Surgery Day

Pre-op

Recovering in the ICU

I've been sitting here for ages trying to figure out how to sum up the day, and I finally realized that I just don't have the brain power right now. But because I know it wouldn't be cool to just not share any update at all, I'll post this Reader's Digest version for now.

We checked Otis in for surgery at 5:30 this morning, and at 7:30 one of the OR nurses wheeled him back and away from us for surgery. At 9:00 we received a text update notifying us that surgery was finally underway, and we continued to receive periodic text updates--always in all caps, like they were YELLING THE UPDATES AT US--for the next five hours just letting us know how he was doing and giving us an idea of where they were in the process (done with right hip, moving onto left, etc). Then finally, just before 2:00pm, Otis's surgeon, Dr. Boyles, came out into the surgical waiting room to announce that the surgery was complete, that it was a success, and that Otis was in recovery and we would be able to meet him up in the ICU where he would continue his recovery for the next day or so. Dr. Boyles said that from his perspective, everything went beautifully with the surgery. He performed the VDRO on both hips, the pelvic osteotomy on the right hip, and was able to avoid having to do a pelvic osteotomy on his left hip. 

So this is where we are for the night, here with Otis in his room in the ICU. He is being given Valium to both help reduce muscle spasms and to keep seizures at bay as he begins to heal. It's also helped to keep him relaxed, as he keeps fighting to pull himself up into sitting position in his hospital bed, despite being immobilized in an abduction pillow and knee immobilizers. Prior to surgery, he was given an epidural that will stay in to continue to help with pain over the next couple of days as the anesthesia medications continue to wear off. If all goes well tonight, Otis will be transferred out of the ICU to the regular pediatric floor for the next 3-4 days until we're cleared to take him home. 

There is so much more to share, but I'll have to save it for next time. In the meantime, thank you all so much for all of your prayers and love and encouragement through all of this. It really means so much more than we can express.