A Surgical Story in Pictures

Greetings Dear Readers,

I am pleased to report that Landon is home and doing well. I am drinking an enormous diet coke which I am counting on fueling me through the next hundred hours of catch-up reading and exam studying. But before I open my con law book for the first time in weeks, I thought I'd share our surgical adventure today.

It all began when Landon had to stop eating at midnight, stop drinking formula at 6 AM, and stop drinking clear liquids at 10 AM. As you can see from the following picture, he is PISSED about this.

By the time we were in pre-op at 12:15, he was in the midst of a total meltdown. After his pleas for food were cruelly rebuffed by JP and I, he regarded us with hurt betrayal and turned to others for help. He would quiet down whenever someone new walked in the room, look up hopefully with wide eyes, and when a bottle was not immediately produced, begin to wail again. It was so sad. He was certain his big belly was wasting away and couldn't understand why everyone was ignoring his cries of hunger. Until...

He was momentarily distracted by a mirror and surgical hat produced by our angel of a surgical nurse. Sadly, this did not last long. Immediately after this picture was taken he tried to eat the surgical hat, but quickly rejected it as unpalatable and began to wail again.

While all the wailing was going on, almost certainly scaring all the other kids waiting to go in for their surgeries, doctors came in and out of the room to yell details about the upcoming procedure. The chief attending anesthesiologist was on Landon's case and he quickly decided that there was only one thing that was going to make Landon happy and that was, "General Anesthesia". He scooped Landon up, cuddled him against his chest, and carried him off to the OR. Landon looked hopeful again as they walked out of the room together. A nurse followed behind with his bed.

JP and I went down to the cafeteria, ate the worst piece of pizza I've ever had, and quickly returned to the OR waiting room. After about an hour and fifteen minutes, the surgeon came in to talk to us, saying that everything went well. He showed us a picture of the cyst, which was removed in entirety and bigger than anyone had expected. It was shaped like an open clam shell which big and small halves. The smaller half was actually lodged into the muscle above his eye, so the surgeon rebuilt the muscle and said it should heal up just fine. Landon's left eye may open and close a little slower than the right for a couple weeks while the muscles build up to fill in the area previously taken up by the cyst, but he wasn't even sure we'd notice the difference. The anesthesiologist was a little concerned about Landon's coughing, but thought we could just run a vaporizer tonight by his bed. We will follow up with the surgeon on Monday.

After another thirty minutes we were able to join our trooper back in recovery. He tried to look pathetic:

but gave his daddy smiles whenever the nurse wasn't looking. He didn't cry and was very happy to have a bottle back in his life, even if it was just filled with pedialyte.

As the anesthesiologist foretold, Landon fell asleep in the middle of kicking off his blanket and telling us all about his adventures. He woke back up 5 minutes later and looked confused. He enjoyed petting the cast covering his IV because it made a funny noise and was absolutely determined to pull off the pulse-ox wrapped around his toe. He succeeded after about ten minutes causing multiple alarms to go off. He looked very pleased with all the attention.

We headed home a little after 4 PM. Right now he's sleeping in his swing, sporting his very macho band-aid, and moving his lips like he's drinking a bottle. I almost hate to type it this early, but it looks like this was one medical procedure he didn't make more complicated than necessary. My first final is on Monday and JP has several big work assignments due, so we'll be nursing in shifts while the other works. I'd like to write "hopefully Landon will cooperate", but I think he's holding a grudge about the bottle fast we put him on this morning.

He sure looks peaceful right now though, doesn't he?