The Stanford Family: Julian's surgery

Last Thursday we finally went forward with having Julian's surgery. It was something that had been on our back burner for 3 years and I was not looking forward to it. We had even had it scheduled once in Canada, and then complications arose with my pregnancy so we had to cancel. Julian had a hernia/hydrocele that needed to be repaired. This is a defect in the muscle in the groin that allows bowel/abdominal fluid to dip out of the abdomen. We found a really nice pediatric urologist in the area and scheduled it for this summer. We were trying to work around the doctor's limited surgical times, vacations, and fall sports starting in August. The date was July 21st. We lined up Aunt Anne to come up the night before to be here with the babies all day. I knew it would be a longer day because we decided to have the surgery done at the children's hospital in Philadelphia. The doctor highly recommended it, and the date worked well for us. Julian did great waking up early and not having anything to eat or drink. We made it to the hospital in good time, and he seemed ok. The minute we walked in the front doors, Julian got an upset stomach. He was worried he was sick and wanted to go home. Chris and I tried to comfort him and tell him he just had a nervous stomach. We had some tears for about the next hour. A nurse practitioner talked to him and explained everything and he seemed to be better. With Stanford luck on our side, the doctor was running about 3 hours behind which made the wait a little hard for him and us. We tried playing as much as we could and watched tv. Finally, they came to get us around 12:30 for his surgery. The versed they give helps with the separation and he went off. About 2, the doctor came out and said he did great and everything went well. I went back shortly to the PACU to see him. He was crying again, but quickly calmed down when he saw me. We made sure he was good and comfortable before they sent us home due to a longer ride home. Glad we did because we left right at rush hour and it took 3 1/2 hours to get home. Poor baby slept in the back seat and would wake up occasionally with a bad sore throat. Thank goodness Anne was home with the babies and I didn't have to worry about needing to get home quick for someone to have to leave. The day was out of our control, but finally we got home and put in bed near us.

Recovery for him went really well. The doctor said kids recover much better than adults do with the same surgery. ( I was a little worried since we've been through this with chris and he was in a lot of discomfort). Julian didn't complain of any pain hardly at all. I gave him a couple doses of the good pain medicine to ensure the first 2 days but then he really didn't need anything.

I think he's ready to be up and going again. I'm so happy this is now behind us. Hopefully, it will be a long time before any of my kids will need surgery again. It has to be one of the worst things for parents to go through, even though you know it is necessary. Being a nurse, I do have a control issue when it comes to my kids healthcare and trusting others isn't that easy for me. Unfortunately, with the babies prematurity I have had to do this way too much. It still doesn't get any easier.