Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Surgery #3

We made it to Chicago on Sunday for surgery #3. I never would have thought that this surgery would be to remove an infection but here we are. As much as I hate surgery, I was relieved of this one. Three months of dressing changes for this mommy is ENOUGH, and I found it heartbreaking every time he would just sit there, put his hands up and watch me take care of the infection like it was routine.

Everything leading up to today's surgery was a little chaotic. Last night, I hadn't heard from the hospital and I thought that was strange so I decided to give them a call. Well, they were never going to call because we were not on the schedule. GULP. I urgently checked my email to make sure I didn't mess up but surgery was definitely supposed to be on the 21st. So I called Dr. Bauer, and he said the same thing, "he isn't on my schedule either, in fact I'm not even in the operating room tomorrow." Oh boy! Of course, Dr. Bauer assured me that this would happen sometime before I left but that he couldnt guarantee which day it would be on. He asked me to fast Aiden at 6am and then at 8:30, call Kristi, and see if the hospital has room for us around noon as he didn't have much going on tomorrow.

It was a little stressful at first but after talking to Dr. Bauer, I wasn't even worried. I knew it would work out. So, I woke Aiden up at 6 am and gave him a bottle and he went right back to sleep. Kristi called me around 8:15, letting me know that we were on the schedule for noon and to be at the hospital at 11. Bless her heart, she felt terrible about the mistake and I told her not to worry, we all make mistakes. Luckily, Aiden hasn't been a huge breakfast eater lately so fasting him was not all that bad. We finished getting ready and headed to the hospital at 10:30.

Of course when we get to hospital, we weren't on the list! I just laughed. I figured that would be the case so they just made a quick phone call upstairs to make sure we were supposed to be there. Aiden wasn't too sure where he was but he didn't seem to care all that much. Instead he was waving and saying hi to everyone. It wasn't until we put his gown on and the nurse came in that he was a little confused. He still didn't cry though which was good since last time he did. He walked around the room with his little cape on and was cracking my mom and I up. Dr. Bauer came in shortly before taking him back to surgery and told us that this should be a simple procedure and that clearing this up will be easier in the future.

This time we decided to give him the versed to make it a little easier when they take him from us. It was hilarious! He was really relaxed and when we said goodbye, he slowly waved and seemed fine! It's odd to say this but I'm so comfortable watching him go through those surgery doors. He is in really good hands and everyone is so sweet and nice. My absoulte favorite recovery nurse, Mary, is so awesome! She came out and gave me a hug and talked to me about what we were doing. So nice that she remembers us as she must see so many people everyday.

Dr. Bauer said surgery would take about an hour so my mom and I headed to grab some lunch in the cafeteria. It ended up being a little over an hour but it did go by fast. He said that everything went well! We headed back to recovery to see Aiden and he was asleep. He woke up a bit and cried but was shortly back to sleep and soon enough we were moved to our private room. He sparked up fast and started drinking some pedialyte. Shortly after that he had some toddler formula and then some food and some more food. This was unusual, as he normally doesn't want to eat so I knew right away this was going to be an easy recovery. We only stayed a few hours and headed back to the hotel.

He is doing great and I'm glad to have this over with. We will see Mim and Susan on Thursday for a dressing change and then in a couple of weeks, remove the stitches. Thanks for all the support I received today! It's always so nice to have so many people carrying about my sweet little boy.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Rolling with the Punches

Well, I have some news. The last time I updated the blog, we were still dealing with the infection on his back. Guess what?? We are STILL dealing with this. I wish that wasn't the case but it is what it is.

I sent my weekly email over to Dr. Bauer earlier this week to show him the progress. I was expecting the same response of sticking with the routine that I have been doing. I thought wrong. He said that although it is looking better, it is taking unusually long at this point to heal and he thinks it would be best to excise the infection and close the wound. He understands that it isn't easy to come out to Chicago on such short notice but he feels that taking care of this now is better so that we have healthy tissue when we start the next round of  expansion. It makes sense as we certainly don't want to go through another infection again but this extra surgery was unexpected. We are now looking at definitely five surgeries plus whatever reconstruction surgeries he will need after the nevus is removed.

My trust in Dr. Bauer is so high that we are just rolling with the punches. It wasn't a case of "emergency" to fly out there right away so Dr. Bauer told his assistant to fit us in the next available date which happens to be February 21st. Due to the short notice, Michael will be unable to come with me so my mom will be coming along.

The surgery will not be that big of a deal as there will be little to no care afterwards beside the activity restrictions, which will be a little hard. Even though it sucks to put my son through another surgery, I will be glad to have this infection over with and be healed. Then we can really enjoy the next five months before round two begins. And I can finally write that post that round one is OVER.

I am happy to report that we are lucky enough to be able to see our really good friends from Canada that we met on our first trip to Chicago!!! This is definitely a bonus!

Thank you all for continuing to support Aiden. I will keep you guys posted on how his surgery goes and be sure to stay tuned as we have an exciting fundraiser coming up for Aiden! Details to come soon!

We still have cookbooks available for sale if anyone wants a copy to help out with our surgery/travel expenses! Order on the blog today or we can meet up somewhere if you live close! Again, we thank all of you that have contributed to helping Aiden! It has helped this process become a lot less stressful and we are touched by the love you have shown!

My handsome little guy!