Crew's Port Surgery

Time just keeps on tickin' on...

We have been talking about getting a port put in Crew for what seems like forever, but what is actually like 6 months. And this week we finally did just that. We knew this day was coming up, but it really kind of snuck up on us.

Let me give you a little briefing on what we had done, as some of you may not have a clue about this kind of thing (I sure didn't until we had our little man). As you know by now, Crew has Hemophilia which requires him to have regular infusions of factor 8 when he gets bad bruises on his little body. The factor must be given into his vein. This has meant a lot of visits to Primary Children's Hospital to have an IV placed and factor given. You can imagine that it is not a fun day when Crew gets hurt. Basically everything you wanted to do that day gets scrapped and you spend a day at the hospital and come home with a club fist, at least that is what we call it when Crew has an IV in his hand.

So... the solution to this is the port. A port is a little quarter shaped thing that is placed just under his skin on his chest. This port is connected to a vein so that we can easily access it to give him his factor. When the port is in place we can give him his factor at home because we don't have to find the vein when poking in the needle. We just feel for the port, put on some numbing cream, and poke in the needle. Then we give him his factor and pull the needle out. Done. Doesn't that sound like a dream? It does to us!

So... that is what we did this week. Crew had the port surgically placed under his skin. It was a very long day... I will spare you the awful details, but once we finally got Crew back with the doctors, the surgery went great! He is such a champ! I am constantly amazed at what this little guy has to go through and how quickly he recovers from it all.

Here is the Sir-man at home right before we left for the hospital at 9:30... He had no idea what was coming...

This isn't to show you how cute his little tummy is, although it is very cute. I wanted you to see what he looked like before the port was placed...

Here is what we found when we were able to see him after the surgery at about 5:00...

He was completely out! There was no waking him! But that probably had to do with the fact that he hadn't gotten a nap and was given some major sleeping meds. Oh, but isn't he sweet?

I just wanted to pick him up and hold him. He looked so peaceful and I wanted to rub some off on me!

Here is what his chest looks like with the port in and accessed. Accessed means that the needle has been poked into the port and we can give him medicine into his port.

It looks kind of scary, I know. But when we are done giving him factor in a few days, we can take the needle out and you will only see a little bump on his chest where the port lies. It really is a miracle that they have discovered this for people like Crew who have to get poked so much.

As I told you, Crew was OUT. We tried to get him to wake up with no avail. So the nurse told us to give him about 10 more minutes and try again. Steve and I sat down and started waiting and all of a sudden Crew opened his eyes and sat up. He was AWAKE and he didn't want to be in that bed or hooked to the monitors any more! It was so funny. We couldn't get him to lay back down or leave the monitors alone. He was done and ready to go. The nurse needed to see that he could drink a little bit of juice and keep it down before we could leave so she got him a sippy cup, but he didn't want it. He wanted to leave. So she tried the popcicle. He didn't want to eat that but he did want to hold it. The juice suddenly became appetizing and he downed the whole bottle. When he realized it was gone he chucked the bottle accross the room because he wanted more. The nurse refilled it and he downed it again and wanted more. At this point the nurse was nervous that he was going to throw up and didn't want to give him any more but filled it and said to wait until we were on our way home. Well, Crew never threw up and finished that 3rd bottle without blinking. He was thirsty! Poor kid! It had been a long day with no food or drink and he needed to make up for it!

Love this kid...

Sometimes I wonder why this sweet little guy has to go through so much. I don't know the answer to that. But I do know that he is stronger than most his age and will hopefully have a sensitivity to others that most will never understand. I know I am starting to see others and their struggles in a different light and I'm not the one who has to go through it all. I hope he takes this awful trial and makes himself better for it. We love you Crew!