Twelve Weeks and Surgery, Ivan-style.

Beaming up the away team.


So, with Ivan's fistulotomy surgery scheduled for Tuesday the 6th., on Monday the 5th, he decided to get creative again.

As I was changing his diaper, I noticed what looked like a third testicle up higher than the typical pair.  Dr. Bhatia had previously warned us that he might have a hernia at some point, since his inguinal canal had not closed fully (and I cannot for the life of me recall the name of the opening of that canal).  Nothing to be concerned about, as this happens to thousands upon thousands of baby boys across the demographic - as have all of his issues so far.  But still, it would need repair. 

Luckily, we knew a surgeon.

So, Tuesday morning we head out:

This is at 5 AM.  None of us are awake.  Which is good, because I wasn't allowed to feed him after 3 AM... and we both slept through it.  So the kiddo was pretty hungry by the time we got to the hospital.

Fortunately, we got checked in and had him in his hospital gown by 8 AM:

His vitals were:  15 pounds and 25 inches... yes, he grew that much in two weeks.  Crazy.  But it's very reassuring to know he's getting enough nutrition from nursing and is flourishing in spite of the creative things he does.

Dr. Bhatia came in and confirmed that we would indeed be having three surgeries instead of one - she would drain the hydrocele that formed (the lump I felt), correct the hernia, and then perform a double fistulotomy.  Easy peasy, we'd be done by 10 AM.

And so we were:

And he was awake and flirting with my friend Dee (our chauffeur for the afternoon) by 11:

So, we are finally off the antibiotics...
Finally have all surgeries completed...
Are still healing three incision sites...
And sadly, we have toxic poo.  I had to take him back to Dr. Bhatia to find out why his incision sites on his bottom were looking so inflamed.  I was very worried that his right side had become infected.  She said his site looked very nice and clean, although it wasn't healing as fast as she'd like, but that his poo was "toxic." This made me giggle on the inside, particularly after Ivan showed his displeasure at her examination by trying to coat her in it.

Anyway, she took a sample and is doing a culture, and we should know something back soon.  In the meantime, it hurts our little guy to have movements, but he seems to forget about it shortly after, so all is well.

I say that cautiously.  But he's beautiful regardless.