Surgery

Well, today was the day that we had been dreading- Luca had surgery. He was the first surgery in the morning for our surgeon at the Stollery, so he got in on time at 7:30am. That was a relief since he wasn't able to eat for 4 hours before, and I wasn't looking forward to a hungry baby. We didn't have to wait around for as long as we anticipated before he went in. They put some topical freezing on his hands for the IV and gave him some Tylenol before they took him away. The anesthetist came and spoke to us prior, and she seemed really nice. She explained everything, then a nurse came and took him away. I had a really hard time with this. During our consultation, the surgeon had said that one of us could go with him while they put him to sleep, so we had decided that Chris would go (I thought that it would be too hard for me), but then they said that they were just going to take him in. In some ways, this was better, but it was also hard to hand him over to a stranger and watch him walk down the hall with him.


Luca and Mommy before surgery. Yes, they gave him pink pjs! (Real boys can wear pink, you know!)














Luca was gone for about an hour and a half total- the surgery prep, the procedure and recovery. We met up with him back on the day ward where he was a bit groggy and his eyelids were a bit heavy, but he was his usual smiley self, winning over the hearts of the nurses. He still had the IV in for a while, and had tape marks on his cheeks from being intubated (this was hard for me to see, for some reason, just thinking that he was intubated scared me even though I knew it was going to happen), and he was a bit yellow from the stuff in surgery (I forget what it is called). We got to hold him right away and I was able to feed him fairly soon after.

We had to wait for 2 hours before we could leave, and he kicked and smiled and slept and ate- his usual. He didn't seem to be bothered too much by everything except that he had a hoarse voice and a pretty dry mouth.



Luca after surgery- still his smiley self! He kept trying to chew on the IV cord! :)













The surgeon (Dr. Mark Evans- absolutely wonderful) came to see us before we left and said that everything went well, that it looked to be the cyst that he thought (lymph angioma). Other than the stitches taking about 7-10 days to dissolve, he should be back to his normal self in no time.

So, that was our morning. We arrived at the hospital at 6am and we leaving by 11:15am. The nurses there were great, and of course the surgeon was wonderful too. They don't say that the Stollery is one of the best places for children for no reason.

Thanks for all your thoughts and well wishes. It was emotionally draining, but it is good to have it all over with.