The Big Day...Surgery Day

We arrived at Peyton Manning Children's Hospital at 6:30am. Cayden was taken back to the OR at 7:30. He was happy and funny and the nurses were fighting over who gets to carry him. He was growling at them and laughing...we watched them once again walk our youngest baby to an operating room. Our family was waiting in the waiting room for us...all of my parents, Christopher's parents, my sister and brother-in-law, and Melinda. We had Phil from our church come and pray for Cayden and we had a few friends pop in and out throughout the day. Surgery began at 8:10am. It took 7 hours. It went surprisingly fast. They updated us every step of the way. I had one real meltdown after she made us aware that he was on by-pass, by far the scariest thing I have ever had to go through! The nurse came and got us and took us to the family lounge in the PICU, in just a few minutes we would be reunited with our precious bug. Walking into the PICU is always nerve-racking...you never know what you will see. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at how well Cayden looked. He was still on the vent and unconscious but his color was good and he wasn't very swollen. It took him a few hours to come off the ventilator and the next 24 hours were very scary in terms of his respiratory function...it was very scary for this momma! He developed Subcutaneous Emphysema, which is air trapped in the shoulders and neck. His stats were a little unstable and he chest tube lost its suction so he was on constant wall suction...all this equals to lots of pain for our little boy :( Friday morning the surgeon came in and removed his chest tube...after a 1 hour nap he was a new baby! His stats improved. He smiled for the first time, started babbling, and playing with some toys. This was also the first time I got to hold him...it is like having a newborn all over again. Holding him, talking to him, looking at him in utter disbelief that God has blessed you with such a gift. The rest of the weekend was more recuperation and getting him back to eating regularly. Monday we did a chest x-ray, labs, and an ECHO...all look well and he was discharged! We are home now and things are a bit rough especially at night time but we are just taking it one day at a time...we are so thankful for God seeing us though this and protecting our baby. We are thankful the MANY friends and family who have helped us and continue to help us down this road of surgery and recovery. Like I said before...we are VERY blessed and are continuing to ask God to lead us down His path one day at a time!