Today seriously flew by for me. I know it was a tender mercy that hours seemed like minutes for me. The surgery went accordingly and Dr. Lemole said he thought he got everything out and if he didn't get out everything it was dead because he "burned the hell out of it". Dr. Lemole worked on him for 6 hours but Justin was in surgery for close to 9 hours.
We received phone calls almost hourly with updates on Justin's status and Ryan Workman who is a member of our Ward who is also an anesthesiologist here was giving us updates (and food) throughout the day.
Justin lost a smelling nerve. We have two smelling nerves so he still has one left so we can work with just one. Justin's blood pressure dropped a little during surgery and he had an infusion but his body didn't react negatively in any way to the transfusion.
Ryan was able to get us into recovery with Justin where he was coming out of the anesthesia and feeling pain. This was very hard for me and I was surprised that I had to sit down and almost passed out. Seeing Justin go through pain crushed me. He had to feel some pain in order to come out of the anesthesia and then they started monitoring his pain medication slowly. They don't want him to overdose, but it was very hard to watch. I wanted to be there with him to comfort him so I wouldn't of had it any other way. Jason would sooth him by putting a hand on his shoulder and running his hand along his neck. This comforted Justin and he was able to relax and fall asleep.
Once Justin's pain was under control we headed to get a CT scan and then to Pediatric ICU. He started crying when we got to PICU but the nurses asked if anything hurt and he said no. He was crying because he was still coming out of anesthesia. I was relieved he wasn't in pain and I have made sure to know the protocol for getting a nurse in here to give him pain meds when they are needed.
I am very proud of Justin. He is a strong boy. Even in recovery he was watching every move the doctors were making and monitoring everything they were doing to him and even asking them questions about what they were doing. I was very impressed he was so conscious of those things while he was in so much pain.
A dear friend reminded me that because of Justin's age he probably wont remember today or tomorrow and all this pain. This is comforting. Dr. Lemole saved Justin's life today and we are greatly appreciative of everything he did for Justin.
This is Justin about an hour and a half ago. The swelling has started and will get worse tomorrow and Thursday with bruising but as he is able to get up walk around the swelling and bruising will go away. These next 24 hours will be tough but every minute that goes by is a minute closer to complete recovery.
2 comments:
I can't imagine having to go through what your family has and I am sure seeing him in post-op was so difficult. I am so glad Ryan was there as an extra pair of eyes for you. I bet that was great comfort.
I also believe Justin will not remember the pain. I had 3 surgeries when I was a child - 2 when I was 3 yrs old and 1 when I was 6, so just like Justin. I do have some specific memories of those times, but I don't remember the pain at all. We continue to pray for his recovery!
Thank you for keeping all of us at home informed this way because we all worry for you and want to know how everything is going. We pray for you and are relieved to hear that under the circumstances things went well for Justin yesterday. XOXO
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