Surgery Complete!

Surgery is done and according to Kyrie's surgeon, everything went really well.  It took quite a long time.  He got wheeled back around 10:20 and he wasn't done until some time between 3:30 and 4:00.  You would think I would've been more productive during that time, but I wasn't.  I don't even know what I did, honestly.  I think the weirdest thing about the surgery for David and I was when the surgeon told us they removed his appendix.  I guess this is a routine thing.  There was nothing wrong with it, but the surgeon said that Kyrie still has his whole life ahead of him where his appendix could give him trouble. He's already had two stomach surgeries on his intestines, and if he can avoid another one, he'd like to.  So that is why they removed it.  Makes sense.  Still weird.  But my older brother had appendicitis with emergency surgery and it was no picnic, so it's nice to know that will never be in our future with Kyrie.

When we went to the recovery room to see Kyrie he opened his eyes for a minute and said, "I jus wanna sleep."  And that is what he has spent most of the rest of the afternoon and night doing.  He's had a couple short little 20 minute jaunts of being awake.  Both times he asked me if the tube was gone from his nose and if his stoma was gone.  He was thrilled to hear they were.  I have a feeling when he really wakes up in the morning though, and is not groggy, he will be less than thrilled to learn about the new tube he has going on.  He has a catheter because part of his pain medication included a caudal block, which is sort of like a child sized epidural.  He can't really get up to use the bathroom.  So... catheter.  I don't even want to think about when that is removed.  Poor boy has been through enough already!

But my sweet Kyrie did show glimpses of his silly self.  He asked when he can have colored Os (fruit loops).  He knows they have them here and he only gets them occasionally at home.  He can't eat for a couple days probably.  He also asked me if he can be wild now that his stoma is gone.  I told him that his tummy needs time to heal first.  He has two incisions on his belly.  One where the stoma was, and one where the doctor worked on his intestines.  He also has an additional incision inside his bottom.  He asked if he could be wild once he was all healed up then.  To which I could only answer yes.  So we have that to look forward to :)  He also asked for his letters to play with.  He was too tired to actually play though, and fell asleep with a handful of them clutched in his little palm.

He's resting very peacefully now, which gives my mama heart so much happiness.  But I know we have a big road ahead of us.  The surgeon said to plan on at least five days here from this point.  Kyrie's bowels will take a couple days to wake up and start working.  Then we start with feeding him fluids and see how that goes.  Then on to solids.  We need to make sure everything is in good working order once he's eating.  There are so many unknowns about how the rest will go.  He will probably not have much bowel control at first, which I know is going to be really frustrating for him.  Because of that, he could possibly get very rashy as well, which in the past has been a very painful thing.  And then there is the catheter removal.  Oh Lordy.  I'm queasy just thinking about how we're going to be able to hold him down while he fights the nurses through that.  And on top of that, I don't want him to hurt himself with his healing incisions.  I know once the caudal wears off he'll be in quite a bit of pain and discomfort.  I'm hoping he'll make it through the night, though.  And not wake up in pain.  If he does, of course the nurses will be able to give him something right away.

At this point David and I are trying to determine our schedule here.  At some point we need to go home to spend some time with our other boys.  But it's such a drive that we're both a little nervous about being away.  We'll have to wait and see how tomorrow goes for Kyrie.  Hopefully our other two will be able to come visit Ky tomorrow if he's up to it.  I don't know how I'm going to balance being home and being here.  My heart is in two places right now.  I'm praying for all those logistics to just work themselves out so I can be two places at once.  I'll let you know how that goes.  The great news is that the boys are well taken care of and every time we've Face timed they've been silly and happy and blowing kisses.  They're worried about their brother, though and want to see him.  So hopefully we can get them here and they can be calm enough that this mama doesn't send them away in five minutes :)  They tend to be wild when all three are together.  Shoot, they're wild when there is just one or two of them.  It's the Stefanich way I guess.

Please keep the prayers coming!  The worst of it is out of the way, but our journey is long and my boy isn't back to his regular self just yet.  Thank you for continuing to support us through this!