Ready To Wait

     What an 36 hours it has been.  I hope everyone has been somewhat updated by our family members or my instagram account, but now you get all the fun details!
     Yesterday we showed up at the hospital at 7:15am and was told we would be shooting for a surgery time of 9am though we knew there was one surgery ahead of us.  So after waiting in the waiting room for almost 2 hours they finally took us to the pre-op room.  Zackary loved all the attention and cool outfit and there we sat for another 2 hour.  Good news though, they got his IV in on one shot, something that has never happened before.  Despite the waiting we learned what an amazing staff this hospital has which put us at ease as parents and for Zackary as a patient.

     Once they finally came in and marked to correct leg to do surgery on (one thing you don't want to get messed up!) they gave him the 'happy juice' and before we knew it he was laughing, forgetting and then being swept away to surgery.  I stood there as the doors closed and the doctors and nurses nonchalantly said "he'll be fine.  We'll be out before you know it."  Excuse me?! Can you look a mother in the face and believe that you're telling them that it'll be fine? As of right now my son is in your hands, it's your job to keep him alive! Needless to say more then a few tears were shed and there the three of us were, waiting yet again.
     During our wait they sent us off to a meeting to learn about the new tools we'll be using for his lengthening process, grabbed some lunch and even watched a movie.  May I suggest NEVER watching Armeggedon when you are on an emotional rollercoaster? Yes, those shedding tears came back more then once! After 3+ hours of impatiently waiting for them to call case #2689 I was tempted to yell BINGO when they finally announced it and I was able to go around the corner to see the doctor with a smile on his face confirming that it went 'perfectly' and there were no complications.  But then I was a bit deflated when he said we had to wait another 30-60 minutes before they would let us go back to see him.  I needed to hug my baby!

     I walked in to this angelic face after 4 hours of seperation and I couldn't help but kiss, hug and hold the adorable hand of my brave child.  All was right in the world and I knew our family was going to be okay.  (Yes a bit dramatic but that's truly how I felt).  The docs came by and checked him out as he snored away.  They tried to tell us that we'd be in a room within an hour even though we told them he's never been less then 3 hours in recovery.  About an hour passed and the resident came and listened to him snore like a freight train, wondering how long he'd be asleep.  We knew, and the nurse quickly learned that even though this big boy is lying in front of you he still has preemie lungs.  Guess what we did for 5 hours?! yep, waited! Waited for him to wake up, waited for him to move his toes, waited for his pain to go away and waited for him to get a room.
     After 13 hours we finally rolled into the peds unit and couldn't believe the nice huge private room we had and how sweet his new nurse was.  It was a bit of a rough night with vomiting, 4am blood draws and learning how to manage pain but we made it!
      This morning Zackary informed me that there was no more sleeping at 6am (4am NM time!) and we started our day.  Adam and Johnny stayed the night at the Hackerman-Patts house (HP house) so they got more sleep but adam was in the room by 8am making sure not to miss any visiting doctors or specialists.
     Today started slow but positive.  All his blood work came out good, he had started to hold down fluids and even took a few bites of breakfast.  He continued his pain meds on a PCA (pain med pump hooked up to his IV), got multiple doses of antibiotics but was still pretty groggy.
Believe it or not, less then 24 hours after surgery he was already in PT (physical therapy).  They came in and had him bending his leg, very minimally, and even got him into a wheelchair where he got to sit for a few hours.  It all looked extremely painful to me but Zacky sure was a trooper.
     As the day progressed so did Zackary.  Pain meds were being used less and vitals kept growing stronger.  He became more lively and even ate a whole lunch.  I'm thinking pizza should've been his first meal and we wouldn't have had any problems ;-p He has also, in the last hour,  been taken completely off his pain and liquid IV and is taking all meds orally and ate dinner in no time! (omelettes for the win this time)  And my favorite progress of the night was I finally got a smile from my baby, something I've been waiting for for these last 18+ hours but boy was he worth the wait!

     He's still not 100% out of the woods yet and the next few months are going to have it's ups and downs but here's some things we do know and always could use prayer about:

• He is still not cleared from the possibilities of Staph infections until 6-8 weeks post op
• He will have 50-80 days of active lengthening starting middle of next week
• He is scheduled to be released on Easter Sunday

     There will be more to come on lengthening details and PT successes but for now I think I've bombarded you enough with info.  Plus you know there will be a birthday boy post tomorrow about my brave, strong, inspirational and amazing son!

Until next time~

Momma Miller