Surgery

 Well the time finally arrived for Kayden to have his surgery. We were all healthy and his Covid Test came back negative. The night before his surgery I got a call from the anesthesiologist seeing if I had any questions about what was going to happen. It was super nice of him to call us to check in on us the night before the surgery. Brandon and I tried to get to bed at an earlier time since we had to get up a little bit before 5. We had to be at the hospital at 6:30 for check in. My parents stayed the night so they could be here for the kids when we left in the morning. Brandon and I took off bright and early with Kayden. We felt bad waking him up so early but really hoped that he would sleep in the car on the way to the hospital. Of course that did not happen. Kayden was awake the whole time on the drive there. I was just glad that Kayden did not ask for any food or want a drink or anything while he was awake because he was not able to eat anything since he went to bed the night before. Thankfully, we arrived at the hospital when we were supposed to and got all checked in. 

Kayden did not want to stay in his stroller which was a bummer for us. We had brought the stroller so that we could just push him around until it was surgery time. Instead he wanted to get out of his stroller a few minutes after we arrived. It was going to be a long morning and we were just hoping that his surgery was going to be on time. 

Once we were finally called back we got Kayden changed into his hospital gown and went through the bigger check in process for his surgery. He was officially not excited to be there and kept pointing to the door saying, "done".

He really did not want to be there. I don't know how many times he told us he was done. 

He knew what was going on. With all the procedures he has had done in the past year he knew something not fun was going to happen. I felt so bad for poor little Kayden. He is such a sweetheart and I hate that he has had to go through so many things this year. 

Look at that worried little face! 😢

After they got his weight and blood pressure checked and any questions answered we were left alone to just wait for the surgeon to arrive. Luckily we were at a Children's hospital so they had some fun things to keep Kayden busy. They brought out this car stroller for Kayden to play with and he LOVED it!!! 

After being pushed in it for a little while he wanted to do it himself. haha 

Then I found sunglasses in the stroller and Kayden had to much fun wearing them. haha He kept them on him for such a long time I was so surprised that he wore them for so long. haha

Look at that little stud!!! 

He looked so cute walking around in his little hospital gown and sunglasses on. He is just so little!! 

After a while the anesthesiologist came in and chatted with us about what was going to happen. He started talking about how this surgery was going to be pretty rough on Kayden. He was saying that they usually make a 2 inch incision in the back and take the kidney out. He said that they would make Kayden as comfortable as they could before moving us to the recovery room. Brandon and I were not super happy to hear that. 2 inches would take up half of Kayden's back. He had talked to us about giving Kayden morphine and other meds to help ease the pain. I was not more nervous than I was when we arrived. 

Brandon and I were then left to roam the halls for a little longer while we waited for Dr. Furness to arrive. The nurse said that he usually runs a little late. We were supposed to have surgery at 8 and it was now after 8:30. 

We had to keep Kayden busy for a long time before the doctor finally arrived. Around 8:45 the doctor finally arrived and had some papers for us to sign and told us that the surgery would be about an hour long and that it was laparoscopic so we would most likely be able to go home later that afternoon. We felt so much better after chatting with the doctor. I think the anesthesiologist didn't know that the surgery was going to be laparoscopic. So we felt so much better about the surgery after chatting with the doctor. 

Then it was finally time. I got some hospital clothes on and carried Kayden to the back room to be there for him while he went under. He was not happy about being in that room. He started to cry when they put the mask on him. So I just held his hands and talked to him and he cried for a bit and then started to twitched and his eyes rolled back and then he was out. I was so glad that the anesthesiologist talked me though the anesthesia process. He told me that what was happening was normal and that Kayden would be out in like 3 seconds from the time he started crying and sure enough he was. So I gave him baby a kiss and left the room. I shed a tear or two as I walked out of the room. It is not fun to watch your kids be put to sleep. They are so helpless and seem so scared! I was glad that part was over and now it was time to just sit and wait. 

Brandon and I then had about an hour to sit in the waiting room and wait to hear how things went. We ended up chatting with 2 other parents sitting next to us about what they were there for. It was kind of a crazy experience to chat with the other moms and dads that had little ones being worked on. After what felt like a long time we were called and told they were currently taking out his kidney. So it was almost over. Then both the doctors came out and told us how things went. They said everything went perfectly and that we should be able to leave in a few hours as long as they see how Kayden is doing when he woke up. He also told us to leave his bandages on and that they would fall off after about 2 weeks. He said that if they started to fall off before the week mark to put a water bandaid over them just to keep them on a little longer. We were then left to wait till Kayden woke up. He was asleep for quite a long time. So we just sat in the waiting room and waited for him to wake up. Then we finally got the call and were able to go back and see him. 

When we got back to the room this is how we found Kayden. He was still so sleepy. He had that dull look in his eyes. I said hi to him and rubbed his face and then he fell back to sleep. 

He looked so peaceful laying there asleep. It made me think that he woke up just enough to hear me talk to him and then he fell back to sleep. 

So Brandon and I were left to just sit there and wait for him to wake up again. The nurses came back a few times to check on him. After a while Brandon went and grabbed us some lunch so that we could eat before Kayden woke up and our time was devoted to him. The nurse then came back and told us that if he was not awake by 1 that we would need to wake him up so that we could try to get some food and liquid in him. So we waited and at 1 o'clock we had to wake him up. 

He was so sleepy!! I felt bad waking him up but he hadn't eaten or drank anything all day and it was now 1 o'clock. So we woke him up and he would wake up and act all energized and then he would act sleepy again an instant later. It was the funniest thing ever. I put him on my lap and we tried to get him to eat some snacks. We started with some crackers and he kept doing the same thing where he was super excited about crackers and then the second later he would be totally out of it and fall asleep on my lap. I would feel his arm fall and he would twitch and then he would perk up and want the crackers again. haha Soon after getting him to eat a little bit and drink a little bit the doctor came in and said that he was looking good and more awake and that we could go home. We thought for sure we would be staying for a few more hours but nope we were good to go home. So we got Kayden dressed and put him in his stroller and headed off home. 

Kayden slept on the way home and then when we got home he was all awake and ready to go. We sat down with him on the couch and got him to eat some banana and other food. He was then wanting to eat everything and kept whining. Then he would try to get down off the couch and try to walk and start crying. So we could tell that he was sore. Poor little buddy. 

The rest of the day was spent trying to keep Kayden from walking around, feeding him and trying to keep him happy! He was more whiny and grumpy then usual so we figured he was not feeling as great as he let on. 

Then my ministering sister dropped off some goodies and a game for the kiddos. Kayden loved the cake pops and one point it was the only thing that made him happy. 

What a sweet little face. 

The last thing that kept Kayden happy was Papa and Gigi. He would get down and walk around and then start to cry so I would pick him up and then he wanted Papa and Gigi. He was so cute sitting on their laps. We were not sure how the night was going to go for Kayden. We wanted to make sure that he was up on his meds so he wouldn't be in pain and I was worried how he would sleep that night. Luckily, he slept pretty well. He woke up only one time that night crying. It was a rough time even if it was only the one time. He had a hard time calming down and I had to take him downstairs and try to feed him something and turn on Puppy Dog Pals just to calm him down. He then would cuddle up with me and then after a little bit start to fall asleep so I would be able to take him back to bed! I am just so glad that the surgery was as easy as it was. I am so glad that it was laparoscopic and that he felt as good as he did that first day. The other positive about his surgery is that we were now done with it and don't have to worry about him having surgery again or worry about his bad Kidney causing issues with his good kidney. We are officially able to move on with life and Kayden wont have to have any other procedures!!