Time for Expansion #3

I can't believe that it is surgery time again! We spent 4 hours today at Seattle Children's Hospital for Tyler's pre-op visits. Tomorrow morning we will check in for his 3rd VEPTR expansion surgery. Tyler bounced back pretty qickly after his last expansion in January. I never updated the blog, so here is the quick recovery story. Tyler managed the pain really well, only needing Tylenol or Ibuprofen for pain. He was sick from the anesthesia, but after a while he began to try food and was able to keep it down. He even took a trip downstairs to the playroom where some UW Husky football players were visiting to play and hang out. We were able to check out after 9pm. I really hope that we will not need to stay that long tomorrow. We did have one issue. Tyler developed an itchy, red, bumpy rash all over his back. It appeared to be only in the area that was exposed in the OR. The rash made him pretty uncomfortable, and made it even harder to keep his hands from scratching at and around his incision. Tyler is a picker, so even though Dr. White prefers to keep the incision open to heal, I cover it with a bandage. Unfortunately, the bandages only made the rash more irritated and painful, so I couldn't keep them on him. The rash eventually went away, but to make a long story short; the incision took about 3 months to heal. It was quite the battle. I wanted to keep the incision uncovered and clean, but Ty just would not stop picking at it. Again, I am hoping for a different outcome this time. We did speak to Dr. White about this today and he thinks Tyler might be allergic to Isoban, something they use in the OR for surgery. They will not be using it tomorrow. Apparently they used it in all of his previous surgeries, but he just developed an allergy to it. Crazy. Even though the healing of the incision was a lengthy process, I do want to mention...no, CELEBRATE his quick return to normal activities. Tyler is such a trooper! He runs, jumps, wrestles with his dad and plays soccer. He skis, swims, and is getting really good at mountain biking. Tyler is a very active kid, and unless you looked at him without a shirt, or studied the slightly off balanced appearance of his torso, you might never know that he even has congenital scoliosis. So tomorrow is surgery again, and as always, Tyler is now voicing his feelings. He doesn't want surgery, and who could blame him? I don't want it either, but I try to point out the benefits of having a straighter spine. It is hard to see him scared and it breaks my heart each time he admits that he is scared. I don't know if it will ever just become routine. Please pray with us for an uncomplicated surgery and quick recovery. I'll post more tomorrow when he is out!