Post-Op Day 1

Last night was pretty uneventful and in a hospital uneventful is welcomed.  The rash continued to pop up in select spots but the medicine appeared to have gotten it under control.

Mornings in the hospital bring rounds and you begin to see the mini armies of Dr.'s coming to examine your child and ask you how everything is.   The nurse asked us if we wanted to listen to rounds which was helpful to hear the Dr.'s talking to each other and running through the vast list that makes up Jake's care.   We continued to push the unknown cause of the allergy attack to see if we could make any progress to finding out the culprit.  We discussed items with the plastics team, anesthesia teams, PICU teams, neurosurgery teams.  The list goes on and on.

From a medical perspective, there hasn't been much change as Jake is being pumped full of sedatives and pain meds to keep him in a state of slumber while his swelling seems to increase hour by hour.   It is very difficult to describe but you find yourself in awe of what is happening to his head right in front of you.   But in some ways this part is almost easier versus Jake being awake, agitated and letting you know he is in pain.  That will come Monday.

We did learn a couple of things today.  First, the head anesthesiologist let us know that Jake was very stable during the entire surgery, minimal blood loss and couldn't have gone better.   Hearing these comments helps deal with the situation as it will have a positive effect on his healing and well as long term effect.   Additionally, the Plastics team did let us know that they may actually cut the sutures to open Jake's eyes on Sunday versus Monday so that was a possible new item but makes sense that they would want him to see first before they pull the breathing tube so that he isn't completely agitated by both.

Throughout the day, Jake was bleeding a bit through his nose and head but nothing serious more of slight drainage as the swelling is looking for places to escape.

The biggest challenge today was when they needed to move Jake a bit and clean his bed and sheets.   Jake actually kicked out a couple of times and it was the first movement we had seen from him.   Hard to watch wondering if he is in pain but as the nurses put it, very good to see and to know he is in there.  Not good if he is doing it all the time but a couple of times to show he is still in there inside the sleep is a good sign.

Jake had some visitors today but he is laying in bed resting mostly while his head continues to grow to some very swollen proportions.  They say 48 hours is peak swelling after surgery but it is hard for us to imagine how he can get any bigger.

On a positive note, we are blown away by the outpouring of support today for the Hustle Kindness movement and personal dedication this Friday to Jake.  We saw hundreds of posts, photos, videos and most important support for our Jake.  He will be so excited when he is able to watch and view everything.  Thank You all for rallying behind him and we truly think the positive support will yield positive vibes for Jake and his healing needs.

**Special Note for those that didn't know about Hustle Kindness and the charity Peach's Neet Feet, we encourage you to take a few moments and go to the site as you can always order shirts but the charity led by Madison "Peach" Steiner does amazing things for kids facing struggles.  Then, she also started Hustle Kindness as an additional social movement encouraging people to change the world around them by being kind.
More info at www.peachsneetfeet.com