The real surgery . . .

So, we waited another month after our canceled surgery to go in for the real surgery - March 6, 2013.  The time was the exact same as before, so we planned to get there just after 12:00, with the surgery scheduled for 1:45.  Everything went smoothly this time.  We checked in, the nurse came and got us and took us back to a room for the pre-op exam.  (And, can I just say, ALL of the nurses who talked with us before the actual surgery had such thick accents that it was really hard to understand them.  Gah!)  Anyway, they took his blood pressure, weight, temp, etc . . . had him change into his surgery jammies, and then sent in Dr. Hutchinson.  He's told us to feel free to call him Hutch since his name is a bit of a tongue twister.

Getting his blood pressure taken

 

Cute surgery jammies . . .

 

 

. . . and making funny faces at mom!

 

Dr. Hutchinson drawing on Scott's hand to show him what would happen

So, Hutch came in, shook hands, fist bumped Scott, talked for a minute, and then got down to business.  He told Scott what was going to happen, marked his hand so the correct hand would go under the knife, asked if we had any questions, and interspersed all of that with some poking and tickling of the Scottie bug, and just having fun with him.  (I've mentioned this before, but I'll say it again - we LOVE Dr. Hutchinson.  He's friendly, he gets kids, he's awesome to work with, and he knows his stuff.)  After he was done with the exam, he told us he'd see us in a little over an hour and then left to go prep.

We packed up all our stuff and went to the waiting room where I settled in a nice comfy rocker to read a book and Brandon & Scott played some Mario Kart Wii.  (For the record, Scott won every time!)  They played, I read, we contemplated what the weird sound was going through the vents, and then it was time to go.

Playing Mario Kart Wii with the Dad

"I'm gonna beat you, Dad!"

I was expecting them to give him some Versed, but the nurse came and got him, said we could walk to the line with them, and then she'd walk him back to surgery.  On the walk, she asked Scottie what flavor of smell he'd like to fall asleep to.  I think he decided on strawberry something.  Lemonade, maybe?  Anyway, we got to the line, he hugged us goodbye, and off they walked.  And I cried a bit.  This was around 2:30 pm.

We were told that the surgery would last about two hours, so Brandon & I headed off down to the surgery family waiting room.  We read, we played some games on the iPad/iPod, we read some more, we ate some snacks that were provided, I wandered because I was uncomfortable . . .  There were a few times where I was tempted just to lay down on the floor because I was so uncomfortable.  But, that thought didn't make me happy, so I didn't.  The chairs in the waiting room are okay, but fairly small.  I managed to wedge myself into one of the longer ones, though, so I could at least lay my head down.

About halfway through the surgery, they called the waiting room to update us on Scott.  I was in the bathroom, so Brandon took the call.  They said that all was going well, but to plan on it taking about 20 minutes longer than first expected.  If it was much longer than that, they'd give us a call.  So, we figured he'd be out of surgery by 5:00 at the latest.

And, then, 5:30 came.  I was starting to get a bit nervous because we hadn't heard anything, when we finally got the call that one of us could go down and sit with him in post-op.  So, I grabbed my water bottle and my book, and headed down.  Hutch met me on the way, so I turned around and headed back to the waiting room so we could talk with him about the results of the surgery.

(He did what is called an osteotomy.  Here's a def. from widipedia: An osteotomy is a surgical operation whereby a bone is cut to shorten, lengthen, or change its alignment . . . or to straighten a bone that has healed crookedly following a fracture.)

So, he cut open the finger, destroyed the rest of the growth plate, and then cut the bone to straighten it up.  He took a bone graft out of his hip and inserted that bone graft into the left side of his finger to help straighten it out.  He then cut the skin between his second and third finger to give his fingers more movement.  Once it was all straightened like Hutch wanted, he put one pin on either side of his middle finger to hold everything in place.  Trimmed the pins down, and wrapped his hand up.  (I'm sure it was much more complicated than my description during the actual surgery!)

Hutch was quite please with the outcome, told us to come back in five weeks, then said goodbye.  So, I headed down to see my Scottie.  I sat in post-op with him for about 20 minutes feeding him ice chips while his oxygen regulated, and he woke up a bit more.  Then, we were moved to a recovery room where Brandon was able to join us.  Poor Scott was so cold.  He had about ten warmed blankets piled on top of him.  After a while, he was able to eat some slushie, and drink some water.

 SO cold.  "Can I have another blanket?"

Even still, he was feeling a bit nauseous and dizzy, so after a couple of hours in the recovery room, the nurses decided to give him some anti-nauseous med's.  Five minutes later, he sat up in bed gasping, and crying saying that he was so hot and that he felt like his body was all of a sudden 1,000 degrees.  He moaned and cried, and moved around while I kept the throw-up bucket in front of his face.  After about ten minutes, the medication kicked in, the side effects left, and he felt better.  We let him sit for another 20 - 30 minutes, then he got out of bed and Brandon helped him to the bathroom.  At that point, we were pretty much cleared to go.

 

A good shot of what his hand looked like for the next 5 weeks

The nurses gave us the discharge instructions, while Brandon went down to the pharmacy to pick up Scott's prescription pain med's.  It was then I found out that they had prescribed pills for him instead of liquid.  He can't swallow pills (although, he's figured out how to swallow an Ibuprofen pretty well since then), so we asked if they could switch to a liquid.  They had to call the on-call dr. to get it switched.  We were pushing it pretty close since the pharmacy closed at 8:00, and it was about 7:50 when this all happened.  Yikes!

 

All ready to go - and even smiling!

Anyway, while that all happened, I helped Scott change back into his jammies, then we waited for Brandon to come back up.  Once he was there, we gathered up our stuff, they wheeled a chair over for Scottie, and they escorted us to the front door.  We left the hospital around 8:45 that night, and made it home after 11:00.  LONG day.

Scott ended up sleeping on the couch bed for the next several nights since he couldn't climb into the top bunk of his bed.  We sent him back to school on Monday (surgery was on Wednesday), where he said he'd had a hard time.  It was hard to keep his hand protected and walk with his hip hurting and so many kids bumping into him.  He felt a little better on Tuesday, so he went to school again, came home and rested, and then headed to Young Men's that night.  By the time he came home, he was as white as a ghost, and couldn't even walk down the stairs.  He was in pain, dizzy, and he kept saying that it felt like his hand was on fire.

We kept him home the next two days to recover some more and sent him to school on Friday.  He was walking a little better, and felt pretty okay.  He rested over the weekend and went back to school on Monday.  But he kept coming home saying that it felt like his hand was on fire, and that his arm and hand just itched.  Tuesday night, he spiked a bit of a fever, and just seemed really restless.

I kept him home on Wednesday, and after I took the boys to school, Scott curled up on the couch and took a four hour nap.  He NEVER does that, so I was scared by this point.  I set up an appointment with his pediatrician for that afternoon, but when Scott woke up from his nap, and ate something he was golden.  Bouncing and running around with Connor, happy as could be.  He said his hand wasn't hurting anymore (other than the normal ache after surgery), and that he felt great.  So, we canceled the appointment for the afternoon, and he's been great ever since.

The bone graft site on his right hip . . .

 . . . 1 1/2 weeks after surgery.

We appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers that went with us from our wonderful friends and family.  I know they helped because I wasn't as nervous sending him into surgery as I have been in the past.  We love you all!