Day of Surgery

What a long, exhausting day...

Here we are shortly before 6am arriving at the Waverly Surgery Center in Palo Alto. Jack was very tired, but miraculously, he never asked for anything to eat or drink. Since he wasn't allowed to have anything, we were grateful for that. Our little Jolly Green Giant not asking for something to eat? What was up with that???? Maybe an answer to a prayer...



Shortly after the paperwork was complete, Dr. Roberson, Dr. Reinisch, Dr. Lewin, Dr. Colen, and the anestesiologist came out to talk to us. Dr. Roberson explained that he felt the hearing outcome potential was a little greater with the right ear, so they would prefer to start with that one first. We discussed the procedure and timing. They made us feel very comfortable with their plan for the surgery and said they thought it would take about 7-8 hours. We then discussed the post op care and agreed to the post op appointment schedule.

Dr. Reinisch planned to start and do the endoscopic harvest of the membrane and the skin graft from the scalp. This will leave Jack with no skin graft site on his leg, tummy or arm, which is great. We understand that this is often the worst part for healing and pain and is much better from the scalp. Jack will only have one incision over the top of the ear - no scar on the scalp. Then, Dr. Roberson will come in and do the ear canal. Last, Dr. Reinisch will come back in and complete the Medpor procedure.

We then went back to the pre op room. A nurse took Jack's stats, gave Jack and his stuffed Rhino an arm/leg band, marked the right ear "yes" and gave Jack some "happy juice." Boy was this a humorous sight! Jack was a drunken three year old for the next several minutes. Maybe a peek at his 21st birthday? He is a very funny drunk.... He was really loving his sparkly stickers. They kept getting stuck to things and he lost track of them and was leaning all over woozy-like trying to find them. For a little humor, I have uploaded a little clip of drunken Jack. Just don't call social services on us - we swear this was surgery related. I was tempted to swipe some happy juice for myself though, seeing how great Jack was feeling!



Next, the anetesiologist came in, reassured us again and then wheeled our drunken Jack off at about 8am. It was a tough moment.

About 9:15am, we were told that the surgery had started. The Let Them Hear Foundation staff kept us busy chatting and brought us all kinds of puzzle books, water, gum and such. We talked for hours and are sooooo grateful for their generous gift of their time. They also bought us lunch :-) and we enjoyed the distraction. (Special note for the people who visited and waitied with us - you are all amazing - THANK YOU!!!!!) We were given a few more updates that things were going well when the skin graft harvest was complete and also when the ear canal was done. Jack was very stable throughout the procedure and Dr. Roberson was pleased with the middle ear space, the middle ear bones and how the ear canal turned out. He feels that Jack will likely have good hearing in that ear.

Chris went to Long's drugs and filled the prescription for the antibiotics and the Tylenol with codeine so we wouldn't have to fill it later (a tip from another blog - thanks).

I think it was about 6pm when the doctors all came out with smiles on their faces. Everything went really well and they were all thrilled with the outcome. They showed us pictures of Jack's ear from after the surgery, before all the bandages were put on and it really looks fantastic! Dr. Roberson was going to try to e-mail it to me, so I will try to post it soon. This was nice because it will be a while before we get to see it.

So, Jack was then taken into recovery. The doctors all came by again and gave us some last instrcutions. Jack was very drowsy and just waking up. He was a little irritated at the IV that was on his left hand and kept pulling at it. I finally figured out why he was so mad - he wanted to suck his thumb! So, he finally ate some applesauce and drank some water and they took out his IV. He was very pleased and immediately was sucking his thumb. His voice is a bit horse from the breathing tube and he is not happy that his BAHA doesn't fit where it is supposed to go, but I think he will get used to it. When we were able to see that Jack was doing well, Chris took off to head back home as his mom is here now to stay with Jack and I.

So, here are some pics of Jack in back at the hotel. He fell asleep at about 8pm and is cozy in bed for now.




Thank you to everyone who prayed for Jack and our family over the past days and weeks. The Lord looked after our little Jack and your combined strength was definitely with us today...

I am going to head to bed now. It has been a very long day and I can confirm that I have collected myself a pretty good cold. I am hoping I don't give it to Jack...