Recapping the day of surgery.....

Getting spoiled by Mom-Mom and Aunt Megs - cupcake post-op and popcorn and Elmo...

I think the day tired everyone out.......

What they do best.................

Playing before surgery.....Matthew loves his cars!

Since I am trying to keep this blog and turn it into a book for Matthew one day, I wanted to go back and recap the day of surgery for Matthew.... So, here's a little glimpse of our day on Tuesday....

We were up and at the hospital at 630 in the morning. We only had a short wait before we were whisked off to the pre-op area by a super nice nurse. The only bummer was that Aunt Megs had to sit in the waiting room since only 2 of us were allowed back with him. We got all of Matthew's vital signs, etc done and thought things were going great, and then they told us he was the THIRD case and the first case hadn't even started yet!! We did manage to keep him occupied with some new cars Chris and I bought him for post op fun, and they had Elmo in Grouchland on the TV, but we were all a little stir crazy just waiting! The nurse came in and gave him his "giggly" juice cocktail(Versed and Tylenol) around 840 and we started out with the silly looks and fascination with stickers, but that soon after turned into a horrible reaction to the Versed. There are rare times this happens with kids, and this was one of those times.....he was crying, inconsolable, flailing all over, just beside himself and there was NOTHING we could do about it. Chris and I kept taking turns with him because it was exhausting trying to hold him with his body going all over the place and just so emotionally exhausting not being able to help him. FINALLY, the anesthesiologist came in and said, OK, he is NEVER to get this medicine again.....gee thanks:) So, I was then asked to put an isolation suit on, an OR cap and carry him into the OR. They felt this would be better with his severe reaction, and I held him on my lap yet again until his body went to sleep.....like I said on Friday, something I HATE more than anything in the world as a Mommy.

So, that was around 930 and they got him to sleep and put his breathing tube in. Chris, Megan, and I checked in at the surgery reception area, which was very nice by the way. She told us Matthew was scheduled for 140 minutes, but it would be shorter than that. So, we went down to McDonald's and had some breakfast. None of us had been there for breakfast in YEARS and the food actually tasted really good.....we were pleasantly surprised. All 3 of us wanted to get back up to the waiting area as soon as possible, which we did - but we just waited and waited some more. They did have a circulating nurse come give updates every hour which was nice, but we didn't really get any information from her because Dr. K doesn't let anyone in the OR except necessary people because of the serious risk of infection with the skull being opened and the extreme concentration he needed to be working on Matthew under a microscope.

We had brought along the laptop which was helpful to pass some time, but the best time was spent looking through all of Megan's Facebook albums which started with pictures taken from her webcam on Skype from the first time she met Matthew.......those pictures were just priceless and what a walk down memory lane it was for Chris and I as we actually got to see OUR first emotions as parents.....and yes, we WERE beaming! Then, we looked at the homecoming pictures, Megan's babysitting adventure pics with matthew, his 2nd birthday pictures, his first Easter, all the way up until my birthday week-end! It was so fun, and what a way to reflect on Matthew while we were waiting for him to get through surgery....we saw how much he has changed and how he has always smiled, but now there is just so much more JOY in his face now than the first day we met him!

It didn't take long to realize that we had hit the 3 hour mark and we were starting to go crazy thinking why we hadn't heard anything....the nurse then came over and said the audiologist was testing the implant to see if it picked up sounds and then the doctor would be able to close Matthew up....we then got a call from the doctor a little while later stating that Matthew did well, the implant tested with the system fine, and he would be heading to recovery shortly. Thank God Matthew did well, and that everything went well. Now, we know the technical pieces of the implant worked........we await November 4th to see if Matthew's brain is able to interpret sounds!!!!

We waiting another 40 minutes or so before they came and got us to go to recovery. At first Chris and I were the only ones allowed back, but the nicest nurse Eileen allowed Megan to come back too and we were so grateful for that. Matthew was sound asleep wrapped up like a little mummy with his oxygen blowing in his face. Every time the blood pressure cuff pumped up, he would get mad, then realize he was awake and lifted his right arm motioning to the nurse to get that IV out. Then, he would quickly fall back asleep. His poor throat was so raspy and he could barely get any sounds out from the breathing tube they had in. They reviewed our discharge instructions with us while Matthew was still sleepy and even faxed his presciptions to the pharmacy so they'd be ready when we got there - SO nice!!! Eileen also gave Matthew an extra dose of Morphine before we were getting ready to leave so he could tolerate the 30 minute car ride. She didn't want us to have him drink anything until we got home. When we got Matthew dressed out of those dreadful PURPLE hospital PJs, he started with a pretty heavy nosebleed. The nurse, myself, and the other PACU nurses all kind of looked puzzled and alarmed at the same time as to why his nose was bleeding. It did last a few minutes, but did stop then. The nurse called the doctor and the fellow came out and saw us. He said it's rare, but sometimes blood pools in the eustachian tube during surgery and comes out through the nose when you get up after surgery. We were just to watch that closely. Feeling relieved to hear that, we were on our way home around 3pm.

We got Matthew all settled in the car seat and Daddy and Aunt Megs sat next to him in the back on the way home. Mommy has gotten pretty good at city driving lately and Daddy was even complimenting me on how well I did! My sister and I had also made a plan a few weeks ago to try and celebrate our Mom's birthday after surgery since we'd all be together..........so, we managed to stop and get Matthew's presciptions AND stop at the local bakery and pick up Mom's favorite strawberry shortcake cake on the way home. Matthew slept the entire time, but held on tight to Aunt Megs' hand the whole time in the car.

