Surgery Day

After not much sleep by anyone, Thursday came and we waited to find out about surgery. B had many needles put in (he HATES needles), and a bunch of blood drawn out. We met many Residents who came in to do all the preliminary stuff for Dr. Spetzler, but we still hadn't met him yet. We weren't really sure if the surgery was actually going to happen that day or not because Dr. Spetzler's schedule was so full. Bsp. Riggs came by and gave B another blessing. We felt all would be well. Early afternoon I stepped out to go to the restroom, and of course, Dr. S came! Luckily I made it back in time to meet him and hear a few details. He said that the symptoms that B was having would continue after the surgery, only to a greater extent and that we were in a "holding pattern" for a few hours until surgery. Within a half hour, the nurses came in and said everyone was ready in the operating room and it was time! We were literally running down the hall in the ICU to get him there ASAP. Not a lot of time for any of us to prepare, but at least it was happening and we wouldn't have the anticipation for another day. B went in around 3:00 pm and about 3 1/2 hours later, Dr. S came out to tell us that his part was done and he was pretty sure that he got all of the malformation. They went in from the back of his head/neck area, drilled through the C1 of his spine, lifted his brain, and removed the malformation from there. Around 9:00 pm we were told he was back in his room. He had made it through the surgery. When we first saw him, he was still sedated and looked peaceful and much better than I expected. He did have a breathing tube in, but was asleep enough not to know. That night was LONG with very little sleep. As he would start waking up, he would gag from the tube, alarms would go off, he would vomit, and be suctioned so that it would not go into his lungs. This happened over and over all night, until he was finally aware enough to understand what was happening and was more comfortable with the tube.