Dear Life,
As you all know, Kumaka had major hip surgery a week ago Monday. We knew it would be a long surgery, we were told 6 hours or so. That would have made it the second hardest surgery he has had so far. We knew it was difficult also because the surgeon would be cutting into Kumaka's femur bones to realign them (both legs were out of their hip socket). I felt impressed to ask our bishop to ask our ward to fast for our family and specifically for our boy. (read
here to find out more about that; journal entry for February 6th). Sunday night, we were so busy getting everything ready, and then our washer broke so I had to do a couple of loads of laundry at my friends house so our other kids would have the things they needed while we were gone. I got home late, and then needed to finish packing for the hospital. I think we got 3 hours of sleep that night. We got up at 4:45, woke our kids up, they said goodbye to their brother, and off we went. We went to the pre-op area where they asked one thousand questions... twice, checked his vitals, made sure he was healthy enough for surgery, and gave him Versed... AKA happy juice. It just makes him relaxed enough to not be crying and upset when they take him into the OR. He started getting silly and doing crazy wiggly dances.
Pic of his legs Pre Op
When it was time to take him to the OR prep room, I went with him and Stuart went downstairs. I talked with him, held his hand, and told him he was such an amazing warrior boy. He was loopy, and kept staring at the ceiling. It almost looked like he was seeing something up there. When they took him, I didn't feel the familiar gut clenching, heart wrenching fear I have felt in the past. I know this is because so many people prayed for Kumaka and thought about Kumaka and we have felt that love and it brought us peace. We knew this surgery was the right thing for him. All we had to do now was wait six long hours. For those who have had a child in the OR, time goes into slow motion and backwards. We went to the cafeteria, and feasted on some nasty, rubbery fake cheese omelets and cold bagels. After eating our barely edible fare, we really wanted to curl up in the cafeteria booth and sleep, but we were afraid the hospital security would see us drooling there and snoring like bears and think we were homeless and kick us out. So we walked to the front waiting room and waited. It wasn't long before we were bleary eyed enough to try to go to the car to take a nap. We told the volunteer where to find us and we took a snooze. We came back about an hour later, and the volunteers called the OR and asked after our little warrior. They said he was doing great. We decided after waiting around another hour or so to go across the way to grab something to eat quickly. There weren't too many options, fine Italian dining, questionable sushi, and the Steer Inn. We figured we could get a decent burger at a steak place. OH MY GOODNESS....were we sooo totally wrong. Imagine a seventies type place...the booths were high backed with tapestry on the backs....with bucking horses on them. You heard me right.
When we ordered....my husband got a cheeseburger...hard to mess up and I got a beef dip sandwich. That should have been a win win at a beef joint. Instead, we got a burger that HAD to be from a frozen patty...so bland and tasteless. My sandwich was a pathetic attempt at a beef sandwich. The only thing it had going for it was how small it was. We asked for ketchup to drown our sorrows and pathetic meal....and we got ketchup....and relish....spooned out in little dishes. NASTY. No we didn't use it.
We couldn't finish...we basically paid our bill to get out as quick as possible. We went back to the hospital, found out the room our little guy would be in, and decided to decorate it with the cards and goodies we brought from his church friends.
Then we went downstairs. And waited more. At this point, we looked at the clock at it was close to two. They took him into the OR at 7:30. We expected him to come out any time. We went to the front desk to ask after him and they told us they were 3/4 of the way done with leg one. WHAT???? That was unexpected. So we sat...and sat....and sat....because we did not want to miss the doctor. Every minute ticked by like an hour....at six our dear friends brought Manna from Heaven...homemade dinner, food for later, yummy cupcakes, and hugs from home. We finally heard at 6 that they were done with his surgery...they just needed to cast him which would take about 45 minutes. Wow. We ate, cleaned up, and the doctor finally came in at 7:30. 12 hours. He plopped on a chair next to us, and I could tell he was exhausted. He said it was a very difficult surgery. He said that Kumaka did well, he showed us an X Ray of our boy with new plates and screws in his legs and went home. I went into the recovery room with Kumaka...they told me he was awake so I was expecting him to be like his normal post op self. That wasn't the case. He had a slight temperature, he was breathing kind of shallowly, and his heart rate was slightly elevated. He also wasn't peeing. NOT NORMAL for our boy. I could tell the nurses were really concerned about his urine output....and I knew that my husband needed to go to work. I went up, told Stuart to spend time with him so he could get to work and I sat and waited. Kumaka spent two hours in the recovery when his normal time is 45 minutes to an hour. I tried to not worry, he did just go through the longest surgery of his little life. When he came up, he was awake, but not talking (his throat was swollen and sore from being intubated for 12 hours) and he looked so sad. My heart broke.
This is a three part series....stay tuned.....
