told them to increase his dosage of pain meds.  Apparently, the dosage they were giving him was too conservative and they were now playing catch up, which is never a good thing.

Finally, at around 8:00pm, they pulled out the big guns and gave him a dose of Morphine which totally did the trick and settled him pretty well for the night.  From then on, alternating Tylenol and Ibuprofen did the trick (with maybe 1 more dose of pain meds before we left the next day) and he was much more consolable if he did get upset.

I slept in the recliner with him in my arms almost the entire night.  It was not easy, but I would not have had it any other way.  I did end up putting him down in the crib when I had to use the bathroom and he luckily went right back to sleep, so I decided to take advantage for a couple of hours.

Kev came back the next day and brought me some breakfast (and a Diet Coke- VCU only serves Pepsi!).  He helped relieve me a little bit, which was nice.  Everyone checked back in with us during the morning and let us know that his monitoring looked so good that we’d be going home as soon as the 24 hours was up.

Brady was getting a little restless and I could tell he just wanted to be unhooked from everything and move around freely.  The nurse finally took out his IV and removed his pulse-ox because she could tell they were bothering him.  He was so much happier with even just those removed!  I was also really pleased that he was taking his bottles.  He was so much happier than he had been the previous night and we even got a few smiles out of him!  

We were finally able to go home in the early afternoon on Thursday!  Here’s what we saw when we pulled up and walked to the door!  It looks like Mimi and Savannah had been up to something!  I was so happy to get home, give Savannah a hug, and then hop in the shower and get some fresh clothes.

We are so thankful that this first surgery of this journey is over (we are hoping he will not need another but time will tell)!  We could not have asked for better care for Brady.  Everyone who cared for him was just as concerned about his comfort as we were, which was such a blessing and relief.

I also need to THANK YOU all for your constant prayers, calls, and texts throughout the day.  I was able to pray for everyone who had commented on this blog or on Facebook (and many others as well), which was a fantastic way to keep my mind focused on other things.  So special!  God was so good to comfort us and I know He was with our little man in that operating room as well.  I love how God can do that?!!  {THANK YOU, LORD!}     

I’ll make sure to keep you all posted on the healing process!

And for the record, there is still NO PLACE LIKE HOME!