Cranial Facial Reconstruction

Today is Finn's surgery. I think that he knew something fishy was up because he woke up at 1:30 ready to play. After about an hour of playing in the floor, the two of us slept the rest of the night on the couch. At 4:15 we woke and got all packed for our hospital stay. At 5:00 a.m. we left for the hospital.

We arrived at surgical waiting room at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital at approximately 5:30 a.m. Finn was in a very pleasant mood.


Next, Finn helped to get himself checked in to the hospital.

After all the paperwork was completed Michael and I accompanied Finn back to a preparation room. Here they put Finn in a pair of Vanderbilt pajamas. It took three tries before we got the right size. The XS was visibly to small. The next size up (the yellow one) was skin tight.

However, the "beyond toddler" size was just right.


After the nurse took Finn's vitals, we let him play in the crib for a few minutes. While in the crib Finn played with a fireman and cow provided by the hospital. It didn't take Finn too terribly long to realize that he was hungry - so he started to get fussy. In order to calm him down we tried watching "Curious George." During "George" both the anesthesiologist and Dr. Kelly's intern came in to explain everything to us. The intern put her initials on Finn's forehead. This made Finn furious!
Thankfully "Sid the Science Kid" was on so he calmed down quickly.



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Next they came in and told us to give Finn hugs and kisses. After we had kissed all over him and told him how much we loved him we gave him to the doctors.
Michael and I left the room a few seconds later and watched as Finn was carried off. Seeing Finn disappear behind the corner was heart breaking. It was by far the hardest part of the entire day. Before joining our family in the waiting room Michael and I stepped into an empty room to spend some time in prayer.

The waiting room was packed with our friends and family. MJ and Coop came, along with Mom, Greg, Dad and Gina. Michael's parents and brother David were there too. As for our friends, Tim and Jean came early in the morning and brought the finest goody basket you could imagine. John came and sat with us the entire time. It was such a sacrifice for John to give his whole day to us. John, thank you and we are really blessed to have you, Victoria and the girls in our lives. Sharon and Amy from our old Sunday School class came to visit too! Finally, our good friend Chris as well as John Steen and Brian Mills, youth pastors from our church stopped in to visit for a while.

The first person I saw upon walking into the waiting room was Cooper. I can't describe how happy I was to see him. Only a few short months ago everyone gathered in the same hospital and in the same seats for Cooper's surgery. Seeing Cooper laughing and playing the waiting room floor filled my heart with such comfort.

The surgery started at approximately 7:40 a.m. At 9:00 we got our first update. They told us that the anesthesia portion of the surgery went well and that Dr. Tulipan had made the initial incision and had opened the skull. They told us later that the space in Finn's skull was so tight that right after making the cut into the skull his brain popped right out. (I am so thankful that he was able to have the surgery so quickly). We joke that it was like opening a can of biscuits.

After getting our first update Mom, MJ and I went down to the cafeteria to get something to drink and go the gift shop. While we were in the gift shop I received a phone call from Michael telling me to come back upstairs because the doctors wanted to meet with us in a private room. My heart immediately hit the pit of my stomach. I was afraid that the doctors had bad news that they wanted to tell us privately. Thank goodness MJ was with me. She explained that this was par for the course. She is such an ol' pro!



Michael and I sat for almost an hour in the private room before we were taken back to the recovery area to see Finn. I couldn't believe how great he looked. He looked so cute all bandaged up. Greg thought he looked like a Telitubby - which he kinda did. Michael and I took turns bringing our family back to see Finn. Then we all had lunch together. Mom made cupcakes for Michael's birthday (which happens to be today) and he opened the presents that Mom and Greg gave him. FYI one of the presents was a shredder - thank goodness!!

After lunch Finn was moved to the PICU. I was glad that we were in a private room, but unfortunately Finn was in a great deal of pain. It took a long time for the morphine to control the pain. In addition to pain medication Finn was taking a huge amount of breastmilk. The breastmilk helped to calm him down significantly. Just more proof that breastmilk is liquid gold. This is the first time I have given Finn a bottle in four months.

Finn was pretty unhappy in the PICU. In order to allow his head to drain, the doctors have ordered that he stay in a carseat for the first few days. This has not gone over so well. Not only is he in a carseat, I am not able to pick him up. Needless to say he was fit to tied. However, once the morphine kicked him he didn't have the wherewithal to fight.

After settling in, Michael and I had dinner with James in the Ronald McDonald family room. After supper Brandon and Carissa made a surprise visit. It was so nice to see them and laugh for a few minutes. Pa was our last visitor of the night. He came bearing gifts - more breastmilk from our fridge at home.


After everyone left Michael and I settled in for the evening. I am sleeping in the room with Finn and Michael is down the hall in the family room. Vanderbilt will not allow both us to sleep in the room. Finn is sound asleep. Every so often he will whimper. It is so wonderful see him asleep in his bed. His face is beginning to swell, but he looks precious nonetheless.

I want to take a quick moment to thank my Heavenly Father allowing us to catch this early, for protecting Finn during the surgery, for granting Finn's parents peace and mostly for giving us the opportunity to come to him in our time of need.

I also want to thank everyone who has prayed for Finn. There is nothing more powerful than prayer. Furthermore, there is nothing more valuable than time. Thank you for taking time to pray for Finn.

Michael, Happy Birthday! I love you and I wouldn't have wanted to do this without you. Finn surely does have a great dad.

Finn - I love you so much!