Jasper’s Surgery

I popped back on OD to do a cross post from Prosebox for any of you still here about Jasper’s surgery.  I’ll just copy and paste my entry!

Well today was Jasper’s surgery day! If you’re just tuning in, a couple months ago we found a mysterious lump/cyst on his chest. It was larger than the size of a quarter (maybe half-dollar sized?) and soft/rubbery feeling and was able to be moved around under the skin. After a few doctors looked at it, we decided the best course of action would be to get it removed.

We arrived at the hospital around 5:30 a.m. this morning. Since he couldn’t eat anything after 1:30 a.m. (I actually set an alarm for 1:30 so I could get up and nurse him!) they wanted his surgery to be early in the day as possible. Even though his surgery wasn’t officially until 7:30, we had to do the whole checking in, getting vitals, signing forms, etc.

The children’s hospital was more like a theme park with such beautiful decor, bright colors, large animal figures, etc. Jasper had SO much fun running around and playing in the playroom. He definitely had no idea what he was in for, I felt so bad, but also relieved that he really DIDN’T know what was going on, which with all things considered was probably for the best anyway.

We spoke to a few different people, including an anesthesiologist who explained everything that would happen to him. Everyone took a lot of time to explain what was going on and I really felt surprisingly calm and at ease about the whole thing. I went back and forth a little on if I wanted to be with him when they put him under, and ultimately decided I would go with him. (One nurse thought it might be too hard on me to see them put him under, but the other said it would be good for him to have his mama right by his side until the very last minute.)

They had me dress up in a full suit and scrubs, right down to my feet. I got to carry him all the way to the operating room. Everyone smiled at him as we walked by, and he grinned back, with a little look of apprehension as we passed through a few sets of doors and the rooms got more quiet and sterile looking. He definitely was wondering what the heck was going on! Once we got in the operating room, all of the nurses were ready for him. They had me set him down on a bed of warm towels. He laid down really good and just kind of relaxed, looking around at all the big lights above him. Everyone commented on how cute he was and how well he was doing. I held his hand and they came over with the mask to put on his face to get him into the first stage of sedation. I was warned that he might not like it and most babies cried a lot during this part, but that their deep breath crying helped them get the medicine in them faster, and within 30 seconds, he was out! At that moment, I was escorted out of the room so they could continue on with the procedure.

I met Nathan back in the family waiting room and we just kind of hung out there, visiting and watching the news. They had a big screen up on the wall which you got to keep up with the status of each surgery. They would put up a code that said, "pre-op" and then "surgery in progress" and then one for "surgery complete/closing". I took a huge sigh of relief when Jasper’s got to surgery complete. It was on there for awhile–maybe 15 minutes–and then the doctor came in to talk with us. He said that everything went fine and they got the lump out. He said it was mostly fatty tissue and it wasn’t connected to the skin or the muscle underneath. They sent it away to pathology and we would know more about what it was tomorrow.

Then I got to go back and see him and wait with him until he woke up. He was in this tiny little bed all covered in warm blankets and I just died a little inside seeing his soft brown hair and his fat cheeks all in a sleepy-like state. I stroked his cheeks and held his hand and talked to him softly until he finally woke up. It took about 10 minutes. When he finally came to he was pretty upset and arching his back, but luckily the nurse let me pick him up and breastfeed him almost immediately, which totally calmed him down and of course got his hungry belly full right away. Seriously–another AMAZING benefit of breastfeeding. If I couldn’t have done that, he would have been screaming and hungry for at least another 20 minutes until we could get back to our room and get him some food. He just relaxed into me, his tears stopped, and I felt so relieved as well. He nursed more/longer than usual, even when we got back to our room. It was so much easier for the nurses to do vitals on him and check things since he was so relaxed while eating.

As soon as he had finished eating, he was back to his old self! He wanted to get up and run, seriously, like five minutes after we got back into the room. Luckily the nurses moved things along rather quickly, and we were discharged not too long after that. We spoke with the anesthesiologist again, my friend Bethany who worked at the hospital stopped by to say hi, and then the nurse did the final vitals and we were free to go home!

All in all, we were at the hospital from 5:30 a.m. until a little before 11 a.m. And now, it’s 3 p.m. and we’re actually back HOME. We decided we’d rather all spend the night in our own bed instead of stay in the city another night. We left Wesley behind because Nathan’s mom is still there and he’s with his cousins and she will bring him back tonight. It will hopefully give me a little time to rest, since we’ve been up since 4:30 a.m.!

So now, we just wait to hear what the lump actually is, and hopefully its nothing and we can move on from this. SO glad at least the surgery is over and it went smoothly. Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers! Jasper sure is a trooper, he did SO awesome!

As always, you can find me over at Prosebox!