June Surgery

On Tuesday Raul had surgery at Children's. We had just made the plan the Friday before, so it was kind of last minute, but luckily it worked out! We got to the hospital around 12:15, and were there about nine hours, with four of those being in the OR under anesthesia. We had expected less than that, but they said everything, starting from the intubation, was just a bit more time consuming and complicated than they had expected. It was very good timing for the grafting, as going into the hospital that day his left ankle started pouring blood, which soaked through his bandages heavily. The doctor said she didn't see anything different there, so we aren't sure why it happened.

He was very funny going into surgery. The had given him a Versed dose more than double what he gets at home, but it wasn't doing anything, so they then gave him a bunch of Ketamine, which started to have an impact. Going into the OR he was asking them about all their TVs in there, and when the anesthesiologist started using gas Raul started turning his head to the left and right making the anesthesiologist follow with the mask while saying, "a little to the left, a little the right, perfect!" over and over, which had everyone laughing! 

First he had a bone marrow biopsy, which ended up requiring several pokes to get all the samples they needed for various tests. Second he had a new product put on his largest wounds called Matristem, which was then stitched into place, and his legs were casted (his ride side of his torso got the product too, but couldn't be casted). They had planned for him to stay overnight, but as there were no complications and we know he does better at home, the doctors agreed that he could be discharged from the PACU. We definitely made the right choice to come home, as he got a nice long night of sleep instead of being woken up all night for vitals!

He has been doing well post-surgery, but the following two days seemed a bit sore and seemed to have forgotten that he could still scoot with the casts. Today we had our first follow-up in Boston and the doctor put some special gel over the Mepitel layer to help moisten the product on the wounds.  Raul was not very happy about this, and it was painful having his leg bandages messed with, so on the way home we stopped at the farm for a quick adventure! This was the first time Raul has been there in his power chair, so it was fun seeing him get to explore, though he does seem to get tired from concentrating so hard when going long distances in his power chair.