January 8th, the doctor came in around 0700 and checked on him. Said he looks amazing. He then said "How about going home today!" I was shocked, it wasn't even 24 hours since the first incision and talk about going home? The doctor said he had a couple of long cases and he would be back in the evening and if everything looked good then he could go home. Connor heard the doctor talk about going home so the seed was planted and he kept saying how he was going to go home and how he missed his brother and sister.
The day though started out rough. Having worked on a pediatric floor for 5 years I was very familiar with some practices. But at Shriner's they are still a little behind. They woke Connor up at 5AM and said they needed to get some blood. Ok that's fine. He had great looking IVs surly we will get some good blood return and get our labs quickly. That was not the case. The RN said "we do not draw labs from the IV up here on the floor, it is policy." Fine, it was our first stay. There I didn't know any different. Well she stuck Connor twice and was "fishing" for his vein. I finally said he needs a rest he will get sick. Try later. She was ok with that. Took Connor a while to calm back down. He slept for a little while then the day shift had their turn to play stick-the-kid till he pukes game. I told the day shift nurse, he will not tolerate these sticks well and she said "oh no we will draw from his IV." Wait the other RN said that's against policy right. Nope apparently that nurse just didn't want to. Well, the IV draw wasn't working sothey stuck him, and then again I finally said "Stop! He's done you want blood take the IV down to the hub and draw from there if you can't get it I am going to speak with the physicians!" They did what I said, took it down and guess what BLOOD FLOW, EVERYWHERE!! Why didn't I speak up earlier? The rest of the day the nurses tip toed around me, yes I became one of those moms, but I was only trying to keep Connor safe and not so scared. Connor cried the whole time begging them to "please just stop. Please I am sorry, just stop!" My heart was broken! He got himself so worked up that he threw up.
After all that mess which was almost an hour, I gave him a bath and he got into a wheelchair and he played Mario kart in the playroom. We played for about an hour, he played till he fell asleep, with the controller in his hands. He was so sweet. He took naps off and on all day. Even had a few visitors.
The doctor came up around 5:00 and said he was letting him go home. I was nervous but Connor heard him say it that morning and all he wanted all day was to go home. We got discharged at 6:15 and since Brenden finally got to see Connor, Connor wanted to show him the HUGE playroom. Connor showed him the room, Brenden walked around and checked things out while Andy got Connors special car seat in the car. Connor asked me to play Mario Kart with him. Of Course I played with him!!
Connor said goodbye to all his friends. He had an awesome roommate named Tanner who was one of the Halo patients. Connor likes him a lot. Tanner will be there at Shriners until the end of February, we will go visit him when Connor has to go back for his follow up appointment on February 8th.
We got home around 7:45pm Tuesday night. We had a rough arrival. Connor was not use to all the movement. He ended up getting sick in the car as we pulled into the garage. I got him inside and settled and he started to run a fever of 101. Andy was not home, his instructions were to get his pain meds. That itself was an ordeal as no pharmacy in Wentzville had the Valium and Oxycodone. He had to drive to Troy, MO to get his meds. While Andy was doing that and chaos was underway here at home our dear friends Chad and Jennifer who live here in Wentzville were able to get here the quickest to help me get order back in the house. I gave Connor his Tylenol for the fever and after an hour it was down and by this time Andy was home. We gave him his other meds and after getting sick again tried one last med and he kept it down and fell asleep and rested comfortably almost all night waking up 2 times complaining that he hates his cast and wants it off and to get more meds and go pee. Andy took the night shift as I was running on about 5 hours of sleep for over 40+ hours. Andy said he did great that night.
So a little more about his surgery. They performed a Pemberton Osteotomy. The femoral head was not in the hip socket very well and the risk of dislocation was a concern and if not corrected he would develop arthritis at a young age. They had to cut his pelvic bone and shift it to cover the femoral head and give Connor the hip socket he needed. Since they shifted part of his pelvic bone they needed some bone tissue to cover the gap that it created. Since Connor is a tiny little man they were able to use part of his own hip bone and then he also received donor tissue. I am not sure of the percentage of his own and the donor but I will be finding out. They placed a pin to keep all the new and moved bone tissue in place. That pin will be removed in about 6 months. We were told it is a very small procedure that will not require a hospital stay. With any major surgery there are risks. One of them was blood loss. We received a call from the doctor as they were casting him that there was very little blood loss and there was no need for a transfusion. They needed to do a couple more CBCs to make sure everything was still good. The results came back normal. This was our ticket home.
Connor is continuing to do well. Still hates his cast but I am sure over the next few days he will come to terms with it and we will find our new normal in the house. It is pretty crazy when Brenden is home from school and Macie is running around trying to climb on him. But it will take a couple days to get settled into a routine.
Thank you for all the prayers! They are working. Connor has NOT ONCE complained about being in pain, just hating his cast and being itchy. I will try and update as I can. Imagine how chaotic this house is now, lol but I am so proud of Connor and Brenden and Macie they all have been so kind and sweet to each other.
Just before surgery. He was very excited. Got to play in the playroom. Right after this picture he got his "Happy Juice" the medicine Versed to get him nice and relaxed. He became a silly goofy sweet little man after it kicked in!
This is just after surgery in the recovery room. He did awesome!! After the nurses turned him he asked "Did I do a good job?" The nurse said "You did AWESOME!" Connor then said "Ok, Thank You. I had a good nap." As he put both hands behind his head and went back to sleep.
All settled into our room! Had a very nice boy and family as roommates! Connor just wanted to go to the playroom from here on out.
Playing on the Ipad after an hour on the Nintendo game Cube playing mario kart.
Thank You to EVERYONE for all the prayers, gifts, cards and support. We are going to need them for the next few months as it will be long and hard for not just Connor but all of us. Will Try and update as I can!!
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