At home, we carried him in to his little bed that Mom-Mom had waiting for him on the couch. When we walked in, Mom-Mom had made homemade chocolate chip cookies, apple crisp, brownies, and rice pudding...........we certainly didn't need a cake, but who knew she would use her nervous energy and bake all day? She also a huge italian meatloaf and wonderful dinner in the oven. Well, we dug into the cookies, and Matthew took notice and starting signing cookie please in his anesthesia state - well, what was a Mommy to do? she gave him the cookie and he ate the entire thing!!! He then drank his juice and fell back asleep for a while.

We then had dinner as a family while he slept, and then had present time for Mom. She was so overwhelmed that we had planned this little surprise in the midst of everything going on, but we are so glad we did that. She loved her gifts, and the cake! We even got Matthew to help her blow her candle out since he loves that so much. He then sat on the kitchen counter with Aunt Megs and DEVOURED a cupcake she had bought him at the bakery. I know - you are all thinking, what kind of mother is this? but really, it was a precious site. And, he doesn't get those things on a normal basis! After that, it was short nap time for Aunt Megs, Daddy, and Matthew :)

Aunt Megs then had to get back to New Jersey so we had said our goodbyes, Matthew was lying on the couch watching TV, so I went back to the office to kind of spend some time by myself and let the emotions of the day finally come out, when we got the call about my uncle........we certainly weren't prepared for that call as no one ever is. So, we spent the rest of the evening of course making calls, and checking in with everyone praying hard for some answers and a plan.

That takes me to yesterday.........Matthew actually had a pretty good day yesterday considering we didn't get him down to sleep Tuesday night until 3am. He then did sleep soundly from 330-8am which was good. He wanted to play which he did for a while, and then he would just go lie down. He ate a little, some Cheerios, etc. but drank large amounts which we were thrilled about. His pain was well controlled, and he wanted to be held and loved on all day which we were all happy to oblige to :) He really didn't seem like he was up for a car ride, and Chris suggested that Matthew and I stay here with my Mom for the rest of the week so that I had help with him, so that I can be a support for my Mom and brother with everything going on with my uncle.......so, Chris left for home yesterday afternoon since he had to work today and tomorrow, then he will drive back tomorrow night after work and we will head home on Saturday morning.

That was probably a very good decision since Matthew had his worst day today. I finally got him to sleep last night around 1130pm after NO NAP yesterday and complete exhaustion set in. He only woke up twice last night and then slept until almost 8am. He wanted to lay on me a lot, that was OK too. Today, he just kept holding his head over his right eye and laid down a lot. We kept up with his pain meds, and he did then sleep for 2 1/2 hours in Mom-Mom's arms. He SO needed that, but he did then get sick this afternoon all over Mommy after he held his head. He must have a terrible headache. We have been watching him very closely as it's not good to have vomiting after any sort of head surgery. So far, we are doing OK but we have the doctor number close by just in case. Just about an hour ago, he did start to perk up a little and wanted to play for the first time today with stickers and his cars. So, we will see how things go tonight. His incision looks good, it's bigger than I thought it was going to be, but it doesn't look infected or anything.

We have all been kind of on edge today as my uncle went to surgery today. When they did his MRI on Tuesday night, he didn't have an aneurysm which was good, but he had bilateral subdural hematomas and the left bleed was bigger than the right. Yesterday, they monitored him all day in the ICU and he had to lay with the head of his bed slightly up which he didn't like because it made his head hurt more. He also was confused at times yesterday. They gave him pain medicine for his head, steroids, and seizure medications. The plan was to go to surgery today to drain the bleeds. Today, his headache was getting worse and his pressure was climbing, so they ended up taking him right away to surgery when this was happening. He went in around 1230 and the surgeon came out around 23o. There was a very large amount of blood, and the surgeon placed a drain on the left side of his brain. He felt pretty good that a rebleed wouldn't occur tonight because the brain swelled immediately after the blood was removed and that should help prevent a rebleed. Now, we just wait and pray for him to wake up and be neurologically stable. Because of the size of the bleed, the surgeon didn't think Uncle Rich would remember much of the past few days. Please continue to pray that his recovery goes well and things remain stable. Also, pray for my cousin Mike who is very sick with the flu right now. My other cousin Brian made it home safe to Boston from Key West right now, so my Aunt Mary is well taken care of with her sons there, her sister and brother, and her sister in laws, my Mom's other 2 sisters who are still in Boston! My Mom so wishes she was there with them, but she is now starting a cold so I think it's best she is here helping me care for Matthew.

So, I think that's it for the update....we are hoping for a quiet evening on all fronts tonight. Chris is at home working on his homework for his online course and I think the cats are getting on his last nerve :) Matthew is lying watching Elmo and I hope he falls asleep soon. He needs his sleep so much. Today is my Mom's ACTUAL birthday, so we did get to spend the day with her which was special. She LOVED rocking Matthew and just loves him so much, so I think that was a pretty special gift for her! We are so glad she was born because we have the best Mom and Mom-Mom in the entire world!!!!!

Hope everyone is doing well........I will post some pictures. We can't thank you enough for the prayers, calls, emails, etc. Even when we don't feel strong enough to reach out to you, you always reach out to us and keep us going.