Will's Surgery

Will had his surgery on June 7th at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. This was to repair an inguinal hernia and hydrocele near his right testicle. I don't want to get into much medical detail with these terms, but these occurred from birth. (Let me know if you want more details and I can give them to you. There is also great info at http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/tc/inguinal-hernia-topic-overview.)

We had to be there at 6:00 a.m. so we got up early and loaded Will in the car at 5:30. He was in a good mood but said "uh-oh" a few times as we drove out of the neighborhood which was kind of funny.

We got to Vandy right on time and got registered. Will played around crawling all over chairs, looking out windows, and making friends with anyone that would pay attention to him. (Side note: There were a LOT of people there, coming in all day long! Amazing how many surgeries they do, and how many kids are really sick.)

We got called back to pre-op and Will thought we were at a hotel apparently, because he instantly wanted to bounce on the crib/bed. He got some cute little Vandy clothes to put on, and then all of the doctors and nurses started coming in. He had a blast with all of the attention.

Luckily IV's and stuff were done away from us. The anesthesiologist came in and said that the plan was to put him under gas, put in IV, then do a caudal injection which is basically an injection in his low back to produce numbness in abdomen and legs (like an epidural). The surgeon came in later and met with us was great about playing with Will first instead of just poking at him. JT and I discussed at the last minute that we hadn't mentioned the hemangioma on Will's back - this is a collection of blood vessels that he has had since birth that is a big strawberry mark on his back. We were worried this would be an issue with the caudal injection. Luckily the last person to see Will was the nurse anesthetist so we mentioned it to him and he said they would all discuss it and probably come up with another plan. It wasn't necessary to do the caudal, it just is better for Will's pain control after. (They ended up not doing the caudal because they didn't want to take any chances.) I was very worried about them wheeling Will out of the room away from us because of his crazy separation anxiety. The nurse anesthetist had been playing with Will getting him to come to him and then letting him go the whole time we talking. He said the next time he came to him they were going to walk off. We needed to give them a minute to get where he couldn't see us and then we could come out. I started crying - this kid has turned me in to an emotional person that I never was before. Before I knew it they were gone, and I didn't here any screaming. Yay Will!

JT and I went out to waiting room. The surgery was supposed to last 2 hours and someone from the team would call us after an hour to give an update. I got the call a little over an hour later and it was the actual surgeon. He said everything was fixed and going fine, but he was asking for permission to make a second incision to insert a camera to look around and make sure nothing was missed and there were no problems with the left side. We were okay with that. After about an hour, we were brought in to a meeting room with the surgeon. Everything was done and Will was headed to post-op. He discussed the entire procedure with us, even drew some pictures so we could understand better.

Soon after we were allowed to see him. He was just waking up when we got back there and seeing him was an amazing feeling! JT said it was like seeing him for the first time all over again. Will was not a happy camper! His hair was wild all over the place and he looked so pale. They were trying to give him some Pedialyte and handed him to me so I could try. He sucked the bottle down fast, but then his oxygen levels would drop way too much. He was very uncomfortable and had a raspy voice/cry and cough. The nurse told us they there was trouble intubating him, and it took 4 tries before they got the tube down his throat. The nurse anesthetist told us that if he needs surgery in the future, we need to let them know to use a half size smaller tube than planned because there is a part in his throat that is larger than normal. After about an hour of fighting his oxygen levels and trying to calm him down with no luck, the nurse decided to give him Fentanyl (strong pain med) to put him back to sleep and hope for a better wake-up the second time around. We weren't thrilled with the idea, but he had some sort of delirium that Fentanyl can help. He slept great for at least 30 minutes then we started trying to wake him up. This time he woke up his normal self and didn't need oxygen. Yippee!

He still looks so pitiful here, but this is a great improvement from first seeing him. The thing on his arm is called a "no-no". It is covering his IV so he can't pull it out. He had already tried when he woke up the first time.

We stayed in PACU for a little while trying to get him to eat and drink and then finally we were getting ready to go home. IV and everything came out, then we just had to get him dressed. I changed his diaper and nurse got a little panicked because his right side scrotum was swelled and discolored. She paged the surgeon and he came out and said he was confident it was just fluid, not blood, but he wanted us to stay a few more hours and see if went down. So much for being home by lunch! We moved back to a private holding room and waited. Every time we would get him calmed down and comfortable to sleep someone would come in wanting to check him. We had to undo his diaper and when they touched him he cried in pain. It was awful! Finally the surgeon came in around 4:30 and said we could go but he wanted to see him next week.

We got home around 5:30 and put him to bed and we passed out too in the deepest sleep we've ever had. We were expecting a rough night with Will in pain, but we actually had to wake him up to change him and feed him, and then he went right back to sleep until 5:30 a.m. He was such a trooper!

He has had a great recovery and little pain. The swelling is still there, but the color is better, and we even think the swelling has improved some. Here is a picture of him all bandaged up. 

We are so thankful for all the thoughts and prayers! Will did great and was back to his normal self the next morning.