Yes, after months of anticipation it was surgery day. Just to stretch it out a little longer, my check in time wasn't until 12:45 pm. That gave my parents plenty of time this morning to explain that I wasn't allowed to have any crackers or brown soda. I was pretty ticked off about that but when Mommy explained that Papa drinks Sprite and I could drink that I took one sip before deciding it just wasn't the same.
Since I am normally one of the first cases my parents are used to a 6 or 7 am check in time. When they got to the hospital the pre surgery waiting area was completely empty when usually it is standing room only. I didn't mind, while we waited I got the toys all to myself. After about 15 minutes, we were led back to the exam room where I got height, weight, blood pressure, pulse and oxygen saturation levels checked. Since I spend time each day pretending to be "Doctor Peyton" this was all fine with me. It was when the nurse brought out the hospital issue jammies that I stared to cry. Not long after Dr Morales came by and I immediately started crying at the sight of him (surgeons bring this out in me I guess). I wanted to keep my hardware so Mommy asked Dr Morales if I could. I am sure he thought Mommy was crazy but he said that would be fine.
After Dr Morales left, we were moved to the next waiting area where there were lots of toys and I hung out for almost two hours. I was supposed to be in surgery at 2:15 pm but Dr Morales was running a little behind. Around 2:45 I got my Versed to help me relax and Mommy rocked me and read me a few books until the anesthesiologist showed up. Mommy, Daddy and I walked back towards the OR and up until the point of hand off I was smiling and happy. As usual my parents last glimpse of me I was crying!
Dr Morales had warned my parents not to get too comfortable because I was only going to be in surgery 30-45 minutes. Sure enough about 30 minutes later, my parents were asked to go to the consultation room because Dr Morales would be out shortly. A few minutes later he came in and said the surgery went fine and they were cleaning up the hardware to send home with me. He told my parents that the pin sites should close up in 7-10 days. I was cleared to go back to preschool but he said the bone was still very fragile and to treat it carefully. He wanted to see me back in his office for follow up in 6 weeks to check how I was healing. Then he said we could start looking at scheduling a sleep study for possible decannulation. Now both my parents would like nothing more than to get my trach out but Mommy called a time out at that point in the discussion. Apparently, Dr Morales had forgotten about the last conversation several weeks earlier where they had discussed several other things would need to happen first - the joint and the palate repair.
Once Mommy reminded him, Dr Morales back tracked. Prior to the surgery, Dr Morales had thought the joint might need to be fixed surgically. After removing the hardware he thought I had pretty good movement and surgery may not be necessary. However if it wasn't surgically repaired it would require stretching with an appliance but the bone would have to heal more before that could be started. The palate, though, would probably need surgery. So no sleep study for now until the joint and the palate issues are resolved.
My parents went back to the waiting are and because of the short time under anesthesia Mommy figured it would be just moments before they could see me in post op. She was wrong and at one point my parents were told I was stable but taking longer to wake up then expected. About 4 pm, Mommy was called back to post op where I was just waking up. Initially, I was content to just sleep while Mommy held my hand but as soon as I started stirring I started my usual freak out session about the pulse ox being on my finger and the IV in my foot. The nurse thought I might be in pain so she gave me some quick meds but it became clear pretty quickly it wasn't the pain. I would calm down while Mommy rocked me but as soon as I looked down at my foot and saw the IV I would start freaking out again. They at least moved my pulse ox from my finger to my toe but I still wasn't happy. It only took a few moments of being awake for me to reach up and touch my face to verify the hardware was gone. As soon as I did I immediately asked to see them (see Dr Morales, Mommy wasn't lying when I said I wanted to keep them)!
Around 4:45, I got moved to the recovery area - the last stop before being discharged. They brought Daddy in and I shared with him my unhappiness as well. The nurse agreed to remove the IV as long as my parents were aware that there was a chance it would have to be replaced if I experienced vomiting or nausea. It was worth the risk and they took it out. Figuring that I had gotten my way with that I then started pulling off the pulse ox. Since the nurse had left while I started to get a feeding, Daddy "took one for the team" and put it on his finger so the alarms would stop going off. I settled back with my brown soda and watched some cartoons while I continued to get my g tube feeding. The nurse returned about 20 minutes later and boy was she ticked off that Daddy was wearing the pulse ox. When she asked if he had been wearing it the whole time he lied and said no! Hard to say if she just wanted to get rid of us at that point or if she would have let us go anyway, but she signed the discharge papers and I got a wagon ride down to the pharmacy for my medications. Then we were on our way home by 5:30 pm!
I did great on the ride home sipping my brown soda and rifling through Mommy's wallet. Once we got home, I downed 3 more small glasses of soda and later 1 1/2 Capri Sun's as well. When Michelle arrived at 10 pm I had plenty of energy and was ready to watch a video she brought with her.
Peyton Nicole Smith
Peyton earned that hardware! I love that Daddy tricked the nurse so Peyton didn't have to wear the monitor. I'd have love to have seen the look on her face!
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