Brandon's Surgery

Brandon had his surgery yesterday. We had to get up at 4 am and be up in Springs by six. We did okay until we got to the hospital and then couldn't find where to go and there wasn't anybody on duty at the front desk. A flight nurse happened by and showed us where to go. It was a good thing we took into account for getting lost and left enough time. Once we were checked in, Scott's brother-in-law Louie and the assistant pastor at his church, who had driven up, came into the room and said a prayer for Brandon. After they left we sat around the room for a little while and watched tv until it was time for the surgery. The surgery was scheduled for 7:30 and they came and got him right on time. They only allowed one parent in the operating room so Scott went in with Brandon until he was asleep, which took like five minutes, and then he was back in the room to wait with me. They told us the surgery was going to take about an hour because the doctor thought there were two small hernias. Scott had taken off to go find some food and he hadn't even gotten back to the room yet when the doctor came in and said they were done. It had only been maybe a half hour. He said there was only one hernia after all, just a lot of fat pushed through. The hole itself was probably only maybe a few centimeters big. So I went to recovery before Scott even got back to the room. The nurse said that Brandon would probably sleep for awhile because they gave him twice the amount of anethesia since they thought he would be in longer, but Brandon started coming around when he heard my voice. At first he was okay and was drinking some juice but then he started getting sick. They gave him some medicine for the pain and nausea but he just wasn't tolerating anything well. Since his vitals were good we left recovery and they took us back to the room where Scott was waiting. There we tried to get him to hold some liquid down. He was just so tired and had so much anethesia in him, plus running a slight fever, that he just felt crummy. He wanted to go home but we knew he would be so miserable riding home for an hour when he was feeling so sick. They finally gave him some different medicine that they use as a last resort because it causes the patient to fall asleep but that is what he needed. Brandon was afraid that if he fell asleep they would do more surgery. The meds kicked in quickly and he went to sleep. The problem was that as he slept his oxygen stats kept dropping below 87 which would set off the alarms and a nurse would call and see if we needed something. I spent an hour watching the monitor and waking him up enough to take deep breaths to keep his stats up until he woke up enough to stay awake. Besides the kink in my neck from looking up at the monitor, it worked wonders. Once we got him to stay awake and get dressed, he said he felt much better and he was acting more like himself. The nurses had given him a blanket and a bear to make him feel safer and he told the nurse he was going to give his bear to Jessie when he got home so the nurse gave him another one to give to her so he could keep his. Once we hit the car, he immediately wanted to go get food. Amazing because an hour ago he couldn't even stand eating a popsicle and now he was starving. He ate two fruit bars on the way home and half of a chicken sandwich when we got home. Jessie was so happy to have him home she couldn't stop watching him and mothering him. Then they both took naps. Jessie woke up at 5:30 when she realized brother was gone and made mom put in Shrek to watch because there wasn't anything good on tv that early so she was pretty tired too. He was still feeling a little bad last night with a low grade fever but this morning the fever was gone and he is just stiff and sore. The incision is only about 3/4 to a half of an inch long and covered with steri strips. The fun part is going to be keeping him calm and only doing quiet activities for a week. The surgeon told me good luck with that. He has to avoid gym and recess for a week and he is worried that he will get into trouble with the teachers for not taking gym. We keep telling him we have a note from the doctor so they won't be mad. All in all it went as well as it could have and at least it is all over and hopefully we will never have to do something like that again. I am so proud of him. He was so brave and strong through the whole thing. The nurses said they wish all their patients were like him, he never cried or anything, he just did what they told him to. Thank you for all the prayers. They were greatly appreciated.