SURGERY UPDATE - HERE WE GO

Things are going swimmingly here at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. You don't hear me say that often, do ya? We drove up yesterday (Colby, my dad the world's pokiest driver, and me) and checked into the TCC (transitional care unit) around 6 p.m. We had such lovely neighbors, another SMA family! Loved seeing them but hated seeing them here in the hospital, know what I mean? Stopped Colby's feeds at midnight. They accessed 1 of Colby's port lumens easily with no problems or crying from Colby or me lol. Started him on fluids. Gave him a cough treatment bright and early today at 6 a.m. They were right on time to pick him up for his 7:30 a.m. trach surgery. We were down in surgery holding by 7:40 I think. While we were there, I asked Colby if he was scared. This time he said no. Of course, there were 3 chicks (nurses and RT) standing around, so he was probably just being a typical macho dude.
 
Colby's surgery went well, done by Dr. Arjmand, who was highly recommended to us by 2 other SMA families. The surgery was, in his words, wait for it...UNEVENTFUL!! Our absolute favorite word. No problems, no surprises, no hiccups, no snaffoos. From there we packed up and went to the PICU, our home away from home. Good to see familiar faces. Our nurse today is Super Steve. Poor guy. He's the one I bitched out last hospital stay when Colby's TPN infiltrated, then told him okay, go find me somebody else to yell at! But I apologized and he doesn't seem to scared of me this time around, haha.

So where are we at 1:49 p.m. Tuesday, May 22? Colby was zonked out for a long time. He's been stirring around for an hour or so. He had his 1st cough treatment, which went just fine. We're holding off on the shaky vest for now. My dad and stepdad have headed back home. Mama will be with us for the next couple days. So I guess the plan is tweak Colby's settings as needed. They took a blood gas 2 hours post surgery and the results were great. Give Colby pain medication as needed. Start learning as much about trachs and trach care as possible. Find out what soups are in the cafeteria today. That's our plan!

Just wanted to send a quick update to let you all know Colby's surgery was on time and uneventful and that so far, he's doing great post-op. If I haven't mentioned it lately, Colby is the sweetest, bravest kid I know. Love that boy! So proud of that boy! THANK YOU to everyone for keeping in touch, calling, sending texts, praying for us, etc. Today starts a new chapter in our lives. I'm just hoping this good luck/uneventfulness (is that even a word?!) continues. More soon.