Griffin's "Procedure"

Today Griffin, Mr.Pate and I headed to Vandy's Children's Hospital for a minor outpatient surgery for Griffin. Let me back up a little...

When Griffin was around 2 we noticed that one of his testicles seemed much larger than the other, so we took him to the doctor thinking something had gotten infected or inflamed. We found out it was a hydrocele. What's that? "If the opening between the abdominal cavity and the scrotum has not closed properly and completely, abdominal fluid will pass into the sac around the testis, causing a mass called a communicating hydrocele. As many as half of all newborn boys have this problem; however, it usually disappears within one year without any treatment. Although most common in newborns, hydroceles also can develop later in childhood, most often with a hernia.... surgical procedure may be recommended. In this operation, the excess fluid is removed and the opening into the abdominal cavity closed."

So when we went at 2 years old, we were told that it would more than likely heal itself by the time he was 4. Well he is 4, and it had not healed. So we went back to have it looked at again a few weeks ago. It had recently begun to get bigger, so it was starting to worry me. We were referred to a surgeon at Vandy.

So two weeks ago, Griffin and I had a Mommy/Son day and went to meet the surgeon. He took one look and said we definitely needed to have the procedure done, and that our doctors should have sent us at 2. That was annoying to hear ! Anyhow, we scheduled the surgery for today so both of us would be off and he would have a few days to heal before going back to school.






We have mostly been trying not to talk about it. Griffin heard the doctors and I talking and he was pretty scared. He was especially worried about getting stuck with a needle. But he did hear them call it a procedure, so he has been asking me when his procedure is or telling people he will have a procedure often. It's pretty cute! Haha.

So fast forward to today, we got up early and headed down south. (Uncle D was fabulous and stayed the night so he could stay with Grady today. Thanks so much!!!) we checked in and were sleepy and hungry in the waiting room...


They took us back to the holding room pretty quickly. There we met a nurse, a doctors assistant, and two anesthesiologists as well as their nurse! Lots of staff to meet, but they were all really great with Griffin. He was doing good at first, then when the nurse left and we had to change him he just lost it. He really got afraid and was bawling and we had to wrestle the clothes on to him. It was sad and I had to fight hard not to cry myself. Ugh!


But after that we started watching Jessie on the iPad again, and soon we were calmed down a bit. Then more staff came in that got him laughing and he got down and even played in the floor some.


Almost an hour after the procedure was supposed to start, they finally we're ready to take him back. The waiting wasn't too bad but towards the end he was complaining quite a bit about not getting to eat. Stephanie was the anesthesiologist nurse and she was the one that walked him back. She was sooo good with him and had him slipping back to surgery! So this was our last look at him and it majorly calmed my heart-


They took him back and put him to sleep with the mask before sticking him with any needles. How awesome?! She even explained the mask as a game and got him excited about it. They really have the process down on making kids at ease. So very thankful!

Anyways, pretty much right at an hour later they called us back to talk with the Doctor. He said everything went perfect. He only had the opening on the left side (they had told us they would check the right side while they had him open and go ahead and fix it if it had an opening too) so they didn't have to do anything to the right. Right after that we got to go to recovery and see our little man.


He was groggy and pretty out of it, but did so well. He drank his Icee (Haven, he says you will be jealous!) and even started eating crackers. After that he mainly ate or slept while we waited on his pain meds to get filled.





We headed home around 1:30, and he slept the whole way. Tonight he has been pretty good overall. He is sore, but he is moving around and playing. We are praising God for His provision and healing in all of this! So glad it is over :-)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone