Surgery Day

Today felt like THE longest day!! And I am super tired, please excuse my grammar and spelling! Surgery was scheduled for about 1pm (they were doing another one in the morning) so check in was 10:30. Finnley did not want to eat this morning and refused to have more than an ounce or two of juice.. so he had not eaten well and I knew he was going to be grumpy, even though grumpy for him is nothing to most kids! We played in admitting for 2 and a half hours, then moved to pre-op where he did start to get a little fussy but overall still very happy. I love his little gown! The gown pictures are all from before surgery, when we were wasting time.

They took him back for surgery at about 1:40 and I really think that handing my sweet baby over to a complete(but very nice) stranger knowing she was making him sleep for a while and I had NO control over any of it from that point, was THE hardest thing I have ever done! I was amazed that I held back the cryfest until we were out of the room.


Then the waiting....waiting and more waiting! We were able to get an update at about 3:30 that they were about half done and he was doing well. Then more waiting. The Doctors (nurosurgeon and plastic surgeon) came in about 5:30 and they were done! Finnley was in recovery getting some good drugs on board after waking up from the anestesia. We didn't get to see him until 6:10 and that was for a very short time, long enough to see that his head looked NOTHING like I expected and for me to have a small breakdown, walk up to the PICU where we then had to wait outside for 20 more minutes while they did paperwork and got him settled.. I thought I was going to have to break down the doors.. I NEEDED to see him and hold his little hand!

We didn't really get any details about the PICU because we came in just before shift change. The nurse did ask if he was always that pale, she was a little concerned since he had a transfusion that he was still that pale.. sad thing is he actually looked a little darker than usual! He is all hooked up to a number of things. 1 IV in his hand and 1 BIG IV in his neck, where they could easily do the transfusion, which is usually necessary, and they can usually do a draw from it the next day to check his blood levels. He also had a catheter ( which he disconnected and got pee all over the bed) and was not happy about being moved around. Other than that so far since he has been in the picu there is a lot of nothing going on, morphine to keep him asleep/sedated and when he does wake up he whimpers and it breaks my heart! I can't pick him up easily and I am afraid to hurt his incision! The pictures are not great, but it is almost from ear to ear. So all I can do for tonight is hold his hand which is SO puffy from the IV's it doesn't even feel like his hand, and listen for him to start snoring again. I have some pictures, but they are a little gruesome so stop here if you don't want to see them!
 

I am going to take more pictures in the morning. He will probably be even more swollen and puffy. I am staying in the PICU with him, I just can't go sleep, I know I would never fall asleep! Hoping tomorrow he will get some of these cords off and I can sleep when he sleeps and get some snuggles in! We didn't get to talk to the Dr. much today but I have LOTS of questions for her now that I am not feeling on the hysterical side.