Nathan's Surgery

Nathan had surgery this past Friday to remove a mass on his neck.  Our pediatrician believes it was congenital.  I know we brought it up to him early on...at his one month appointment so that is very possible.  He thought it was a branchial cleft cyst and said it's nothing to worry about, not malignant but still should be removed due to the risk of infection later in life.  When we discussed it with him when Nathan was much younger he said that it was better to wait until he was at least a year old but said we really could do it whenever we wanted, there was not a huge hurry.

Here's a picture I posted of Nathan before and it is probably the clearest shot I have of the mass on his neck.  You can seem the small bump on the left side...under his chin.


We waited until now because of our insurance.  We changed over to a plan with better coverage on June 1st...of course we pay more for it but it will be totally worth it with Nathan's surgery and the baby coming in September!  So we scheduled an appointment with a pediatric surgeon at the end of May and scheduled his surgery for this past Friday, June 22nd.

Dr. Heidi Cox, the pediatric surgeon thought it might not be a branchial cleft cyst but a calcium deposit of some sort, possibly from the tightening of his neck muscle he experienced in his first few months.  She said she wouldn't know though until she took it out.   Either way, it still needed to come out.

So fast forward to this past Friday.  The surgery was scheduled for 7:30am, and we needed to be at the hospital at 6am.  Meaning we had to wake this little guy up at 5:15am!  He was tired!  But thankfully not cranky at all.  He always seems to wake up well.  On the way to the hospital.


In the waiting room playing while we wait to go back.  We all got bracelets to identify ourselves with Nathan.




Just waiting!


A nurse comes and gets us and takes Nathan's weight and vitals.

The little blood pressure cuff was so tiny!

He wanted his daddy most of this day, so you will see lots of photos of the two of them!


In his little gown!






Lots of pictures of him in his gown...he was just too cute.






He wanted his gown off...I think it was bothering him.


We had to keep him occupied for quite awhile while we waited for the nurse to come in and see us.


Matt took this one with his device and sent it to his and my parents before the surgery.


One of us was allowed in the OR with him while they administered the anesthesia.  I struggled with this decision wishing I knew who would be better for Nathan.  We decided it would be Matt and the decision was definitely confirmed this morning when he was more clingy to Matt.  So Matt got suited up!

We loved the anesthesiologist, Dr. Yu.  I wish I had taken his picture.  He was so good with Nathan and calmed and reassured us as well.  He described the whole process very clearly and by the sounds of it, again, I think it was good that Matt was there for that part, not me.  Dr. Yu had a little boy Nathan's age and his wife was due with twins at the end of the year.

Dr. Cox came into talk with us as well.  Here she is marking the spot where the mass is on his neck.

He looks scared here but he wasn't acting that way.  He kept saying "doctor, doctor!"  I don't know if he actually remembered her from our appointment a few weeks ago or not...maybe he just liked saying doctor :) 

He didn't spend hardly any time on this bed.


Love these boys dearly.


Family picture before they go to surgery.


One more. Trying to be strong.


Another OR nurse came to take Nathan and Matt to surgery.  Kisses and goodbye from me and I thought I was doing great.  I gathered up my things to go wait in the surgery waiting room and noticed Nathan's monkey laying in the corner under the chair.  Oh no.  He forgot his monkey.  He has been so attached to that thing lately.  I wanted him to have it as he came out of surgery for the 10-15 minutes we wouldn't be there.  He had been clinging to it all morning!  Matt and Nathan JUST left so I walked out to give it to them but didn't see them.  I asked the ladies at the nurse's station if they could get it to them and apparently they had all ready entered the surgery doors and it was too late.  I lost it.  So much for being strong.  I tried to hide my tears and find a restroom.  Thankfully, I was familiar with this hospital from marketing for Encompass, so I quickly found my way to the hallway and slipped into a restroom I often visited while working (remember, I was pregnant for a good part of working for Encompass!).  I let myself lose it in there, then prayed, pulled myself together and walked to the waiting room.  By then, Matt was coming down the hallway from being in with Nathan.

Matt's report was good.  Dr. Yu was great.  Again, he confirmed we made the right decision for him to go in with Nathan and not me.  They warned us that kids do not like the mask being put over their face for the anesthesia and they have to hold it there for a minute before they go out.  Nathan was no exception.  Matt said that part was hard.  We had the option of giving him medication to sedate him for this part but we declined.  Dr. Yu said they he would not remember it later because the amnesia affect the medication has on him.  He must be right because they gave us the inhaler/mask and Nathan plays with it now and thinks it's great!

