Surgery tomorrow

On May 3rd, 2007, our lives changed forever. We were told our baby needed to have Nissenfundoplication (stomach wrap), G-Tube (feeding tube), and his Malrotated Bowels fixed. Never did I imagine that my 10 week old baby would under go major surgery and have a tube coming from his tummy. I cried and cried and cried. I didn't know what the right thing to do was.

My baby was turning blue and going limp in my arms. After a really bad attack, while we were at Children's Hospital, resulting in him being bagged, I was told that he was going to have this surgery done whether it is at that hospital or any other hospital of my choice. They would fly us wherever we wanted to go. So the next day, he went into surgery. And this is the result.

Today was his appointment prior to surgery tomorrow. Today was the day where we were given the final yes to proceed with the surgery. We went in, I of course was extremely nervous, and Jayden of course was extremely upset. The trauma of the many, many doctor appointments and hospital stays has caused him to go into a terrible frenzy whenever he sees the room he's going into.

Today we got a paramedic intern who did not weigh him naked. I knew he had to be weighed naked. I have lived the past 2 years with a child who has a hard time eating, a hard time gaining weight, and has a long history of required naked baby weights. So after he was already really ticked about the weight and height, we went back to the dreaded room for the naked weight. Thus began the terrible tantrum which resulted in him hitting, kicking, pinching, slapping, and pulling on my hair. It's extremely exhausting as nothing will calm him down. Finally, after explaining everything to the nurse while he's screaming, and 30 minutes later, he calmed down enough for the doctor to come in and examine him.

The appointment went well after that. The doctor said we could go ahead with the procedure tomorrow even though there is a slight cold going on and he's on antibiocs. So now, after 2 years, his Mic-Key button will be coming out and he will have his Gastrostomy closed. In the pictures to follow, you can see Jayden's Mic-Key button on his tummy. That will come out and the hole going into his stomach will be closed.

"Jayden, where's your button?"

We will check in at 7:30am tomorrow morning with surgery starting at 9am. Mike and I will get to go with him to the holding area and visit with anesthesia. Then when it's time to go to the OR, one of us gets to go with him until they put him under by putting a mask on his face. At that point, we get kicked out to the waiting area. We will have our beeper to indicate when surgery starts and when it ends. When Jayden gets taken to the recovery area, assuming all things go as planned, they will come get one of us and we will be able to be there when he wakes up. I'm anxious for this because we have never gotten to go back with him.

The actual surgery goes as follows. They will take out the button and stitch up four layers. The first layer is the stomach, then the muscle, then the fat, and finally the outer skin. There will be no stitches on the outside. All of the stitches will be dissolveable and on the inside.

The one factor with this surgery is the fact that Jayden has been MRSA positive twice now. Because of this he will have some IV antibiotics that are different from anything he's taken that will help him in fighting the MRSA so he doesn't get an infection in his wound.

Jayden and I will spend the night in the hospital tomorrow night and should be able to come home on Friday. The doctor even told us that most kids don't need pain medicine when the come home. I am so optimisitic about this.

As happy as I am about the Mic-Key button coming out, I am scared. It's very scary to watch your baby go under anesthesia and into surgery. Of course, I don't want him to suffer any pain either. He is in good hands, with great doctors, and GOD will be looking over him. Many people are praying for him as we close this chapter of our lives.

I also get nervous because we are losing this security we have learned to be accustomed to. Even though we don't use it, we know it's there in case he needs the calories or fluids for hydration. With the button being removed and the hole being closed, we lose this security. I should add, he has not needed to use the button since July 7th of last year, except for one night when he was very sick and needed the fluids.

I feel like I'm rambling at this point. I hope I have covered all of the basics here. I should add one funny story about today. As the doctor was feeling his "male parts" Jayden was getting very upset at the squeezing and pushing going on and started to fuss. The look on his face was like, "what is he doing mom". In the middle of him getting agitated the doctor said, "now you don't want to be squirming around when someone is squeezing your testicles". What's funny about that, is the look on Shaylee's face. It was priceless!

Onward to Shaylee....

She does not need surgery (yet)! The doctors were missing a few tests that somehow didn't make it down there for today, but they don't suspect it is her gall bladder. They explained when she had the HIDA scan done and injected the medicine, that she should have experience a higher level of pain. She did not have a reaction to the medicine. The doctors said they gave her a very high dose. I was also told that even though the HIDA scan was abnormal, she could have a normal one from here on out.

So what's wrong with her, you ask? Well...

They think it could be constipation, which she did suffer from around age 4-5 and had to take medicine to help. Even if you go to the bathroom everyday, but don't empty your colon completely it can cause a back-up, so when she eats, the colon starts to contract to start digesting the food. The contracting of the colon is what is causing her pain. She will be starting on some medicine and has a follow up appointment in 3 weeks. Her doctor said if they are on the right track her pain should lesson or go away in the next 3 weeks. This is promising to us as it made sense when they were explaining it, however, it is another trial withouth a definite answer. Isn't science and medicine great?

Tomorrow we will head to Sioux Falls to begin a new chapter of our lives and hopefully move forward with Jayden and Shaylee's health. Any prayers tomorrow would be appreciated by our entire family.

I will update Twitter tomorrow, until I can post. I don't know if the hospital's computer will block Blogger. I hope not.