When you have a major surgery for your kid looming around the corner, you find your mindset in a strange state. You're constantly aware that the day of surgery is approaching fast, and you watch your kid doing things, and think "Will this be the last time he gets to do this before his surgery? Will this be the last time he gets to do this at all?" I don't wish this on anyone, and if you've been there you know what I'm talking about.
A month ago, we were supposed to have Cannon's first surgery on Tuesday, June 12th. That was delayed to Wednesday, June 20th. So we showed up on Tuesday June 19th, had pre-op, but surgery was cancelled that evening. The next day, we were told there was little chance we'd proceed with the surgery that week, and it would be some time out. Everyone left the hospital and went home, we packed up our hotel room and were last to leave. As we were driving up Fannin to go home, we got a call that surgery would be the next day, June 21st. Back to the hotel to unpack for a weeks stay, again. That one was delayed at the last minute after Cannon had been given the pre-anesthesia meds, just before going back to OR. We were rescheduled for the surgery date that actually took place, July 6th. You know the rest of the story.
Well, the stay in the hospital is over. We left the hospital Saturday afternoon. I won the bet since we didn't get Cannon out of the front doors until 1:45 or a little later. The rain was coming down hard, but we were feeling great! We ran a number of errands on the way home: we had to get a baby monitor so we can hear Cannon call from his bed if he needs anything, we also needed food and all his prescriptions. Cannon can't be in public at all, so he had to stay in the car with mommy while I did the running. We finally pulled in the driveway about 5 PM and pulled out the cameras to record an event we weren't sure would ever happen: Cannon walking back into the house!!
We were all starving having skipped lunch anticipating leaving the hotel room at any minute, so we sat down and had some pizza first. Then we got Cannon comfortable and unloaded the car while he watched TV. His first order of business was playing a Wii game he'd gotten as a present while in the hospital, so once we found it we loaded that up for him and he got started. Tori and I just sat there and watched a miracle... we never thought we'd be "here", it was too good to be true.
I forgot to mention when I first posted this: after we'd been home a bit and eaten lunch, I went outside to check on the dog. She's gone. Not sure where she went. Half of her food is missing, so apparently after a few days she got tired of waiting for us and took off. Our next door neighbor's dog did this a while back and gave us all a scare. He came back home weeks later on his own accord. The boys sure are hoping our dog comes back. If anyone around here sees a three-legged Catahoula Hound, let us know! Tori and I can tell we're numb. Normally we'd be pretty tore up about this, but after the last couple weeks we can't muster up the energy to care a whole lot.
As of today, Cannon still moves around slowly, body still recovering (we don't have to slow him down yet). He's still sore all over, and apparently has a severe crick in his neck. Whenever you call him, he looks like Batman when he turns around: he can't turn his neck, so he turns his whole body. Although he's moving slow, we're having to retrain him on getting around. We did most of this training in the hospital: he can't sit up/down or get up/down without assitance. For the most part, he can't use his arms for much of anything for a few more days. Then we'll let him use his arms to get up/down, but no lifting for another month after that. If I remember the song correctly, his arm bones are connect to his breast bones, and the breast muscles are connected to the breast bone. So if he pulls his pecs too hard, it'll pull on the breast plate. The breast plate is wired together so I don't think it'll come apart, I just think it'll cause him more pain than his parents can tolerate.
Yesterday was Sunday, our first full day home. We did NOTHING which was just what Dr. Daddy ordered. Because Cannon was on a heart/lung machine for a number of hours during surgery, his blood is "scrubbed". Long story short, this means he has no immune system and is susceptible to sicknesses his body could normally fight off. This means no public places for a couple weeks minimum. We're gonna need some bubble wrap for this kid! It was a good day of nothing but catching everyone up on sleep and resting some worn out bodies. We watched movies, ate popcorn, and played the Monster Truck game on the Wii.
The only issues we have right now are Cannon is in extreme discomfort from the scar itching on his chest. He's stopped complaining, but he's constantly shrugging his shoulders to get his shirt to rub the scar. We told him if he scratched with his hands too much it'd pull of the strips and wear out the glue that's holding the scar closed. It's an extreme example, but in reality it would likely just start bleeding and get infected.
Cannon is also swelling around the face a bit. We're not sure if this has anything to do with his body retaining fluids or not. He's still on a diuretic that's supposed to help him get rid of fluids. We'll go in for a post-op tomorrow to find out if he still has fluid around his heart, and to get the last stitches out.
So as of today, we're not there yet. But we're certainly in the neighborhood!
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