This year for Christmas, Taylor got just what every kid wants: brain surgery! Today at exactly 5 weeks old (almost to the hour!), he had a ventriculoperitoneal shunt insertion operation to address his hydrocephalus as a result of aqueductal stenosis. Try saying that five times fast. 

Since the diagnosis in July, we have been anxiously (ok, me more so than Ryan because he’s cool as a cucumber) anticipating this day. It was a relief to finally walk into pre-op this morning. He had to fast for 4 hours before surgery (which was at 8:30am). This meant it would be the longest stretch he would ever have to go through without eating. We were prepared for him to start going ballistic by 7am but miraculously, that didn’t happen. Instead he slept straight through until his team of doctors carried him into the operating room.

Surgery didn’t take long – just over an hour and a half – and went smoothly. They took us back to the PACU (post-anesthesia care unit) where they monitored him for a while. After about 40 minutes there, he was wheeled, with mom and dad in tow, to the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit). We will be here until sometime tomorrow before they move us to the pediatric ward for another day. After that, assuming all looks good, they’ll send us home.

Being in the PICU is stressful. Alarms keep going off because he has been breathing shallowly. He also came out of surgery very cold – only 96 degrees – so he has spent most of his time in the PICU wrapped in loads of warm blankets with his nurse coming in regularly to take his temperature. I’m glad he is being monitored closely post surgery, but it’s giving me an ulcer. 

With babies as small as him, you walk a fine line between pain management and keeping them alert enough to eat. We tried to give him a bottle but between the pain from his head, his tummy incision, and his throat from being intebated, the poor guy couldn’t take it. He was inconsolable so they gave him more pain meds which knocked him out. As a parent, even though we knew recovery would be a process, it is heartbreaking to see him in so much pain. 

For now he is sleeping – something Ryan and I wish we were doing too. But we wouldn’t be sleeping with a “regular” newborn either, so that part of this experience is no different. We are relieved Taylor made it through surgery alright and hope the rest of our stay at Kaiser is uneventful.