Yesterday Colby's surgery was scheduled for 9:15, and guess what? It pretty much did. I got up at 5:00, took my shower. The nurse came in and helped me give Colby his final special soap bath. Then we gave him his IPV and CoughAssist treatments. Thought it was best to get him cleaned out for surgery. Then the gang rolled in to see Colby before he took off to the OR. My dad was already here with us, but then my mom and stepdad, along with Colby's dad and stepmom, came up for the surgery also. We all got to spend some time with Colby. He was laid back and cool as a cucumber. Again, seriously, he amazes me. They came and got us around 8:30. Colby's dad, grandpa and I went with Colby down to surgery holding. That place was a zoo. At that point I thought it would be a good idea if Colby got some "happy juice" so I had them give him a dose of versed. The surgeon came in and talked to us briefly. Said the surgery would take approx. 4 hours. Whaaaaaat?! That's not what we were told, first I've heard of the operation taking that long. But whatever I suppose. Obviously it takes longer for a final fusion. Wish someone had mentioned that prior to 15 minutes before going into surgery.
We kissed and kissed all over Colby. Told him how much we loved him. Told him how brave and cool and awesome he was, and just like that, my sweet boy was whisked away to surgery. Then the waiting game began. They started to surgery at 10:52. My BFF came up and sat with us during surgery. How wonderfully thoughtful is she? Very! And she brought me snacks! Trying to stay out of the Oreo fudge mint crèmes, but come on now, they are just too good. They updated us once and said Colby's surgery was still in process and things were going well. Then they updated us again and said they were getting ready to close Colby. Seemed like forever between then and when the surgeon came out to talk to us. For the most part, the surgery went as expected. Colby did great. He did have to have 2 units of blood, which the surgeon said was not uncommon. However, they did nick a sac at the bottom of his spine. Whaaaaaat?! The surgeon didn't seemed worried about it. Whaaaaaat?! The precaution we have to take for that is Colby has to stay completely flat for 72 hours so the sac can heal. Super duper. Then they sent us upstairs to PICU to wait on Colby to get from surgery to intensive care.
And we waited. And waited some more. Like my dad says, hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait. A lot of that goes on when you're in the hospital. When I first saw Colby, his face was swollen, as they said it was be. But he didn't look as badly as I thought he was. But we had some other issues to deal with first. His heart rate was 145. Not cool. Plus I could hear the gurgling in his mouth and trach, he needed suctioning badly. So Mama jumped in and started helping wherever I could. I said, uh yeah, he needs pain meds, like NOW. That helped get his heart rate down considerably. Then once we suctioned him out well, that seemed to help too. I liked our nurses yesterday. They all seemed to know and understand what was going on. No major miscommunications or screw-ups as of yet. Thank ya Jesus. Our night was fairly uneventful (our favorite word) besides dealing with Colby's pain issues. The Pain Team had recommended a PCA (pain pump) but they didn't want to put one in yet because Colby's blood pressure was a little low post surgery. So overnight he got valium and Robaxin for muscle spasms and Fentanyl for pain. Fentanyl is great in that it starts working quickly, but crappy in that it also wears off quickly. As a rule, it lasts for 2 hours. Almost like clockwork, at the 1.5 hour mark, Colby started whining, crying and his heart rate and blood pressure would start to rise. Again, the overnight nurses were great. Knew exactly what to look for and took great care of my kiddo. I was up every hour or so helping them access him, move him, etc. Of course Colby is in pain, but overall I would say he is doing exceptionally well, considering what he has been through in the last couple of days. What a trooper!
In rounds this morning we got a lot of stuff discussed and figured out. They took out Colby's arterial line. It's always good when tubes and wires start coming out of your kid and not in. They are going to access his port and get rid of 1 of the 2 peripheral IV's they inserted yesterday during surgery when he was under. And he's getting the PCA (pain pump) with some major happy juice running continuously - morphine. I've been to lunch, now I'm in the Family Resource Center doing this update. Anxious to see how he's doing when I get back upstairs. Hopefully he's zonked out and resting with that creepy one-eye-open-the-other-closed look he gets when he's in a deep sleep. Also really hoping I can get in a power nap. I'm tired but not at that zombie exhausted stage yet.
That's it for now. I'm happy as can be as to how things are going. I know so many people are praying for us and thinking of us. Thank you, thank you, thank you. It's much appreciated and I can feel the love up here in Cincy. Seriously, I can. Thanks to all who support us in so many ways. Surgery over, time to get this boy better and get us home!
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