Surgery Follow Up

This week has been surprisingly relaxing. My sister and I have been able to take it pretty easy and not feel rushed to do much of anything. Caden has had lots of quiet time watching DVD's to allow his body a chance to heal. When he's not watching DVD's, he is usually trying to overdo it and that makes me nervous! He also wants to take rides on the elevator at Ronald McDonald House just for the heck of it. Our room is on the 1^st floor (Room C101), so we don't exactly need to take the elevator.

 Watching DVD's

 Riding the elevator with Auntie Cheryl :)

On Tuesday we went on a walk around the Stanford Shopping Center and enjoyed the beautiful flowers throughout. Then Caden started begging for pizza, so Cheryl and I took him to the same pizza place Greg and I took him to on the day before surgery. He enjoyed his dairy-free pizza once again!

 Caught in a happy mood!

 Enjoying the flowers

 Outside the pizza place

Chowing down on pizza

Wednesday we had nothing on the agenda so we decided to drive over to the coast in the afternoon. Tuesday night Caden didn't have a very good night's sleep so he was pretty tired on Wednesday. He fell asleep on the drive over to Half Moon Bay. We let him sleep for a little while in the car after we arrived, but I wanted him to be able to go to sleep at night so after about an hour, I opened his window and let the wind wake him up. He was extremely cranky and mad about being at the beach where it was so windy! 

It was an absolutely gorgeous sunny day, but it was very windy. There were some gorgeous flowers right next to the beach and along the bluff and we managed to get a few pictures. But Caden was literally screaming hysterically the entire time we were there! Cheryl tried to distract him by picking him up and carrying him out onto the sand, but he wanted nothing to do with that! You might not be able to tell in all the pictures, but he was one mad little boy! It was the combination of lack of sleep the night before, a short nap, and not liking the wind, which all contributed to his pleasant demeanor. 

 

You can't tell how mad he was in this picture!

By the time we got back to RMH, he was finally in a better mood and we managed to get a few pictures of him in front of the house and playing with the train in the lobby. But man, he was in a foul mood at the beach. It's too bad because that was only his second time at the beach and he could have enjoyed himself if he wasn't so mad. Oh well!

Playing with trains

Thankfully Wednesday night he had a much better night's sleep and this morning he was in a better mood. This morning, our friends Mario and Melissa and their kids, Rachel and Alex, stopped by for a few minutes. They live in Walla Walla and are in California for a work/vacation trip and we are so touched they took the time to visit us. Their kids had slight colds, so we didn't get a picture of all of them with Caden because we didn't want to share germs. But it was so nice to see them. 

Mario, Melissa, Alex & Rachel

Shortly after they left, Cheryl and I walked with Caden over to Lucile Packard Children's Hospital for Caden's surgery follow-up appointment in the heart center. I thought he was supposed to have an echo followed up by a visit with the cardiologist. But they told us when we got there it was just a visit with the doctor. That's just fine with me since Caden hates echos!

They took his vitals and then took us back to a room. First a cardiology fellow, Dr. Rachel Hopper, came in and asked a lot of questions about how Caden was doing, etc. After she did her assessment, she left the room and came back with Dr. David Axelrod a few minutes later. Dr. Axelrod was the attending on the CVICU almost the whole time Caden was there after surgery. Both he and Dr. Hopper told us how great Caden looked and how well he seemed to be doing. When I asked about when the stitches came out and who should do it, they said they would have the Surgical PA come in and take a look at them because they thought it was possible they could come out today. Normally they like to wait 10-14 days after surgery but they thought the incision looked really good and it was possible they could come out. 

 With Dr. Hopper

 Dr. Axelrod doing an exam

They told us to make sure to see our cardiologist, Dr. Burg, as soon as possible upon returning to Washington. But they said he didn't need to stick around here any longer and we could leave to go home! Woohoo! What great news! :) We plan to leave RMH tomorrow and spend a couple nights in Sacramento before we drive back to Walla Walla.

After they left, we waited for awhile for the Surgical PA to come in and decide whether or not the stitches could come out. He walked in the door, took one look at Caden and said, “I see Dr. Reddy's handiwork.” I guess the surgeons definitely do have their “signatures” on each patient! The PA hardly needed to look at the incision before he determined he would be happy to take the stitches out. He went out to get a suture kit and came back with a nurse to help hold Caden still.

As soon as I laid Caden down on the table, he started screaming about how he didn't want any pokes. He was completely irrational and wouldn't listen when I told him there wouldn't be any pokes. He screamed very loudly and for a LONG time. I held his arms down and the nurse held his legs still while the PA snipped the sutures and pulled them out. He said since the dermabond was still in place, he could take them out but he wouldn't have done that if the dermabond had come off. 

Can you say, "Angry!"

We were all very relieved when he was done with the removal. But then Cheryl and I had to clean off the betadine before we put Caden's shirt back on. Otherwise it would have stained it. Caden was NOT amused that we were doing that. He wanted to be left ALONE! I can't blame him for that. He is very tired of being messed with!

 He's pretty happy now that it's over

 Looks pretty good to me!

As we walked back to RMH, I decided I was very glad they were able to take the stitches out here. If Dr. Burg in Washington took them out, he would have associated the pain or trauma with her and I don't want that. This way, he associates all his pain and stress with LPCH and the doctors here. And we can leave them all behind when we go home. Hopefully we never have to come back here for any kind of procedure for Caden again. I am so glad for the care he received here, but I truly hope we are done and never have to come back!

All is well here and we look forward to beginning our journey home. I take my sister to the airport tomorrow morning for her flight home. Then I will spend the day at RMH while I wait for Greg's flight to come in Friday night. Once I pick him up, we will head straight to the Sacramento area where we will stay until Sunday afternoon. We hope to be home Monday evening. Then I head up to Spokane on Tuesday to see Caden's cardiologist first thing Wednesday morning. By Wednesday afternoon/evening we should be home for good! This is a week earlier than we ever thought was possible!!! God is so good and has provided for our every need.