October 28 - surgery day

(It was Nathan's first time to ride facing forward. At first he looked really scared and held on tight to the car seat. After a little bit he seemed to enjoy it)

Friday morning we arrived at Children's Hospital of Alabama at 9:00 am. It was nice to not be here at 6:00 am, as we usually are with Nathan's surgeries. After waiting at registration for a little over an hour we were placed in our room for One Day Surgery.(Nathan gets a little tired while waiting)

Once in the room with met with our doctor, a nurse, the anesthesia doctor and nurse and a chaplain (he was very nice and brought Nathan some books, a stuffed animal and prayed with us).

To pass the time we played some tickle games with Nathan. Nathan loves to be tickled.

Next they came in and marked his ear.
At noon Nathan was carried back for surgery. Around 1:00pm the anesthesia nurse called and said that Nathan was now asleep and they would begin the procedure. Around 3:00pm Nathan's doctor came in to tell us the surgery was a good success and he was able to get the devise probe in all the way. He then came back about 15 minutes later and told us he wanted to move the processor back on his head a little more. He felt it was a little too close to the ear and may bother Nathan. We are very glad that he was working to make everything perfect now and not just wait until a later date to see if it bothered Nathan. (From what I saw on the board he had 11 surgeries Friday). He was very easily able to make the adjustment. Nathan was still under anesthesia so he did not know any different. About 4:00pm he came back and let us know all went well. Nathan's processor will stick out of his head, under the skin, a little....but will soon be covered by hair. His skull is only 6mm thick. They recessed it about 2mm but did not want to get any closer making a weak point in the skull and doing anything to harm the brain. Again thankful for a very careful doctor.

At 5:30 One Day Surgery closed and we were moved out of our room to the regular surgery waiting area (this is for people who have rooms in the hospital). We did have a room in the hospital, that was ready, but we were not going up there until Nathan was ready. We got a call on the surgery waiting room phone around 5:45 that Nathan was doing well, just still very sleepy. Around 7:00 Nathan was ready to go to his room. His nurses got us from the waiting room and we all headed to the new room.
Nathan was on 1ml of oxygen for a while but they were able to completely take him off by the time he went to sleep. So far, he has not wanted anything to drink, but is getting nutrition through an IV. He has rested pretty comfortably. He got some pain medication last night and has slept pretty well through the night.We will be discharged around 9:00 this morning and then Nathan will need to recover at home for the next two weeks. Thanks to everyone for their prayers for the surgery and we ask you continue to pray for his recovery. Also thanks to Oma for taking good care of Owen and CiCi for taking good care of Logan and Jason & Sarah for bringing us dinner and some movies last night.