Surgery Day

On March 7, 2016 Levi had surgery in hopes to remove the cyst that was in his jaw area.  By the time that the day of his surgery had come, however, his cyst seemed almost gone from the outside.  In fact, when Dr. Grimmer went in the get it out, he never could find a defining cyst.  

When Levi had his biopsy, his original ENT doctor (Dr. Siddoway) said that in rare cases, when a biopsy is done, a cyst will disappear.  He said it is almost like the body sees this foreign invasion and starts to work overtime to correct it.  It's like it finally kicks into gear.  I was there when they did the biopsy and they did take a LOT out but there was still a definite bump under his skin afterwards.  So I can't help but think that what Dr. Siddoway said rarely happens, actually happened.

But even though Dr. Grimmer didn't see a definite cyst, he still did the rest of the surgery that was planned.   It's hard to explain in writing but they basically scrapped that whole tract area (from about the tip on his chin all the way down his neck).  They also took out part of his Hyoid bone.  His tract went through this bone so in order to get it all, they had to take out part of this bone.

The first thing Levi said to us when he was coming out of sedation was, "I don't know why I worried so much."  I won't go into details but lets just say that Levi is extremely anxious around needles.  Throughout this whole experience, anything with needles (which unfortunately has been the majority of it) has set us back quite a bit.  It takes a long time to calm him down enough to get things done.

But he had an amazing anesthesiologist who not only told him stories of big men passing out on him but also reassured him that he could "knock him out" before sticking in the IV.  That was all Levi needed to hear because after that, he was just fine.

The surgery went well and the only reason we really needed to stay at the hospital was to make sure that his drain was ok to take out of his neck.

But while we were waiting, we had wonderful nurses and staff that made our time there so much better than it could have been.  We even played around with one nurse in particular.

And she made sure that she found him a donut!

David's work (HHI) has been so wonderful through this all.  There have been so many tests and doctor's appointments that they have willingly let David be a part of.  Both David and I stayed in the hospital with Levi that first night.  The next day, HHI told David he could stay longer if needed and then sent Levi a little gift.

Eventually the drain was ready to come out and he got to go home the following night.  Poppy happened to be in the hospital for that and I have to say I'm grateful.  I have seen Levi go through a lot of stuff, physically and emotionally.  It was a blessing for me to not have to watch Levi get so scared with them taking it out and then not having to actually watch them take it out.

A lot happened after the surgery but I'll journal that later.  I do, however, want to end this with expressing just how grateful I am that Heavenly Father helped us in the ways that He did.  I'm so grateful He prompted Brandy to send my Dad out here for the surgery.  I could have never fully relaxed with anyone else watching the other boys for such a long period of time.  I'm also grateful for capable doctors, nurses, staff, and residents who did such a wonderful job at taking care of Levi.  I'm grateful for all the people who given to charities like the Ronald McDonald House.  They fed David and I and provided a place to get away for a few moments while the other parent stayed with Levi.  And I'm grateful to be able to see these blessings in my life.  Grateful that our Heavenly Father
wants us to be taken care of like this.