Kaiden and the operation

Today was the day of the operation. I arrived at the hospital at 7:30am and Jadie and Kaiden were all ready. We were taken down to the Anaesthetic room to get Kaiden off to sleep and although they usually only let one parent in to the room, we managed to blag both of us in.
Kaiden got a hug from him Mum and the Anaesthesiologist used his hand as a mask to get him to take the gas. Once Kaiden was asleep the Anaesthesiologist  swapped hand for a mask and we put Kaiden onto the gurney and were ushered out.
We did not want to just sit in the hospital for 3 hours terrorising each other, so we headed out to pick up Kai’s sister Eva and take her out for a while.
We had been told lots of different estimates of the operation time from 3 hours to 5 hours, so we were actually surprised when only 2 hours later I got a message on my answer phone.

“That's Kaiden out of theatre and  in recovery sooner than expected”

We managed to read many, many things into “sooner than expected” on the way to the hospital but once we got there we got the good news.
The operation had gone well, and with no problems at all. We got the call after a few minutes to go down and see Kaiden and we headed down to the recovery room.
Figure: Kaiden about 30 minutes out of theatre
Our very brave boy had not even cried when he woke up and although we had been told that it was standard practice to send all young children to ICU (Intensive Care Unit), they said that Kaiden could just go back up to the ward.

Figure: Kaiden has a red face from the anaesthetic
If everyone was surprised at his alertness 30 minutes out of theatre you should have seen how surprised they were after another hour!

Figure: Kaiden playing with his new fire engine

Figure: Kaiden only one hour after surgery on his brain

Just after this Jenifer Brown was up to see us and she explained that the operation went very well with no complications. She was able to put a big hole in the top of the cyst, but only a small one in the bottom as she was at the limit of the reach of the instruments and there was little room. This is good news as it means that we may be all done from the surgery side (fingers crossed).
She was happy for us to be transferred to Yorkhill Children's hospital to see Doctor Shaky the Endocrinologist, whom had requested the transfer. That Jenifer was happy to have Kaiden out from under her supervision so early was fantastic, but that the endocrinologist had requested a transfer does not bode well for the results of the  earlier tests.

Figure: Kaiden only two hours after surgery on his brain

After that Kaiden has been very chatty and even tried to climb out of his cot. He could have been trying to stand, or the escape attempt might have been to avoid the hospital food (Chips serves twice a day for the kids! Remember the previously mentioned healthy policy of only diet fizzy drinks being sold on hospital grounds).
Figure: Contemplating escape
I left about 4pm to get Eva for a visit and once we got back they played for a while. Eva was very happy to see her brother and mum, but was very unhappy to leave. I think it must have been around 5:30pm that we left, just as the chips arrived.
Jadie called about 10pm to say that Kaiden has been crying for two hours and she could not quieten him. He had been crying so hard that he has split his wound (but not his stitches thank goodness) and the nurses were now prowling the corridors with him in his pram, which had entertained him enough that he stopped crying.
This I think is the result of Kaiden over doing himself  after such a serious operation and that he would be very frustrated at spending another night in the boring hospital. When Jadie had first called I was quite worried, but on reflection its a lot for a wee man. I don’t know what he was running on all afternoon, but whatever it was it has run out.
Jadie called again at 11pm to say that Kai was sound asleep. So far, all is well and Kaiden has successfully had his Arachnoid Cyst fenestrated.