A Hernia Fixed

As David blogged earlier, Jacob had his surgery and it was successful. We are home and dealing with the aftermath discomfort. Other than that Jacob is doing really well, and I think once the incision heals and the pain subsides he will be happier for the surgery. I am very thankful for Dr. Saczek and the amazing nurses on Ward 4F (aka the peds ward). David thought I should let you know the first hand experience of the hospital visit.

We arrived at the hospital 6:20 am (yup, AM) to go through admission and then head up to the Day Surgery ward. Jacob wasn't the only child, but he was the youngest one there by far. We hung out in the ward while his chart was created, checked and then double checked. He was scheduled to be the first surgery of the day for Dr. Saczek, so things were done fairly efficiently. Vitals were taken, information was given, and a visit with the anesthetist (who was fabulous). It was this visit that offered us the first and only real complication of the day. When we originally met with the surgeon he suggested that Jacob would only be in for the day and then would be sent home. So that is what I prepared for...a diaper bag with the needed things for a day out. The anesthetist came to take all the information she needed and to fill me in on the procedure for a little guy like Jacob (they give him gas through a mask and then did an IV --which makes sense when dealing with an infant who can't control his ever flailing arms.) Then she mentioned to me that because of his size, that she was going to talk with the surgeon about keeping Jacob over night! What!? After Jacob was taken away to the OR, I waited for the phone call from the OR about the night. So, in the end it was decided that we needed to stay the night.

Actually, it was a good thing to stay. The nurses checked Jacob's vitals every half hour after the surgery and then every four hours after that. They kept an eye on his diaper output to make sure that everything was moving well, and then made sure that he was eating well. He was pretty dopey for the first part of the day, but by late afternoon he was wanting to be held standing up and was cooing and smiling like his usual self. He slept well that night, waking for food and when the pulsox machine went off. I on the other hand, slept fitfully. You see, they had a room for Jacob with a crib but only a pull out chair for me. Which makes sense seeing that I wasn't the patient. It wasn't the worse thing to sleep on, and heck, when you are exhausted you can pretty much sleep anywhere. Not being the patient also meant that there was no food for me...so David had the job of bringing me lunch and dinner. Yum, Probably better than the hospital food anyway.

By 10 am the next morning the surgeon had been back to check on Jacob and to discharge him, and then by 11 am the nurses had removed his IV connections (that they had left in just in case), and removed the board on his hand that kept him from pulling the iv out as he moved. Then we were on our way.

Being at the hospital overnight was a good thing. Jacob was well cared for and I was relieved to have knowledgeable people watching over him in case of any side effects of the anesthetic. It meant that I didn't have to worry as I likely would have. Being home is nice, though. Even better is knowing that Jacob will no longer have to worry about the discomfort of the hernia. Again, many thanks to the Doctors and Nurses who took such good care of our little man.