10/29 Surgery

A bittersweet day as today marked Jake's left hand surgery but due to a postponement today is also Olivia's 5th Bday.  We celebrated already as a family knowing we would leave the house before she woke up and would not be home to see her.  Always a sad notion but Jake has always helped us have a healthy perspective on what is important in life and we know Olivia supports the brother she loves so much.

The day started early as we had to leave the house at 5am to arrive at pre-op time of 5:30 at Childrens Hospital.  During the routine pre-op exam, Jake started to develop anxiety, asking questions about why he has to have surgery.  He is getting older now and it is probably expected that he will remember his times in the hospital and associate them as a negative experience.  We do try to explain what the surgery will accomplish so he can at least grasp the necessity but nevertheless his reaction and skepticism is understood.

Interesting sign as we headed up to pre-surgery, a woman sharing the elevator was wearing a Sons of Anarchy sweatshirt.  Funny how things like that make you wonder about signs even though work was the furthest thing from my mind.   We met with the team of Drs to discuss the surgical plan with our main goal of communicating Jake's allergic reaction during his last surgery that caught everyone by surprise.  We wanted to ensure we left that problem in Boston as subsequent visits to an allergist have yet to confirm the exact source although the likely culprit  is porcine which is contained in a gel foam used in certain surgeries.

Before long Jake was given medicine to calm him prior to surgery.   Soon he had the swagger of a drunk sailor with a big smile on his face.  Garbage truck videos on YouTube calmed him as we awaited the 7:30 surgery time.  Then it was time and we kissed our brave little guy goodbye and headed downstairs to wait.

The estimated surgical time was three hours which ultimately turned out to be over four.   We had the grandparents with us to pass the time and help calm us as we watched the digital board for a sign of completion.  Finally, we were told to head upstairs to meet with the hand surgeon.  Due to the surgery running an hour longer, our worries grew as we waited over 20 minutes more for the Dr. in the consult room.  After what felt like an eternity, Dr. Panossian entered to allay our fears and pronounce the surgery a success.  Jake's abnormality in his left thumb was corrected by straightening it while deepening the web space between his thumb and forefinger.  Additional fine tuning to his other fingers was performed to improve upon skin grafts from his prior surgeries.  Best news, there was no allergic reaction so we dodged the mystery that we had been so worried about.  Unlike his previous right hand surgeries, Jakes's cast ends before the elbow so we hope that alleviates prior issues experienced with above elbow casting.

It was off to recovery as we rushed to see our boy.  Jake was agitated as was the expected reaction coming off of the anesthesia.  We did our best to calm him and soon he fell back asleep to rest some more.  When he awoke, Jake threw up a bit which has become an expected post-op ritual.   We took turns so the grandparents could see Jake. Afterwards, my parents wished Jake well and Sam's parents went to visit Luke and Olivia at the house especially because Dan arrived this morning from Israel coming straight to the hospital.    We made our way to Jake's room and proceeded to deal with his continued reaction to the anesthesia.  Poor kid trying to throw up with nothing in his system.   We spent the rest of the late afternoon helping him get comfortable and soon he was resting peacefully again.
By 5pm Jake said he was hungry and we delivered a twin cherry Popsicle.  It was great to watch him enjoy sucking on the Popsicle although unfortunately it was short-lived as Jake has continued to be sick all evening.  We hope he feels better soon so we can be released tomorrow but we will take it one step at a time.  

Sam will stay with Jake tonight giving him the motherly love he needs.   We hope tonight brings Jake a restful night and we can get past the sickness stage.

At least Day One of surgery #10 is over and our little fighter continues to be brave on his journey.