January 30, 2020 "Surgery #13-Removal of hardware in hips/femurs"

We arrived at the Ronald McDonald House around 5:30 Wednesday night. Rayden immediately noticed bundles of white roses near the front door. He grabbed some and brought them to me saying "I love you, Mommy." You could hear the whole house saying "Aww!" That boy can be the sweetest thing! After choosing a toy in the Kids Korner (Lite-Brite) we enjoyed a 'buffet' McDonalds dinner in the dining room. What a treat.






Rayden was scheduled to arrive for check in at 6:00 am. He
gave out quick kisses and hugs to Nanny, Papa and Granny before we entered the Pre-Op area. I suppose UNC is just so familiar to Rayden because he seemed alright with the whole thing until we got back there in a room. He started asking why we were there and refused to sit in the examining chair or take off his clothes. After the nurse, anesthesiologist, interns, and nurses all did their rounds they gave him the versed to make him sleepy but it didn't seem to work as well as last time. He was way too aware of what was going on.

At 7:30 Michael and I gave him kisses and I placed him in the wagon. I guess the medicine at least did enough to not make him care that he was leaving us. But he still wouldn't take off his Cabelas hat! After eating breakfast in the cafeteria, we all went back to wait in the hall near the Operating Room. At 8:20 the OR nurse called to inform me that Rayden went to sleep well and the orthopaedic surgeon was getting ready to begin the procedure. By 9:30 Dr. Vergun met us in the hallway saying that all went well. She said that she placed numbing medicine in his hips so that will help with the pain for the remainder of the day but we may want to give him Oxycodone for a day or two. Other than that Tylenol and Motrin should be sufficient. Although she expects Rayden to bounce right back, she wanted him to stay out of school for the remainder of the week and next week. He can resume walking as he tolerates it but we were cautioned to not allow him to climb or do anything that would result in a hard fall because there are holes in his femurs that can shatter. We were instructed to only sponge bathe him for the next week allowing the bandages to stay on his hips for maximum healing.

Plates and screws in Rayden 

At 10:00 Michael and I were both allowed to go back into the recovery room to see him. He was still in a deep sleep but the nurse really wanted us to wake him up. She went over the instructions and handed us a specimen jar filled with the plates and screws that they removed from Rayden's hips/femurs. Soon Rayden began to stir a little but wouldn't take any juice so we put his clothes on and were out of there by 10:30.

He continued to sleep on and off the entire ride home only waking to make sure Mommy was holding his hand. Precious. When we arrived home I noticed he had a large circle of blood on his right bandage. I believed it came from the car seat pressing against his incision so I took a picture of it so I could see if it was continuing to bleed. Thankfully the circle of blood never got any larger. He slept on and off the remainder of the day and only ate a tiny bit. He never complained but was asking why his legs were tingling. I was so exhausted that I slept through the alarm to give him his pain medicine at 2am so by 5am he woke up screaming and moaning in pain with a temperature of 102.5. Pitiful! I felt so guilty. I gave him meds and laid down with him. The medicine finally kicked in and he slept until 7am waking in a much better mood. He refused to get up and walk but I told him he could as long as he was holding someone's hand. He was very scared, but took a few steps Friday holding my hand. He seemed very wobbly and in pain.

Lite-Brite

Rayden continued to have a low grade fever between 99-101 throughout the weekend. We gave him the Oxycodone Thursday and Friday for pain control and continued the Tylenol and Motrin throughout the weekend. He began to take more and more steps holding our hands throughout the weekend. He continued to be wobbly and scared but didn't really seem to be in pain anymore. Michael and I can't really decide if he is in pain when he walks or if it is just because he KNOWS the bandages are still on his hips.

A real interesting note: Rayden began telling us about his surgery experience this weekend. Apparently he remembers the wagon ride. He told us the people with the masks took him out of the wagon and laid him on the bed. He said they were talking to him and he didn't cry either. I asked him if they put the gas mask on him but he said no. I guess that's all he remembers. We explained the surgery to him. He seemed to understand asking if they used a "drill and scalpel." He's such a smart, strong, brave, sweet little boy.