Team NeMO: Three Surgeries Before 3

Grr - I hate that my baby has to go through all this, but I do know that this is the best thing for him.

I will back track a little: When Zachy was 2 months old, we discovered he had an indirect inguinal hernia. I guess this is fairly common in newborn boys and happens to about 30% of them. Short WebMD version, an indirect inguinal hernia "results from the failure of embryonic closure of the deep inguinal ring after the testicle has passed through it". After meeting with doctors and surgeons, we decided to have it repaired on Christmas Eve 2010. Mainly for insurance purposes, we wanted to get it in before the end of the year, since we already met his deductible and maximum out of pocket for 2010.

Almost exactly 2 years later he had what we all thought was another hernia (or 'her-knee-es' as Braden calls it). We took him back to his surgeon at Children's Hospital, and sure enough, he felt a hole and saw the bulge we all saw. Only problem was, why on earth did he get this!? The hole he felt was a direct inguinal hernia (the kind of hernia 60-70ish year old men get from falling or straining/lifting too much). Hum...He was going to operate, but before cutting him all the way open, put a scope in there to see what exactly he was dealing with, and why on earth Zach has a hernia like this at age 2. Also, he was not 100% sure how he was going to repair it.

Well just a few weeks prior to all this (I am sure you remember) we discovered he needed tubes. You can read all about those doctors visits here. So now, Zachy needs 2 surgeries, and Paul and I are freaking out. We had JUST allotted (what we thought would be) enough money into flex spending for 2013 to cover the tube surgery and the birth of #3. And of course the deadline was the week before, so there was no way to increase it. On top of the finances, I didn't want to have to put Zachary under anesthesia twice. Ideally, we would schedule both of his surgeries at the same time - 1 anesthesia cost, 1 hospital bill, etc. Which, thank goodness we were able to do this!!

We ended up having to change ENT doctors (the first didn't want to coordinate surgeries) which was fine, we just didn't know how quickly we could get all of this on the books. We were thinking that we would have to wait until mid-February/early March to get all this done...but thanks to a persistant mama (that would be me) it all got scheduled for Jan 8th - 1 day sooner than his original tube surgery. YES - now we are not putting this off until right before #3 is due!

Jump to surgery day - Nonna drove up to watch Braden and help out around the house a bit, and Paul took the day off work (sorta) to come to the hospital with us. We woke up at the crack of dawn, checked in and got settled. I seriously LOVE Children's hospital...it's like they know how to deal specifically with kids and nervous parents or something....weird. Anyways, all the doctors came in, talked with us, nurses asked a zillion questions, everyone raved about how great Zach was (I am sure they say that to everyone), etc. etc.

All ready to go

Watching Mickey's Clubhouse

Zachary laughing at Daddy's silly outfit

Paul and I were able to go back with him while they started his anesthesia - which I have to say, was pretty scary. They tell you want to expect, but you're still not ready for it all. After he fell asleep it was off to the waiting room for Paul and I. The surgery was supposed to last about 2 1/2 hours. After about an hour, Dr Bealer (his pediatric surgeon who was repairing his hernia) came out with a large sheet of images - Oh No - what's going on....

"Zachary did wonderful, and I have some good news" I am thinking to myself - 'good news...what kind of good news can there be? Lately, it seems like no news we get is good news!?' As it turns out, the hole was not really a hole at all. It's a weak spot in his muscle from his first surgery (which of course only happens about 1% of the time). He must have had a growth spurt and the natural belly fat thinned out some. This is why we all saw a hernia, and felt a hole. We would have never know it was NOT a hole if we had not gone in, to see his abdomen from the inside though. So I guess you could say the surgery was a success. Dr B said when he left the OR, they were bringing him down from anesthesia, so we should be able to see him in about 30-45 minutes.

Next the ENT Dr came out to let us know the tubes went in great, and give us some post-op instructions. And then the nurse anesthetist...she tells us that during surgery, Zach's oxygen levels kept dropping. They were able to keep bringing them back up, but we would need to stay in recover a bit longer to ensure he was doing better, and could manage his O2 levels without assistance.

We finally got to go back once he woke up. The nurse was again raving about how great he was doing (I am SURE they say this to everyone, but we do know that he really is one of the best kids in the world!). They moved us to a recovery room where we wait to take him off oxygen and see how he does on his own. It took a little bit of time, but he eventually got there and back home we went!