Surgery Day

Well today was quite the long day but we have gotten through it. We reported to Children's Hospital at 10:30 for Jake's pre-op and everything went smoothly but then the waiting game started for what was a scheduled 12:30 surgery time. At first, passing the time was smooth as Jake wasn't complaining about the pre-surgery fast and was running around and laughing. Interesting enough, a show was put on for patients by a school choir playing bells. Jake watched intently and then was even more enthralled by a few clowns that came by and played with Jake. Some Galaga and Ms. PacMan also helped further accentuated by the arrival of Jake's Aunt Stacey. By 1, we started to get a little nervous and were promptly told it would be at least another hour. We were concerned for Jake especially due to the lack of food but he was a trooper. We spoke with the Dr.'s and it was nice to see Dr. Upton four years later from the time he gave Jake complete hands. We reviewed his surgical plan and basically they install a distractor into Jake's hand which has four pins inserted into his thumb and hand. We will manually help space and grow Jake's thumb by turning the screw with a special wrench. The end goal being 30 mm that will provide the space for his bone graft surgery which is part two in a month. Yes we get to come back here and do this again. I brought Jake into the operating room and even though this is his eighth surgery, it is never easy to watch your son be put to sleep while you try to calm him. 30 seconds feels like an eternity but a necessary step. We spent the next four hours anxiously waiting with Stacey to see the Dr and Jakey once again. Dr. Upton finally came out and discussed the surgery with us. He was pleased with everything they were able to perform and is confident his thumb will come out longer and straighter helping his hand function. They were even able to remove some of the skin grafts from the the other fingers. Dr. Upton is a perfectionist and I think he looks at Jake's fingers as a work of art and always wants to fine-tune. We were handed a metal stretch tool for post-op care, ugh not sure we are ready for that aspect. Then it was time to see Jake in post-op recovery. He was agitated and disorientated which we have come to expect. Always tough to see him like that but having his mom climb in bed with him worked its magic. Jake has been sleeping since and is sleeping off a tough day. Jake is one tough cookie and each ime we go through this is a reminder of his beautiful soul as none of this has embittered him. He takes it in stride and always comes into the surgeries laughing and smiling. Our golden rule after surgery is get to the smile. Once we get the first smile we know our Jakey is back and ok. We root for a peaceful night for our little angel and hope the pain will be bearable tomorrow.