Procedure Day

Mason’s procedure day was one that we had all been dreading for a long time, although we knew how necessary it was.  We prayed for all to go well in the operating room, Mason to recover well and for us to get answers. ALL of this came true!

The day of the procedure Mason woke up a little extra early so I brought him to bed with me hoping to catch a few minutes of cuddles before the big day. Turns out I got a good two hours of cuddle time and I loved every minute! We arrived at the hospital and went through the check-in process. Once we were back in pre-op the nerves started settling in. Mason was in his little hospital gown and all the doctors were coming in to discuss their part of the surgery. This was real. This was scary. Then an amazing, wonderful, totally unexpected thing happened. We look up to see Jonathan’s parents peeking in the door at us. Mason immediately said “Gama…Paw Paw” and smiled; I’m pretty sure I got a little teary eyed. How wonderful it was to have actually real life hugs, support and love there for Mason, Jonathan and I.  How amazing are they, and how blessed are we? Jonathan and I were allowed to go back with Mason to the operating room and be there with him until he fell asleep. I’m a huge, wimpy, probably would have cried like a blabbering fool, baby….so Jonathan got the Dad of the Year award and went with our sweet boy. Next was the waiting room, each doctor would come out after their part to discuss results.

The pulmonary bronchoscopy was pretty straightforward. They went in, everything they look at looked normal. They retrieved fluid samples from the lungs to test. Mason did great.

Next was the ENT doctor going in with his scope. He found that Mason’s adenoids looked fine so he left them alone. He did find that Mason had a Type 1 Laryngeal Cleft. He injected a polymer to fill the cleft. In a couple weeks we’ll need to do another swallow study to see if this helps and then start thinning liquids. If Mason is able to drink regular liquids we’ll know this is the issue and we’ll need to come back in 2-3months when the polymer has dissolved and have the cleft surgically repaired.

The last part was the hour-long wait that felt like a year; the biopsy. Mason did amazing! The surgeon said he was able to get two great samples and that, to the naked eye, the lung tissue looked great and it felt great. This is all we could hope for from a biopsy. Mason has two incision sites with steristrips (Like a heavy duty band aide/patch) on them that will eventually fall off. He also has one larger site that has gauze and tegaterm covering it; this can be removed 48hrs post op. That’s it, and all stitches are dissolvable, no wound care of any kind. Isn’t this crazy? This kid had a lung biopsy and has three little ouchies that really require no care and will be better in no time. This hospital, and these doctors have it down to a science and I’m SO grateful to be here!

When we went to see Mason in the recovery room he snuggled right up in Mommy’s lap and passed out. He pretty much stayed snuggled up to me for the next 6hrs with little breaks here and there to snuggle Gama once and Daddy once. Oh, and once to wake up and scream for his balloon which he grabbed with a death grip and slept another solid 2hrs holding on to.  Once he had slept it off quite a bit he woke up and ate and drank a little and then was ready for night time. Daddy had a sleep over with little dude and he had a pretty good night. His saturation levels were dropping so they had to up his oxygen level, but that’s not unheard of after a surgery. The next morning he was bright eyed and bushy tailed trying to run everywhere. He ate a great breakfast and we hooked him up to portable oxygen to go for a walk. He smiled and waved at everyone we passed on our wing. I absolutely love this kid. He seriously has a smile and a spirit that just demands a smile back. Seriously, I dare you to try and be around him and not smile, it’s pretty impossible! Anyway…enough bragging about my supper adorable Mason. We were released before lunch, less than a 24hr hospital stay after a LUNG BIOPSY. I’ll take it!!!