The Pain After A Successful Surgery

Betsy and I arrived to the hospitol around 9am this morning to hang out with Ned a little while before they were to take him down to the OR. Dr. Adamson came in about 930 and said they were several hours behind schedule and that it would be around noon. Our nurse finally carted him down to the OR around 11:30. We went down to the cafeteria to get some lunch around 1:00pm, where we saw our surgeon eating lunch. Betsy asked him "What are you doing here", and he advised us they were just getting the anesthesia going and that they couldn't start without him. We later learned that he told our nurse that we "busted" him eating lunch. I don't know what we would do if God hadn't blessed us with such a wonderful surgeon. It has been such a relief to have such a wity, kind-hearted, and talented doctor in charge of all of Ned's surgerys. Anyway, the surgery was a success, and Dr. Adamson was pleased that he was able to get enough stomach twisted and turned to insert the G-tube along with performing the nissan procedure. This was our best case scenario going in, and there was a back up plan, but thankfully we didn't have to go to that.

We joined Ned back in his room around 500p and started a 5-hour process of trying to get him relaxed. In all Ned's past surgeries, he has come back to the NICU with breathing support of some kind, and they were able to have him on some pretty heavy doses of narcotics to alleviate most of the pain. Today, however, he came back to the NICU with no breathing support because he's been off of it for some time now, so they can't give him as much pain medication after this procedure. Kids that young tend to "forget" to breathe sometimes when they are that sedated. Ned was in what looked to be excruciating pain, and that is a very hard thing to watch. We were so helpless. The best we could do was just hold him, and pray to our God to alleviate that pain, which we have done, for hours. Finally, about 10pm, we thought he was settled down enough for us to run downstairs and grab a bite to eat. We sat there and talked about plans to stay the night rocking him, but as we returned to the NICU, our nurse informed us that he was sleeping, and seemed pretty calm at the moment. She assured us that she would call to wake us if she needed the reinforcements to come back tonight to try and soothe him the best we possibly can. Prayerfully, our good Lord will continue to comfort our child during the night.

The upcoming days seem to be ones of education as we will learn how to take care of Ned's G-tube and start to feed him with it. This is a very exciting time for us, as the doctors and nurses talk more and more of "going home". When they first mentioned us going home yesterday, it was the most incredible feeling, and along with it, came somewhat of a panic. I am going to go home tomorrow, and try to make sure at least the inside of our house is truly going to be liveable. I imagine I could just get the master bedroom in working order and be pretty safe, b/c all Betsy has talked about has been how she can't wait to pile up with Jack and Ned in the bed and just "be".

Another side note is that tonight should be our last night in the 'ol Ronald McDonald House. Our friends Kelly and Franklin will be heading home to C-ville with their new bundle of joy, Emily, for the summer and Betsy is going to stay at their apartment for the next few days, until we are discharged and take Ned home, which the doctors are still tentatively planning for the beginning of next week.

Please continue to join us in prayer, that Ned's following his G-tube surgery will be alleviated, and that we will be able to come home with him next week. What a miraculous journey this has been, and what blessings God has bestowed upon us! Thank you all for all you've done.

In Christ's love,
Travis, Betsy, Jack and Ned