So the stress started building on Monday when the surgeon's nurse told us that we'd have to take Wyatt to the pediatrician to make sure he was still eligible for surgery on Tuesday - he had a runny nose. I cried on the way to the Drs office as I didn't want the surgery to be rescheduled to next year some time. We were ready and as prepared as we could be to face the challenge. The Dr gave him the all clear and said the runny nose was from three pre-molars getting ready to break through. Whew!
Later that day we drove to Denver (about an hour) and checked into a hotel. During dinner, Eric realized that he's lost his wallet - thought he'd give me a distraction from Wyatt I guess. So we go back to the hotel and look around. Nothing. I called our bank and AmEx and reported his cards stolen.
4:30am Get up and get ready and drive to Denver Children's Hospital.
5:30am Check in with surgical department.
6:00am Wyatt is called back to be examined - again the runny nose is an issue.
6:30am He's cleared by the admitting nurse and dressed for surgery.
7:00am We meet with the anethesiologist.
7:15am We meet with the surgeon.
7:30am A man dressed in scrubs comes out and says its time for Wyatt to come back to the operating room. He willingly went with the man and I cried because I felt guilty and sad for him. I could just imagine how afraid he would be as they put him to sleep.
We went to breakfast and guess what... the man from the bank had cancelled my card too. Luckily, my AmEx was still working and the hospital cafeteria accepted AmEx.
8:30am We return to the waiting area after breakfast and get an update from the operating room. Wyatt is doing well and the surgeon is 20 mins into the procedure.
9:30am We get another call that the surgery will be finished about 11am. In the mean time Eric is on the phone with the bank trying to correct my card and figure out how to notify the credit people not to let anyone open an account with his social - since his military ID was in the wallet. Crazy!
11am (I think - its a blur) The anesthesiologist came out and said Wyatt was in recovery. She said she had a hard time intubating him due to his PRS. She said he may look great from the outside, but inside, his jaw is set way back and she had to be creative about getting the tube down his throat. Then the surgeon came out and said he was finished and the surgery went well. He was able to close the soft and hard palate and that he discovered something unexpected. I held my breath. I guess routine procedure is to put a stitch through the tongue and pull the tongue out of the way. When the Dr tried to pull it out of the way it didn't move - it was stuck by a piece of skin to the bottom of his mouth. So the Dr had to cut about three quarters on an inch under his tongue to "release" it. He said that even with the palate repair, Wyatt wouldn't have been able to talk with his tongue "tied" like that. So poor Wyatt got a double whammy.
When we went into the recovery room Eric and were shocked. Nothing can prepare you for post-op. It was horrible.
Around 12pm we were sent up to our share room. Wyatt stayed on Morphine for the entire evening and was on oxygen for a while, he had a feeding tube through an IV in his arm and a oxygen/heart rate monitor. He quickly got into normal range with oxygen and heart rate and the oxygen was turned off.
After getting to the room, Eric got a call from a friend - someone had found his wallet and had called a number on one of his business cards. Eric got everything back. Yay! We "slept" on a window seat by Wyatt' bed together. Our roomates were inconsiderate and talked on their cell phones loudly, kept the door to the room open and their TV on until midnight. They kept Wyatt awake and cranky.
The next morning the surgeon came in and said he didn't think we'd be going home since Wyatt wasn't eating from a bottle yet. We were having trouble getting oral meds into him as his didn't want to swallow. But later that day Wyatt took the oral meds, drank his alloted amount and the nurse said she'd trust us to take him home. She said "I trust you two" - implying that if it was anyone else she might not have let them leave. So we got home about 8:30pm and the rest is history. We've made it through the worst.
We have to go back in three weeks for a post-op check up to see how the surgery went. In the mean time Wyatt has to keep his arm restrainsts on 24/7 and he can only be fed formula with the special bottle. It'll be a challenge, but nothing like the last 48 hours.
Thanks for everyone's well wishes and support.