Today Isaac had surgery on his hand.
He was a trooper and it went WAY better than I anticipated.
When he was only a few months old I was nursing him and he had just started to open his hands more and I noticed this....
It caused a small anxiety attack as I know webbed digits can be associated with other defects and I of course had already decided he was surely going to have something severely wrong with him within 3.4 seconds of discovering his ring and middle finger were webbed on his left hand.
It doesn't look real significant in that picture and it wasn't.
I mentioned it to our pediatrician and he said we would keep an eye on it.
Well, I have and felt it had become a bit more significant now that his hands were bigger.
At his 2 year well child check I mentioned it again and Dr. Lunn agreed we should consult a plastic surgeon just to be safe. He wasn't sure if it needed to be done yet or if we could wait, but referred us to a good friend of his who is a plastic surgeon that specializes in hands.
So we went and saw Dr. Meland who reassured me that while his syndactly (webbed fingers) was minor it would start affecting his mobility in his hands and if we didn't fix it his fingers would possibly begin growing crooked. So we made the appointment for surgery.
He said he may have to cast his hand to his elbow or even armpit afterwards in order to protect it since he was so little and would most likely not leave the post-surgical site alone.
He said he would make a rectangle flap with the webbed skin and wrap it around the fingers to create a new "space" between the fingers.
He and I went in for a pre-surgery tour with the child life specialist at the hospital last week and I think it really helped his anxiety for today and mine of course.
I tried to make it exciting (good advice from a good friend...thanks Katy) and was hoping he would in turn feed off this.
He got to practice breathing in a mask, see where we would go, put on a surgical hat and play with the toys.
So this morning when we arrived bright and early at 6:45am he showed me the way.
We checked in at the front desk and he was really excited about the ID band and asked if Elmo could have one too!
Then we found our way to the Same Day Surgery unit and played for a bit while we waited.
Here is a picture of his fingers this morning....
He was a little out of control in the room playing and may have scared a few other smaller kids away...
He was pretty excited to see all the other kids in their pjs and with their blankies too!
They called our name quickly to get his vitals taken, we played for just a few minutes more and went to the holding room...last step before surgery.
At this point, he became a bit hostile.
He was very upset about not getting to eat breakfast (he normally has about 3 of them) and not being able to drink anything.
He was kicking the nurse and myself while we tried to put on the hospital gown.
He put it on Elmo and went to surgery shirtless.
I was trying to get him to practice breathing in the mask...
He thought Elmo should have a turn...
Then it became a gun and he was shooting the poor elderly gentlemen in the bed across from us.
Then they came to take him away and he wrapped his arms around me and wouldn't let go.
I was fighting back tears already....but was able to convince him that he got to go for a ride on the bed and I couldn't go with....then they quickly took him away before he realized what was happening.
And then I waited.....and waited....and waited....and waited some more.
I brought a book, but I was too nervous and distracted by the craziness of the room.
Every 3 minutes a Dr would come out and update a family or a nurse would come grab someone else to go back. Then they would call out for the family of _____ to come back as they were coming out of recovery. So instead I watched a morning talk show and wondered why Carrie Underwood would wear such an unattractive outfit to perform, or why the elderly gentlmen across from me knew all the words to her songs, or how the 6 year old girl could walk in her platform sandals so easily.
It was really only about an hour before Dr. Meland came out to let me know how things had gone but it sure felt like an eternity.
He said everything went well, but the skin was a bit tighter than he anticipated. He said he would have maybe done a skin graft if he had been older, but he felt Isaac would be better off with a bit of scarring rather than trauma from the skin graft and a cast for weeks and dealing with the healing of that.
So instead he had to put in nylon stitches (non-dissolving) and didn't cast him. He wrapped it real well and said to try keep Houdini from escaping from it for as long as possible. He told me if I could keep it on for 24 to 48 hours I might win an award, but if not just to cover the site with bandaids or steri-strips when the bandage comes off.
Then I had to wait another 40 minutes before they called my name and let me come back and see him.
I don't know why but I was tearing up seeing him laying there so pathetic and helpless as he was waking up from surgery. Poor guy had his left arm bandaged from surgery and his right one bandaged from the IV they placed after he fell asleep.
He sucked down his apple juice pretty quickly and ate some animal crackers.
I had brought an applesauce with for him, it is a squeezable one that you just drink, he loves them and I often bring them with when we run errands and he knows it's "for later" when he sees me pack it in the morning.
So when he saw the applesauce he got excited and said, "it for later now mommmy"
He didn't get too upset as he woke from the anesthesia (Elijah had tubes put in when he was 9 months old and he was a bear waking up from it which is normal).
Mostly he was just frustrated that he couldn't use his left hand to hold his juice and hold his animal crackers in his right hand and the same time.
The nurse kept us for about 30 minutes and Isaac drank 3 cups full of apple juice and cleared us to leave.
He got to ride in a wagon to the door and was excited to get some M&M's on the way out from the $0.25 machine he saw on the way to surgery earlier that morning.
Once we got to the car he was pretty quiet, but I asked him if he wanted to get a treat for being so brave and he said yes.
I asked him if he wanted to get a bagel, a doughnut, or a muffin and he said, "I need ice cream"
So we went to McDonald's and got a chocolate milk shake...at 10am for my brave 2 year old...
Then we headed home to "lay low" as we were instructed.
This only lasted for one episode of Bob the Builder via netflix and then he was back to his old self jumping around and running....making this momma nervous.
He didn't want me to cut off his name band until after nap....but I figured we had better get one picture with Elmo too!
I have been giving him Tyelnol and Ibuprofen just to stay on top of the pain, but he hasn't complained once. He keeps asking me to take off his bandage and has tried himself a few times, but that is it.
He heard me talking about how we would miss music class tonight and he became quite upset telling me "it okay, it fine, go to music class please"
So we did and he LOVED it! Grandma and Grandpa brought over chinese food, May Day baskets and a few surprises for Isaac.
He had to use one of Elijah's pj shirts for bedtime, but was pretty excited about it.
Praying tomorrow goes smoothly as well.
He was a little bit of a stinker this afternoon so I know he is struggling a bit, but I would be too.
Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes.
I am curious to see what his fingers look like, but thankful he is ok with the bandage on for now!
We will see them soon enough!
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