Recovery

Yesterday Colin had his third surgery in 18 months. That seems like a lot to me, but I now know that for many kiddos, that’s nothing. However, Colin isn’t “many kiddos,” he’s my baby. And it’s hard to see your baby going through painful things (even, I suspect, if your baby is all grown up). 

We were lucky enough to get scheduled for the first surgery of the day at 7:30. This works out well because Colin doesn’t usually eat breakfast until close to 7:00, so we minimize the “I’m cranky because I haven’t eaten” period before going in. He obviously knew something was coming, because he did not sleep for more than about 25 minutes at a stretch the night before — with the exception of the nice hour and 20 minute stretch I had to wake him up from when it was time to leave. 

Being whisked out of bed and into his jacket right away really threw Colin for a loop this time, and he was very fussy as we got started. But he settled down pretty quickly, and had fun exploring the lobby after we got to Children’s. In fact, he did great until about 20 minutes before they took him off for anesthesia, when he realized he was hungry. 

The surgery went well. They expected him to be in for four hours, but were able to complete everything in about three and a half. He didn’t need a transfusion this time around, and the anesthesiologists didn’t see any reason to keep him in for observation since he had no problems with the last two surgeries. [Yeah!] So we had a “normal” outpatient experience this time around.

The surgeon was happy with the results. They were able to get five layers of tissue over the “tube” they constructed to house the urethra. This minimizes the chances of the entire construction breaking down as it heals. This is our biggest risk (not to his health so much, but to the success of the surgery). It is a very long graft, and so has a higher risk of not holding. But the surgeon didn’t see anything during surgery that led him to believe Colin faced a high risk for problems — this is just a potential issue anyone having this surgery would face. 

After the worst of the anesthesia wore off, I was able to go back to recovery to hold him. He perked up as soon as he heard my voice, and was happy to be handed over into my arms (although he seemed quite content with the nurse before that). The nurse brought me a bottle of apple juice to give him, and he started in on it right away. 

Unfortunately, 4 ounces into the bottle, the post-op nausea kicked in, and up came the contents of the bottle (and a lot of phlegm) all over him and me. Luckily, I had shifted him upright when he started coughing, so the blankets caught most of the mess and he was able to get it all out without problem. He ended up throwing up two more times, at which point the doctors approved an anti-nausea medication for him. 

He did need one nebulizer treatment to open up his lungs — his blood oxygen levels were hovering just a bit too low without it. But after that kicked in, he seemed to perk up considerably. And by 2:30, we had our prescriptions in hand (love the in-house pharmacy option — they deliver to your room), a package of Goldfish crackers for the hungry boy, and were waiting for the valet to bring our car around (totally worth the extra dollar). We were home by 3:00, and Colin and I were beat.

Colin took a nice two-hour nap, despite Veronica enjoying the attention that comes from being an only child for the day (she LOVED having Grandma and Grandpa and the house to herself all day). She was dancing and singing and running around and throwing shoes (it’s a form of recreation in our house these days — a tossing game more than throwing, really). He woke up in time for dinner, which he had quite an appetite for.

Although John had to lay in the room with him to get him to sleep, Colin slept through the night and didn’t even wake up when his pain medication wore off. He woke up at his usual 5:00 time, and is upstairs enjoying a bottle in his crib. I still haven’t given him more pain medication, because he didn’t seem overly uncomfortable and his fever is very minor. 

Our biggest challenges will be keeping him (and Veronica) from pulling out the catheter, which is through a port in his stomach, directly to the bladder (those tubes are just so convenient to tug on), surviving the removal of the bandages on Monday, and hoping that the bladder spasms aren’t too horrible. (He is on medication to help control those too.)

So I’m hoping my little fighter bounces back as quickly from this surgery as he has from everything else he’s been through. He is one tough kid, and seems to heal well.