Surgery Day: Part 2 of ???

Once Owen got carried away by the friendly anesthesiologist, we went back to our waiting room to do just as its name states.  Wait.  After we felt we got our fill of waiting for the day; we, you know, waited some more.

Around 9 they started the procedure itself, after an hour or so. Around 10:30 the Nuerosurgeon came out and said that his part of the procedure was finished.  He does the actual incision and cuts the skull. He examined the brain and duramatter. He says all looked perfectly normal and there was no damage--praise God!  As to be expected, Owen's brain sort-of relaxed and expanded a little bit after they opened the skull.  So Owen can say au voir to his squished brain and embrace the room he has to grow a nice round head!


After waiting some more for the Craniofacial Plastic Surgeon to do his part, we see someone we know at the reception desk.   Surprisingly some of my family from New Madrid came up to visit. I saw my Granny, my Aunt Janice and Uncle Dempsey.  They were in town for another appointment & decided to stop over--that is after they mistakenly looked for us at Barnes-Jewish.  But eventually they made their way over to the Same Day Surgery Waiting Room.

It was nice to have them come and take our minds off the procedure and the fact that we are just waiting, waiting and waiting.

After a long while the plastic surgeon came out and said he was done reconstructing the skull and they are stitching Owen up.   Silly us thought we would be able to see Owen soon after that. After, all the plastic surgeon said in about an hour to an hour and a half. Silly doctor must of used "hospital time". Little did we know...that really that translates into 3 hours & 15 minutes in normal people time.  So around 3:15 we were in Owen's PICU room.

I was totally prepared for seeing Owen lethargic, swollen, oozy. But the moaning. Oh, the moaning got to me.   Why didn't I think of preparing for that heartbreaking sound?  Of course I cry.  Those moans say everything that he isn't able to articulate.

Thankfully God has blessed us with great staff at Children's.  Our Bitty Baby is on morphine and that seems to help.    I could tell, though, that he was needing another dose right before the nurse came in. Man, what would I do to be in his place.

Owen has things in just about every limb.  His left arm, otherwise known as the home-to-his-favorite-thumb, has a few thing-a-ma-jigs; he has a iv in his right foot; blood pressure cuff on his left foot, a catheter in, well, where they put catheters, sticky heart rate monitors on his chest, and to top off, he has a drain coming out of his skull.

Overall, they said the surgery went well.  Being at the ripe ole' age of 14 months, Owen's skull was a little more difficult to maneuver.  Dr. W didn't get the back of his head the exact way that he would've wanted. It is a little bit more round that they prefer, but Owen's bones are just too thick to work with.   The bump in Owen's forehead also couldn't be worked with at this time.  Dr. W said that as Owen grows, it will smooth out.  However, Owen's head is officially one inch wider. Pretty amazing, huh? The way they did it kinda reminds me of the crazy Chinese procedures to lengthened their legs....but way less involved. Those crazy, short Chinese have to be in the doctor's care for about a year to get their legs lengthed a few inches. Give the American doctors 5 hours, and you get an extra inch added to the width of you head! See American made products aren't all bad.

Owen's little brain did drain more fluids than is typical (which is really one of the reasons it took so long for us to see him).  The staff is monitoring him and made us well-aware of the possibility of a second transfusion.  

                                      

As of now, Owen is doing fair. He is a little moany.  He will open his eyes for a few seconds.  He has even muttered a few words. "Mama" "Dada".  They aren't the happy mama and dada's that I am used to unfortunately.  These are the "Mama, help me...please let's go home" kind of Mamas.  Yeah.  Heartbreaking.

So, just as he continues to call out for us, we continue to call out to God.  God, please comfort our son.  We know you feel pain when he does. We know you don't want him any discomfort & that the pain I am feeling you are feeling ten-fold. So please, Lord, watch after our Bitty Baby.  He needs you. But then again, who doesn't.