August 26, 2010

We are so relieved that today is finally over. When Dr. Buchmiller told us his surgery could last all day, she wasn't kidding. They took Benjamin down to the operating room a little after 7:45am and he did not return to the NICU until 5:45pm. Here's a recap of the day.

7:00am - Ryan and I arrived at Children's to a comfortably sleeping Benjamin

7:30am - The anesthesia team arrives for transport down to the OR

7:45am - We give kisses to Benjamin and make our way to the family waiting room

7:50am - I have a mini breakdown and start crying

8:15am - Dr. B finds us and tells us that the anesthesia team is working on Benjamin and he's starting to drift off to sleep. She tells us her plan is to put a central line in before they get started.

9:00am - We give consent for Benjamin to have an epidural placed

10:30am - We see Dr. B again... wait, she's not supposed to be here! I start to panic. She pulls us into a private room so we can have a talk. She proceeds to tell us that they're having a hard time getting a central line in. They were able to thread it into the artery above his clavical, but instead of going towards his heart like it should, the line kept going up his neck. When they went to pull it out, the wire frayed and a small portion is now stuck inside of him. My response: "You've got to be kidding me! This cannot be happening." So to make a long and complicated story short, he now has a piece of wire inside of him that will stay there forever because it's too close to major vessels to try and remove. She continues to tell us that they're going to try the other side.

12:30pm - The liason nurse comes out to give us an update: "Benjamin is presenting a challenge... they still can't get a central line." I start to cry again. My poor baby has been intubated and under anesthesia for at least 4 hours now and they haven't even made the first incision!

1:20pm - We get another update. They were unable to get a central line, but have started the surgery anyway.

3:00pm - Bowel reconnect complete, starting on hernias.

4:45pm - Dr. B comes out and tells us that Benjamin did well, she's really happy with the reconnect and the g-tube, but could not complete the hernia repair. She tells us it's not a big deal and she'll do it either before he comes home if he's stable enough or at some point in the future. She then told us that anesthesia was actually waiting for him to wake up because they wanted to extubate him. Our response: "WHAT??!! Are you serious??!" We thought for sure he would be on the vent for awhile.

5:45pm - Benjamin is rolled back into the NICU, batting his beautiful eyelashes and breathing on his own.

We left the hospital around 8pm as Benjamin was falling asleep. The only concern at this point is his urine output. We're having flashbacks to 5 months ago when he went into kidney failure. Hopefully he'll start producing some urine within the next few hours.

All in all, today had a rocky beginning, but a great outcome. Thanks again to those who sent us texts and emails. You have given us strength and hope and we are unbelievably grateful.