Surgery is Over!!!!!!

First I want to thank everyone for your prayers. Everything yesterday went really well. We all woke up really early. Grandpa, Granny and Auntie Lydia arrived at our house at 5:30 in the morning. Thank you Auntie Lydia for watching Noah! It was a huge relief to know that he was well taken care of. After we went over some last minute details, we left the house for GBMC just before 6:00 AM.

I wasn't sure how traffic would be during "rush hour", but we arrived at the hospital just after 7:00 AM. Grandpa and Granny kept Isaac entertained while Ian and I took care of the admissions paperwork. Granny and Grandpa were pretending they had a bag full of tools and Isaac really enjoyed their make believe game. He was pretending to use a hammer and wrench and saw. He had so much energy it was hard to believe that he would be mellow at all that day. We got our hospital arm bands and took some pictures before Isaac's name was called to prep for surgery.

During the preparations, Isaac put on his hospital gown and socks and thought it was funny when mommy put on her gown, hat and hospital booties. He then found the perfect book, a "Magic School bus" book about plants. He LOVES the Magic School bus series on TV now. It is hard to believe that a three year old would be so interested in the intricate details of how plants work, and the detailed topics that the Magic School bus tackles, but Isaac surprises us every day with what he understands and wants to learn. Daddy read the book to Isaac while Mommy answered some of the questions from the doctors. Finally, it was time to go back to the operating room. This is when Isaac's mood changed a little bit. He hugged and kissed daddy and left to go into the room with me. He didn't want to walk there, so I carried him. Even though they had shown him the air mask and let him try it out he did not like it one bit. I had to hold his head to my chest and make him breathe in the air. He was fighting and whimpering until he fell asleep in my arms. I then placed him on the operating table, said a silent prayer and kissed him as I left the room at 8:20 AM. That was a difficult event to go through as a parent.

Isaac's surgery was done around 12:30 and the audiologist came out and told us everything went really well. She tested the electrodes and said that she got a good response from Isaac's brain. She answered some of our questions and then our doctor came out. He told us that he got full insertion of the electrodes and there was no resistance while putting them in, which was such good news for us. This means that Isaac should get full use of the implant when it is activated.

Ian and I went to get something for lunch and just as we sat down, Grandpa called me and said that Isaac was awake and very upset. He was asking where his mommy was. I took a few quick bites and went down to see him. Granny was holding him, but he was very agitated as he came out of anesthesia. I don't think he was ready to wake up yet, so they gave him more pain medication and he slept for another hour. I held him for a long time and then gave him to Granny while I left to make some phone calls. When I came back, he was awake and drinking some juice in a much happier mood than before. He was alert but not quite himself when we started to leave. Just as we left the recovery room door, Isaac threw up on daddy. He was so upset about this, but we got him cleaned up and changed. Grandpa gave daddy a shirt to change into and we left the hospital. We asked Isaac if he wanted to take a ride in the wheelchair to the car and he became very upset. He told us, "I don't want to ride in wheelchair because my legs not broken!" We ended up carrying him to the car. As we were driving out, Isaac said," I barfed on daddy. I still love you daddy." It was so cute. For the whole ride home, Isaac was sleeping. Occasionally, he would wake up and start talking like he was part of the conversation all along and then fall back asleep.

When we got home, Isaac just wanted to lay around because he couldn't walk very well. His balance was off. We ordered a pizza and he ate a little bit before falling asleep around 8:30 PM. I slept in his bed with him and he wanted his right "ear" turned on all night long. He slept pretty well and woke up around 3:30 AM saying he was hungry and wanted to finish his pizza and drink some juice. Today, we are doing pretty well. I can tell Isaac doesn't feel the best, but he is in amazing spirits considering what he experienced yesterday. He told me he wanted to go to Tumbletown and McDonalds today. I think Tumbletown will have to wait, but if his stomach gets better, McDonalds is an option for later.