Dakota's Surgery

Wow! What a day :) It started at about 6:00 this morning....I got Dakota ready for the ride down to the hospital which was about a 25 minute drive. Surgery was scheduled for 9:15, but was about an hour late. Dakota was great in pre-op. He had a discussion about what was going to be done and got to see some of the equipment that was going to be used (the non-scary stuff). His "big bear" also got to have surgery with him and came out of surgery with his hip taped up and an IV taped to his hand. Poor bear....Poor Dakota :(

Surgery lasted just over two hours and let me tell you that was the scariest two hours for a mom to have to go through. One of the nurses would call once an hour and give me updates, which helped calm my nerves for about 30 minutes and then I would start to get worried again until I got another phone call stating all was well.

Once Dakota's surgery was finished and he got wheeled into PICU and I got to go see him. He was very groggy and in a lot of pain, but the nurses were great about seeing that he was taken care of. We had to keep an extra close eye on his lungs because he has asthma and even though his asthma is VERY controlled, it was still a concern. As he would wake up and realize he was in some pain, he would get upset which would cause his oxygen levels to go down. This happened a couple times, but the last time it happened scared the crap out of me. Red warning lights started going off.....things started beeping and the whole time Dakota's crying. I tried to stay strong, by keeping it together and trying to help him breathe. He was given some more morphine to help with the pain and then things went smoothly. I have never been so scared in my ENTIRE life.

Dakota has a incision on his right thigh that is about 4 inches long and he is in a knee mobilizer and a boot to keep him from moving his leg. Once things calmed down in PICU, he got transferred into our room. There he got moved to a different bed and all vitals were checked every half hour. As the half hours ticked by, his blood pressure continued to drop and he also ended up with a fever. I got very concerned once again when I saw his blood pressure hit 94/45. We were given some bubbles to promote blood flow and oxygen to the lungs. This helped raise his blood pressure a little bit more. Slowly things started getting better.

He managed to keep liquids down and a few bites of food, but just wasn't all that hungry. I can't really blame him though, all I'd wanna do to is sleep. But by about 7ish a lady came in and said that they were having an art project down in the play area and was inviting all the children to come down. Dakota seemed to be interested in that, so three nurses and myself worked to get him into a wheel chair with all of his IV's and monitors attached and I rolled him on down the hallway. He was able to color his own cardboard seahorse and then fill out a worksheet about his seahorse. His yellow/black seahorse has been named "Pony" and it's an 8 year old girl that likes to play, compete in races, eat small minnows and catfish and lives in a cave.

The first night was nothing but me getting in and out of bed. Every four hours we had a nurse in our room checking his vitals which got much better through out the evening.

It has been exhausting, not only for Dakota, but for me as well. I can't imagine being 8 years old and having to go through this, but he is a great little boy and is making the best of an unpleasant situation. I realized today as I waited around and watched him struggle just how much he is going to need me and I can only hope that I am able to provide the support he needs. All I can do is turn to God and pray that I have the strength to push forward even when things seem to be in reverse.

I want to thank all of my family, especially my mom and dad for their support and for helping me out. I couldn't have done it without you guys. I also want to thank all of my friends for their continued support, it does not go unnoticed. May God watch over you, like he has watched over us....

Hugs & Kisses

Des