The Big Day

After what seemed like an eternity, the day of Connor's surgery finally arrived, August 6, 2013.  We had explained to him that he was missing part of his bone on his skull, and that he needed to have an operation to fix it. If you haven't seen the scan, it's pretty amazing.  This was his skull before the surgery:

Connor, surprisingly, took everything very well.  He asked a lot of questions, several of them many times, but we made it out to be a fun and exciting adventure, and I think he bought it.

Since Connor's surgery was scheduled for 7:00 a.m., we had to be at the hospital by 6:00.  It was a very early wake-up call, especially for Meme and Papa who drove down from Tewksbury to stay with Maeve while we were gone.  Papa came with us to keep us company, and we were at the hospital in no time (it's amazing how fast we can get there when there is no traffic).  We got Connor all registered and into pre-op.  They gave him the hospital ipad to play with, and you would have thought that he'd never seen one before.  He was glued to that thing and hardly paid us any attention.  When they were ready to wheel him into surgery, Mommy took the trip to the OR with him and gave him lots of love and kisses as the anesthesia kicked in.

While we were waiting for the surgery to be finished, Meme had dropped Maeve off at daycare and joined us in the hospital.  A little while later, Auntie Heather, Grammy, and Grampy showed up.  Connor is one very loved little boy and had a lot of support in the waiting room that day.  After about two hours, the surgeons came out and said that everything went beautifully, and that they were very pleased with the outcome.  We went to see our brave boy in the post-op prepared for a LOT of swelling.  The nurses and doctors all warned us that there would probably be a lot of swelling and to be prepared.  We were a bit nervous walking into the recovery room, not knowing what Connor would look like.  To our surprise, he looked the same, just with a bandage on his head.  He looked so peaceful.

After a few hours, we were moved to Connor's room.  Connor slowly woke up, and was very groggy for a while.  He had two IVs, one in his hand and one in his foot, as well as a drain in his head.  The drain was the most annoying part because we thought we had to be super careful or else we'd pull it out.  Little did we know that it was the longest drain known to man, and went from the base of his head all the way to the top, and that the chances of us pulling it out were slim.

Connor spent a LOT of time watching cartoons on the ipad.  There was a TV in his room, but Daddy had put old episodes of Spider-Man on the ipad, and that was much more interesting!

We rested a lot, and Mommy finagled her way into Connor's bed so we could cuddle.  Connor is a cuddler by nature, so this made him feel much better.  Plus, it allowed Daddy to sleep on the fold-out bed.  We didn't get a lot of sleep, but we got more than expected.  

The next day Connor was able to walk around a bit, and we even made a trip to the play room down the hall.  He didn't play much - it was very difficult to navigate the IVs and the drain, but at least he was able to walk around a little.  

 The second day is when the swelling began.  All that swelling that everyone told us to expect immediately after surgery?  It was making it's way down Connor's face on day two.

 The doctors told us that by the next morning we should expect his eyes to be swollen shut, and sure enough they were.  I could see before he even tried to open his eyes that they were swollen shut.  The poor kid was so upset.  He kept saying "somebody HELP me!  I can't SEE" over and over.  It broke my heart.  There was nothing we could do, of course, except wait it out, but that's not much relief to a scared little boy.

Once he was upright, he was able to open his left eye just the tiniest bit, enough to play a game on Daddy's phone.  

At this point, there was talk of us going home because (despite the swelling) he was healing very well.  We were told we would be there for 3-5 days, and it had only been two.  His head wrap had been removed, and the scar looked great.  

They removed the drain from the head, and despite a little discomfort when that happened, Connor was managing his pain very well.  We were a little concerned that they were sending us home with his eyes swollen, but they assured us that it would subside within a day or so.  Since Connor had been asking to go home anyway, we agreed that we were ready to be discharged.  Discharging Connor went fairly well.  There was a slight issue taking out his foot IV and he ended up bleeding all over the floor, but it was quickly dealt with and we were ready to go.

Connor lived on Jell-o in the hospital, and that's exactly what he wanted when he got home, too.  His eyes started to get better the next day, and he went from this:

 to this:

in just a day and a half.

This kid amazed me with his resilience.  He only took one dose of his prescription medicine when we got home, and only asked for Tylenol after we would take off his shirt (because the neck holes were too small and would squeeze his head).  He was jumping and playing within a couple days like nothing had ever happened.  The hardest part of the surgery was after - keeping him "low key and calm" for six weeks! Needless to say, Connor played a LOT of video games during those six weeks!

We were very fortunate to have an incredible team of doctors and nurses at Boston Children's.  They took amazing care of our boy, and for that we are truly grateful.  We had an even more incredible group of grandparents (and a very special Auntie).  Without their help taking care of Maeve, we wouldn't have been able to stay with Connor at the hospital the entire time.  It was very important to both Joey and I that we be at the hospital at all times with him, and we are truly thankful for everyone who helped us (and to those who offered to help us).  Thank you all!