What a day. We woke up early so that we could be to the hospital by 6am. Even on the way here, we were uncertain as to whether the surgery would actually take place today, as the anesthesiologist had some concerns over David‘s lungs. Rebekah had taken David to get a chest x-ray last week to make sure that the pneumonia had cleared adequately. The doctor took a look at those and still wasn‘t sure, so told us last night to come in today and he would make a decision when we got here. We were thankful when the decision was made to proceed.
David went in for surgery at about 745. We had been told that he would be in there for about three hours. After about two hours, the nurse came out and assured us that all was well. The three hour mark came and went, then four. We were getting a little concerned, but at about 1230 the surgeon came out and let us know that in spite of the doubts he had, he was able to close the entire hole in David’s mouth. Again we were very thankful.
Recovery went as well as could be expected. David was groggy and cranky (to his credit, not nearly as bad as I was when I came out of surgery). He continues to show the fighter that he is each time that he wakes, which encourages us to believe that he will keep fighting through this and heal up well and quickly.
We did have a scare after we got up to the room. David holds his breath when he gets upset. He woke to find mucus and blood in his airway, enough to upset anyone, but this time he wasn’t able to clear the airway or start breathing again for several moments. He was finally able to get started again with some strong encouragement, but not before causing quite a bit of excitement for the nurses, respiratory therapist, and mom and dad. Pray for a restful evening for the little guy.
The surgeon said that we may be able to take him home as early as tomorrow. We’ll try to keep posting to keep everyone up to date.