Yesterday was lucky #7 surgery for Brayden! What a stressful few days we had before surgery day. Brayden came down with a cough. So last Friday I called Dr. Bauer's office, they said if he gets a temp, or gets worse over the weekend. We would need to cancel surgery. With our time frame with his baby brother arriving in June, we didn't need any set backs and needed Brayden's surgery to be on schedule. Luckily he didn't get any worse and everything worked out and he was good to go for surgery day.
For this surgery daddy and his Grandma Vauble are with him in Chicago. He is very lucky to have such supportive family during these times. It has been hard on me, being so far away but I know he's in good hands.
Here is Brayden before heading to the hospital, he woke up in good mood and it was nice they didn't have to report to the hospital until 10 am with a 11:30 surgery.
All bundled up and ready to leave
At the hospital, got cleared for surgery and playing with toys
Surgery lasted 2.5 hours. Dr. Bauer said surgery went well and his body responded well. Dr. Bauer was planning on putting in 4 expanders. Brayden has a little bit of nevus under his belly button on his stomach, Dr. Bauer was able to do an incision and cut out most of the nevus in that area. He put in dissolvable stitches in his stomach, so no need to get them taken out. Since he was able to cut most of the nevus off the stomach the 4th expander was no longer needed. We were happy about that!
Dr. Bauer is part of a nevus study at a University and the nevus he cut out, he sent to the lab to do some research on it. It will be interesting to see what they find out. Brayden got 3 expanders in, 2 in lower back and 1 in thigh that wraps around the side. His leg expander is 500 cc expander with 60 cc's to start. His left back expander is a 750 cc expander with 120 cc's to start and his right back expander is 1000 cc expander with 150 cc's to start. He has 2 ports on the right leg and 1 on his left butt.
Dr. Bauer is confident as long as we have a good next 12 weeks with no infections or problems, this will be the last round of expanders! Then the following surgery would be to cut out and clean up any remaining nevus and scar tissue. Guess we will see what happens over the next 12 weeks, praying for a perfect round for Brayden!
Brayden in recovery, this is one of the hardest parts when they come out of the anesthesia and having them be in pain and not knowing what just happened to them.
Finally in his room for the night, talking some and watching tv shows on ipad and playing games on ipad
Few hours after surgery and he's eating his favorite for dinner...PIZZA!
Brayden has been on Tyneol with codeine and ibuprofen every 4 hours to manage his pain. He cries every time they change his diaper or change his tubes. It hurts him to move and when Geoffrey was changing his diaper, he said "No daddy" and his legs are shaking. So hard to see your kid in pain.
Finally getting some needed sleep
It was a short night. Brayden didn't get to
sleep until around 1:00 and then was fussy off and on. When the nurses came in to change tubes during the night it woke him up and made him upset.
Ready to leave the hospital and head to Dr. Bauer's office for the 1st dressing change! Wasn't happy about moving around this morning to change, but each day he will get better. Amazes me how strong he is and I can't wait to someday have all of this behind us. What a journey he has been on these past 2 years of his life. I admire his strength and I am so blessed to have him as a son.
Brayden didn't enjoy his 1st dressing change. He kept saying, "No,No,No." But Geoffrey said he wasn't shaking too bad. The front is looking great and hardly any nevus left! Maybe the width of your pinky and the stitches look great. So it will be nice to see how that all heals up. The rest of the expanders look good and they said to take it easy with the leg expander and doing the fills.
Now for the rest of the day, they are going to the hotel and get some rest and relax. Sleep is the best thing for Brayden right now while he recovers.
Thank you everyone for the prayers, means a lot for all the support!
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