Scott's surgery - this one really was a surgery

On Wednesday, we had Scott's surgery. We were expecting to be there fairly early, but the hospital surprised us with a call saying that his check-in time was 12:30. So, we went down that morning after breakfast (luckily he was able to eat crackers and dry toast until 8:00 a.m. and clear liquids until 11:00 a.m.) We met my parents for a quick hello, and a hug and kiss for Scott, then we headed up to Primary Children's.

We got checked in, the nurse looked him over, took his stat's, etc. and then they sent us over to what they call the toy room. It's a room for kids where they can play the Nintendo, watch a movie, color, draw, play with toys that are there, all while waiting for their turn for surgery. We got in there at 1:30, then told that we would be waiting until about 3:00!! Yikes.

To this point, Brandon & I hadn't had any lunch yet, so we took turns going out in the hallway and eating our lunch. (You can't have food in any of these rooms - kind of mean to the kids, don't you think, to have food in front of them when they can't eat??). So, we ate, went on a little walk to the sky walk that connects the U of U Medical Center to Primary Children's, and they called us back to get Scott's Versed. Versed is a drug that they will commonly give to kids before surgery. It's helps to relax them and calm them down, and also works as a kind of form of amnesia. As a result, they can't walk on their own because their muscles don't really work. So, they get towed around in a Red Flyer wagon. One of Scott's favorite parts of his hospital trips - the red wagon.

Anyway, they came and got him at 3:00, and took him to his room. My cousin, Jeff Darcy, is an OR nurse up there, and he slipped in to check on Scott for us. He came back and said that Scott was doing just great. They finished in about an hour, with all good news! The Dr. was able to take the little section of bone out that was fused together, hopefully releasing it so that his left side of his middle finger on his right hand (did you get that?) will start to grow. He also made an incision on his right arm and took out a fat pad. He put the fat pad where he had taken the bone out. He's trying to "trick" the bone into not fusing back together.

And, as a side note, can I just say how much we love Scott's hand doctor?? He's awesome. Sometimes he's hurried, but even still, we feel that he takes the time to answer any questions we have. He's honest with us, oftentimes saying, "Will that work?? I really don't know. But, personally, I think it's worth a try." Did I mention that he's also my hand doctor? I've had issues with both of my wrists, even having therapy on my left wrist at the same time Scott was having therapy on his hand right after his accident. But, most frequently, it's my right wrist that really bothers me. After he got done with Scott's surgery on Wednesday and came in to see us, he noticed that I had a splint on my arm. He asked what was wrong, and then even took a few minutes to talk to me about options we might could follow regarding the care of my arm. He had other patients to attend to, but we were his main focus right then. We love him!

Anyway, back to Scott. He woke up just fine, although a bit grumpy. The nice thing, though, is they have TV's above every bed in the kids recovery room, as well as the post-op room. They wheeled him in and we found Curious George on his TV. They discharged us about an hour later. He managed to hold down a slurpee, as well as a few crackers, all the way home. Once home, though, he threw everything up. Poor kid was still trying to get the anesthesia out of his system. He eventually was able to eat that night, and was his normal, happy self the next day.

He has the coban on his hand right now, binding his third and fourth fingers together. (Coban is that lovely colored stuff they put on top of your cast. It's really cool - it sticks to itself, but it is not sticky! I love this stuff!!) He was expecting to wake up with a full cast on, (pink, no less - he LOVES pink!!) and was SO disappointed to realize he didn't have one on. They sent us home with some coban so that we can re-wrap his hand as needed, and they gave us some blue. Brandon, though, good father that he is, asked them for pink. They gave us some and Scott latched onto it as though his life depended on it!!

On Tuesday, we'll go back to the hospital, where they'll take the coban off, and give us some buddy tape. It's basically velcro straps that will wrap around his 3rd and 4th finger, holding them together. That way, if his hand gets bumped, it's less likely for his finger to break. He'll have to wear that for another month, except for showers and swim lessons.

Now, I crashed that night. We didn't get to bed until about 11:30, but I was OUT!!! I slept in until 9:30, only waking up once in the middle of the night for a drink of water. I've been stressed with these hospital visits. Not that they're big, bad surgeries, or anything. It's just the worry that something might go wrong, having to be the constant nurse for a couple of days after, and with these ones back to back, having my house fall apart. Needless to say, I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned on Thursday. My way of working off the stress of the week. And, it worked! My house was beautiful - for about 3 hours. Then, of course, little boys get toys out, laundry needs to be folded, dinner made . . .

Anyone wanna come help me vacuum????

Scott playing before our check-in

Scott in his surgery jammies - he's tough!!

"Mmm - this Versed is great!!"

Me holding Scottie before they took him away

(that's the hardest part - watching them walk away with my baby!!)

Scott in post-op clutching his pink coban