Jacob is a fighter.....

Emotional wreck, that was me a year ago March 13th. I am not a very emotional person (Jace may say otherwise) but I feel I am pretty even until this day. Jacob went in for his cranial synostosis surgery at Primary's. It finally happened. This was the third surgery date we had scheduled. The first date was Valentine's day but the hospital had an outbreak of RSV so they postponed the surgery until Feb 29th. Then Jacob got RSV (we think he got it when we were at Primary's for an appointment before the first surgery was to take place). Tyler stayed with my parents in Blackfoot. The 12th we took him in for blood work. We were in this room that would fit two people and there were 4-5 people trying to get blood from Jacob. Unfortunately he is like me and he has to get poked a million times before any blood comes out. They finally got some blood after Jacob screamed! The next morning I was anxious, nervous, sick to my stomach, worried, relieved to finally get it over with! We had to be there at the crack of dawn to check in, etc. Surgery was scheduled for 7:30 a.m. It was getting closer to surgery time and the anesthesiologist wanted an IV put into Jacob before they started surgery. More poking. He hasn’t eaten since 4 a.m. so he is getting a little dehydrated. The guys could not find a vein anywhere. Our patience were gone and Jacob was screaming. It was so frustrating that it sent me into tears. Jace had to leave the room because if he didn’t I think the guys poking our precious baby would have gotten hurt! They used a light to try and find something in his hands, arms, legs, whatever they could get a needle in. FINALLY they got an IV in!! Jace came in and pretty much ripped Jacob out of their hands. I hurry and grabbed our stuff trying to see through my tears and went in the other waiting room so he could go to surgery.

Dr. Jay Riva-Cambrin was going to perform the surgery, he was awesome. Dr. Tomiko Long was the anesthesiologist and she was awesome. She was very calm and said she was going to be there the whole time. She looked at me and could tell I had been crying and probably heard the report that they couldn’t get the IV in because she said, I don’t like to start a surgery unless they have an IV ready in case one fails during surgery. Once he is under they would put in another IV just in case. I was relieved because she was so calm and she knew her stuff. She looked at Jacob and said he is bigger than I thought. We laughed because he has been a big baby from day one. They took our little P-Nutt and I started bawling again. When it rains it pours I guess.

We checked into the surgery waiting room and the lady said this is the best time to get something to eat because you might not get a chance later. So we decided to do that. We were pushing an empty stroller down to the café which was kind of sad. So we are picking out breakfast and Jace starts talking to someone. I turned around and it was Dr. Riva-Cambrin. The look on my face must of said it all because he said, oh no Jacob is fine. He is with Dr. Long, I am just getting something to eat to keep up my strength. It takes a while to get them under. He ended up in line behind us and we asked him if it was common for brothers to have this same surgery. He said no it’s more common in nephews, uncles but not siblings. At least we knew what to expect since Tyler had the same surgery. We all finished paying and then didn’t know what to say then Jace said, well, good luck! Good luck, that’s our baby. But I didn’t know what to say so it was better than not saying anything at all. It was funny.

2 ½ hours later he was done. I went into recovery and I knew it would take him a while to come out of it because of his first surgery took him pretty much a day to come to. The surgeon and anesthesiologist both came by and said he did great. YEAH! He looked really good, color, etc. Better than what Tyler looked like after the same surgery. Jacob was older and weighed more so I think that helped. The surgery was on Thursday and we went home on Saturday. The nurses were great and catered to us. We went walking down the hall Saturday morning to go home and Jacob threw up all over so we turned around and stayed in his room for about 20 minutes then left again. He didn’t like Motrin so we were only giving him Tylenol. He is one tough cookie! My mom said Tyler was worried about Jacob and kept talking about him and Jace & I. She took him to story time and they made placements. He asked my mom’s friend who is the librarian if he could make one for Jacob and that set everyone into tears.

Today you can’t even tell he had surgery. He has the most beautiful head & hair for that matter. We are thankful for modern medicine and for the wonderful staff at Primary Children’s. Even though it was great, it is nice not to be there!

Right before surgery, in the waiting room.

After surgery.

On the way home in the car, still a happy boy even with a swollen eye and a tape wound on his cheek!

Three days after surgery.

One week after surgery.

Enjoying some snacks in the pantry a year later.