I saw another mother leaving the OR and she was a mess...exactly where I would have been.  She waited while we waited.  The surgery did not take the allotted hour.  Dr. Cox and a nurse came to get us and let us know how it went before we knew it.  Dr. Cox said that it was not a branchial cleft cyst because there was no tract to follow. This made it an easier surgery for her.  She still thinks it is a calcium deposit but we will not know for sure until we get the pathologist's report.  She said she will usually get the report in a week and will call us if it is anything to be concerned about.  Otherwise, we are to set up an appointment to see her in two weeks at her office.  She gave us instructions regarding baths, pool time etc in the next week (basically, don't do it so the incision is submerged in water).  She wrote a prescription for pain and then they took us to the recovery room.

When we got there Nathan was pretty upset.  He was crying and the nurse was not having much success consoling him.  His eyes still looked glazed and confused to me, as he was still coming out of the anesthesia.  I went over to him immediately with his monkey and held him.  Then he saw Matt and wanted him saying, "Dadda".  They told us he had been saying "Dadda" while we weren't there.   Breaks your heart to see your child crying like that and knowing you weren't there for him.  I'm amazed how much love you can have in your heart for your child...so much it hurts!  Thankfully, once Matt took him he did seem to calm down some.  It was obvious he was still confused and not at all happy to have the IV in his hand, but he was definitely better.  They couldn't get him to drink the apple juice when we weren't there but once Matt sat down with him he took it.  He hadn't had anything to drink since the night before.

 


We stayed in this recovery room for at least 20-30 minutes so the nurse could monitor his vitals and we could get him calm and less confused.  She gave him some Ibuprofen although she said he didn't seem to be acting as though he was in pain.  He kept a close eye on her and wasn't thrilled when she tried to give him medicine or take of the sticky pads on his back!


See his little hand with the IV?  They wrap it up so the kids don't pull it out.

Smart move because he was trying to tug at it!

Next, they took us back to our room and he and Matt watched Mickey Mouse on the TV while we waited for the discharge nurse, Nicole.


They said if he didn't want to eat to not force it because often time the anesthesia can make them throw up.  Well, there was no encouraging.  The kid wolfed down 5 packs of graham crackers and jello!

I couldn't blame him.   He hadn't eaten since the night before!  I wasn't allowed to feed him or let him have something to drink that morning so he was more than ready for some fuel.

Nicole taking his IV out.


He was really watching this.  You could tell he was more and more himself as time went on.


He really seemed to like the little bandage she put on his hand after taking the IV out. :)


You can see his bracelet and the one on his ankle here as we're getting ready to leave.


Happy to be going home and so relieved everything went well!


One more parenting experience to add to the list...hoping many more will not be at the hospital!  Except for the birth of additional children...those, I want to happen at the hospital! :)


The ride home went great.  He didn't get sick and he was making us laugh.  His perkiness had returned! We went home, ate some lunch and all took LONG naps!  Nathan for 3 hours and 45 minutes, and us...3 hours.  Jen & Jamin came by with dinner for us.  That family has been so good to us.  I can't tell you how grateful we are for them.  It was nice to not have to worry about dinner.  They brought us food from Noodles & Company and they had a gift and card for Nathan.

The gift is the bubble dispenser with a fan that is in his hand.

And he absolutely loves the doggy card they got him.  It says "when you're not well, my tail won't wag." :)
He keeps pointing at it and saying "woof, woof!"


Trying out his new toy in the backyard on our lazy evening.




He loved it.


I think he got the bubbles in his mouth! ha ha.


That night we watched the movie, Duma.  One of Matt's patients lent it to him because they thought Nathan needed to watch it.  Another patient was praying for Nathan and his surgery.  We are so blessed by these people!  A movie was just what we needed that night.  And while we had popcorn, Nathan was quite attentive!






Matt took this picture to capture Nathan lounging with his feet propped up on me.  He really knows how to relax, it's so funny!


Nathan slept great that night!  They warned us that the first night or two could be rough and to maybe give him the prescription medication.  We did and he slept until 8 am!  I can't tell you when the last time is that he did that!  We didn't even give him any medicine at all today (Saturday) because he didn't seem to need it.  He has been so good and funny and himself.  He has not show any signs of pain at all and we are SO grateful for this!  We are just enjoying the relaxed weekend as we didn't schedule anything with not knowing how he would do.  We did run Craig to the airport in the morning but that wasn't a big deal at all and then stopped at the mall to make a return and hit a store or two.  After a really long nap for Nathan (and another movie for us!) Matt and Nathan worked in the garage for awhile putting one of his Father's Day gifts together while I worked on pictures.  I'll post those later.  I'm posting out of order because I don't even have Father's Day pictures up!  I have lots of pictures to post of my parent's visit over Dad and I's birthdays as well as Father's Day...those will be next!

Feeling really thankful for the Lord's goodness to us and just so grateful to have the surgery behind us as well as a happy, healthy little boy in front of us that we are crazy about!