Day Fourty-Three

Today was the big day. Reconstruction surgery. We arrived at the hospital at 7:40am to begin the pre- work-up. We got James all dressed in his hospital wear, talked with the surgeon, child life and the anesthesiologist. After we discussed the plan for surgery James got to pick out his "ride" to the operating room. He chose a pink Cadillac (power wheels) as his vehicle of choice. I got all my gear on and we head down the hall to the operating room. I helped James into the table and was able to stay with him while they used the mask anesthesia. I left him around 8:45am. 

The surgery was approximately 3 hours and went fairly smooth. The did run into a little adhesion when getting ready to replace his skull. The adhesion happened to be in an area that is linked to motor skills so the doctor made a decision to leave the scarring in place so as to hopefully not affect any of his motor function. I was able to see James by noontime and he was resting comfortably in the PICU. 

We were reunited with some familiar faces which was even more comforting. They all seemed very happy to see James again and here about how positive his recovery has been thus far. After about an hour or so James started waking from the anesthesia. He was scared and not sure what was going on, he was quick to tell me that he didn't want the oxygen mask or the blood pressure cuff on anymore. He tried to get them to take out the IV and the other monitors but he didn't succeed there. 

The rest of the afternoon went pretty well. He was awake off and on. We talked quite a bit and he had some food and drink. All very good signs that make the nurses and doctors happy. The main goal for James right now is keeping him comfortable, as this surgery comes with its fair share of pain. He has had a dose or two of morphine today as well as some Tylenol. He is also on IV fluids, antibiotics and the anti-seizure medications. 

Tomorrow morning they have a CT Scan scheduled to take a look at everything. They'll make a decision as to if they will remove the wound drain as well. We are thrilled to see him back to himself and look forward to what the next days will bring with the hopes he'll be home with the whole family for Christmas. 

Thank you for your continued prayers and I will continue to post this week with his progress!

xoxo Jenn