A Better Belly

James' surgery went really well.  He was in and out in a little over an hour.  The surgeon informed us that the muscle around the tube site was damaged and part of the stomach had come through the muscle.  Because of this, the hole would not have closed on its own, but we would never have known until they opened the skin.

We got to see James about half an hour after the end of surgery.  He was snuggled into his little bed in recovery and opened his eyes as soon as he heard us walk into the room.  A few minutes later he mustered up the strength to lift his head and chat a bit.  His pain was under control until he moved into his overnight room, then, he lost it.  We had a hard time calming him down but Children's has a good selection of movies so we propped him up in bed and turned on Cars 2.  I have never seen him quiet down so fast!

He needed a little Tylenol to get him through the first night, but he slept really well (and so did we on those lovely hospital couches) and woke up in a great mood.  He ate his breakfast (his first meal in 36 hours) and we were discharged around 10.  We were all very happy to be home and James had a great Valentine's Day!

It was our first experience at Children's for surgery and we really liked it.  Everyone in the hospital is extremely helpful and friendly.  The nurses were great and very personable.  The only downside was that food was more of an issue.  Parents don't get food delivered to the room like we did at Fairfax and the cafeteria food was very limited and much more expensive.  We also didn't have as many choices for James.  Luckily, we brought some of his special concoction.

Here are a few pics from our hospital stay:

Waiting for surgery.  He was pretty happy until our start time was delayed an hour.

Waiting for our surgery room.

Engrossed in the TV post-surgery.

The view from our window.  Comforting on our ash-less Ash Wednesday.

A Valentine from one of the student nurses.

Check out how happy he was when he woke up the following morning:

With love.