Surgery=Success!!!!

I'm sorry it's been such a long time since my last update, but time has gotten away from me and to compound everything I have been fighting a cold for the past week (thank goodness Benton is sniffle-free thus far)!  We left off our story with Benton's surgery being imminent and that's where we'll begin.

On the day of Benton's surgery we awoke filled with excitement and nervous energy.  I was feeling particularly nervous due to a scary dream I had the night before, but Joe helped to steady my nerves and we got Benton prepped for the big day.  We had to keep him free of liquids for a certain number of hours before the surgery so the morning started with a trip to Giant to get pedialyte which Benton had been cleared to drink up until 4 hours before surgery.  We packed everything up and then drove to Childrens Hospital and checked in for his surgery.  As we waited for his name to be called my stomach was in knots.

Waiting for surgery to begin and then off to the OR!

Finally they called Benton's name and we were checked in with a nurse.  Vitals were taken, the anesthesia and surgery teams came by for us to ask final questions and sign consent forms and then all of a sudden they were taking my beautiful baby away on a stretcher to the OR.  We were told the surgery would take 2-3 hours with recovery time and that we could check Benton's surgical status on a board that almost looked like the arrivals and departures screen at the airport.  Once Benton was officially in surgery we tried to calm our nerves by stuffing our faces at the food court.  Luckily, the staff at Childrens is great and they called mid-surgery twice to give us an update on how Benton was doing which was much appreciated.

The board with surgeries

Then before we knew it the screen said surgery complete!  The surgeon came out to the waiting room and told us how everything had gone.  He said the gtube surgery was easy and there had been no issues, but the circumcision had actually taken much much longer than the gtube.  This was because Benton's foreskin had been collecting urine for so long that it had infected some of the surrounding tissue and they had to clear everything out.  Luckily we had decided to do the circumcision because it was a nasty infection waiting to happen.

Benton back in the ICU

First picture with his brand new gtube

Even though Benton was out of surgery we were told we weren't allowed to see him yet as he was still recovering from the anesthesia and they wanted to move him up to the Cardiac ICU.  Well this was torture.  The surgery was technically finished at 1:30pm but we weren't allowed into his room until about 3:30pm at which time we found out that the reason it had taken so long was because he had not come off of the intubation well.  Apparently while we were sitting in the waiting room they had tried to extubate and his sats had plummeted down into the 30s because he had suffered a small lung collapse.  My poor sweet baby!!!!!  Luckily the hospital felt comfortable keeping him extubated but had to crank up his oxygen all the way to 12 liters of high flow!!!  To give you some perspective when Benton had his pneumothorax they only went up to 8 liters so I was kind of freaking out.

Loving our little man

Such a fighter!!!!  With Jack the Bulldog his ever-present pal

Once Benton stabilized at 12 liters of oxygen and started to act like his normal feisty self everything seemed to come together.  Within two days Benton was able to be weaned back from 12 liters to 2 liters and we were able to move from the ICU to the regular Heart and Kidney floor for observation.  The nurses on the floor showed us how to use his gtube, give him meds and flush it.  They also showed us how to care for his circumcision stitches.  On the regular floor the doctors still needed Benton to wean down to his home oxygen level before we could be discharged and that last pesky liter is always the most difficult.  It took three more days for Benton to be weaned from 2 liters to 1.5 liters and finally we were able to go home!!!!!

Nothing entertains like a good book!!

Leaving the hospital post-surgery was one of the happiest days.  We were so relieved that this surgery was over after we had hemmed and hawed over it for so many months.  It truly felt like we were moving on to the next chapter in our lives.  We just continue to hope and pray that Benton gets healthier and stronger each and every day.  We pray that one day soon he will finally no longer require oxygen and that he can start successfully eating by mouth.  We appreciate all of your prayers for our sweet fighter....we know that God's grace has blessed our family so much and that your prayers have helped him through his toughest times and will continue to keep him strong.

Hey Guys I'm Ready to Go Home!!!

Sleeping away on our way home from the hospital