Ben's surgery

Last Sunday, on June 13th, Chris, Ben and I headed up to the Children's hospital. Ben's surgery and tests were at 6:30am on Monday and since we live two hours away we decided to go up the night before.
Ben did really well on the ride up considering he didn't sleep a wink. We checked into the hotel room and then ordered Mexican food take-out from the restaurant next door. The food wasn't overly great but it was dinner.
Ben had a blast running around the room and wanted to go in and out of the pack and play that I had set up for him to sleep in. Which, by the way, was the only time Ben wanted to be in there!

After dinner we headed down to the pool. I decided to hang out and just take pictures of Daddy and his babe hanging out in the very COLD pool.

They didn't last too long but that was ok since it was getting pretty late.

The night was ROUGH to say the least. None of us got much sleep and when Ben vomited at midnight I panicked that he was getting sick. We think it was that he was just over-tired and so upset because it didn't happen again.

We were up and checked out of the hotel very early to get over to the hospital.

Once Ben was checked in and changed into his purple hospital jammies we spent some time in the kids playroom while we waited to talk to all the doctors that would be with Ben during his surgery and tests.

It is such a surreal feeling. Being there, watching him play and knowing that he didn't have a single clue about what was about to happen.


And then it was time. Daddy got gowned up and carried my baby boy off with his "bluey" and the spoon that he wouldn't give up from the playroom.....

I stood there, in the hallway, with plenty of people walking by but feeling so all alone. Waiting for Chris to come back. It is an awful place to be. Not the hospital, it was a fabulous place, but standing there having just kissed your baby and sent him off. Praying that he will be fine. Praying that the doctors, surgeons, and nurses are on their "A" game. Praying for patience and calmness while waiting.

Chris and I headed down to try and get something to eat. They gave us a beeper/buzzer/vibrator thing so we could be paged if they needed us. We tried to eat but everything that I tried just didn't taste good. Pretty sure that Chris was right and it was me, not the food. We finished eating and then went to buy deodorant in the little store since mine had been left at home and I needed it. While I was standing there waiting for the man to ring me up the buzzer went off!

I PANICKED! I ran off saying over my shoulder, "Sorry, I have to go!" We were so far away! A woman who worked there heard the beeper and saw my panic so she quickly told us a short cut. I was an absolute wreak because it was way too soon! Something had to have gone wrong! I was running down the halls trying to get there.

It turns out that the gastro doctor was done her part and wanted to fill us in on what went on while she was with Ben. The camera broke so she wasn't able to get any pictures but what she could see had "ridges", which is an indicator of EE, what they were looking for. She took a bunch of samples for biopsy and we would find out in 5-7 days the results. Ben did great during the tests and now the surgeon was working on his adenoids and the biopsy on his air way.

PHEW, that scared the crap out of me.

I sat down and Chris went to get us new drinks since he had tossed the ones we had when we were running upstairs, along with the deodorant that I left on the counter in the store. I waited. He came back with drinks. We waited. Mostly in silence. A weird kind of silence, a loud silence, if that makes any sense.

After a bit we were told that Ben was done and the surgeon would be out soon to talk to us. He came out just a minute later and let us know that everything went very smoothly. He said Ben's airway looked great and he would bet his house that the biopsy will come back fine. Yay! Ben had no problem being intubated and his stats were perfect the whole time!

PHEW, now I just wanted to get my baby in my arms.

A few minutes later we were told we could go back to where Ben was so we would be there when he woke up. He was sleeping peacefully for a little bit and pointed to the picture on the ceiling when he first woke up. For a couple of hours he was in and out of sleep, cranky, uncomfortable, and just feeling yucky.

They gave him an extra dose of pain meds in the IV before they took it out because he seemed to be really uncomfortable and had a case of the chills.

He was in his daddy's strong arms.... And, although he wasn't in a very happy mood, he was glad to be in Mommy and Daddy's arms again.

And, boy were we happy to have him there again!

It's was a long recovery, well longer then I expected for sure. He really took just about a week before he was back to himself again. We had a lot of cuddle time.

Again we waited. This time for the results of the biopsy. I did some research and was pretty sure that Ben was in fact dealing with an allergic reaction in his esophagus. I have been so scared and just consumed with worry.

Finally today, 9 days later, we got the call with the results. NEGATIVE! He does not have EE, the disease that they thought he had! THANK YOU GOD! This was WONDERFUL news! AMAZING news!

He does have acid reflux and that was present and obvious in the biopsies. We have figured that since he was a tiny baby and have been medicating him for it.

So the plan is to keep him on the reflux meds and the appetite enhancer. We will meet with Dr. R in a few weeks and decide where to go from here.

But tonight, I will sleep without the worry and fear that has been with me! Well, I will try to sleep, hopefully Ben will let me!

Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers throughout the last couple of weeks and more!