Anthony's Surgery

**I just wanted to offer another apology for my lack of posts these last couple of months. I had gotten close to getting caught up and then David's computer bit the dust for good. Luckily, we knew it was about to go and were able to save everything from it onto an external hard drive so no worries there. I've still been taking pictures galore and making notes on posts I wanted to make in the meantime though, and David recently managed to build a new computer out of parts from a couple of old ones, so now we are good to go! I finally got everything sorted and organized so here we go - be prepared for an onslaught of pictures and posts over the next week or so!**


When Anthony was first born, they were unable to circumcise him at the hospital due to a slight physical abnormality the nurses noticed right off. As a precautionary measure, they and his pediatrician recommended we take him to a pediatric urologist. So, when Anthony was only two weeks old, it was determined he would need surgery to correct what was medically termed as penile chordee and torsion. However, the urologist wouldn't be able to perform the surgery until he was at least six months old and would also wait and do the circumcision during the surgery as well.

Functionally, Anthony had no issues with urinating or anything of that sort, so all was well and we didn't give much thought to it those first few months. In fact, we really even had no worries when we changed his diapers like most new parents of little boys do...if Anthony did let it flow, he ended up peeing on the wall instead of in our faces, which did happen a couple of times!

Anthony's surgery was scheduled for Monday, January 23rd, at the children's hospital in Chattanooga. It was only an outpatient surgery, so thankfully we were able to come home that day and didn't have to spend the night in the hospital. My biggest concern was the surgery wasn't scheduled until 12:30 that afternoon, and of course, Anthony couldn't eat anything that morning. Luckily, I was able to nurse him up until 9:00a.m. so that helped ease some of my fears and got a little something in his stomach. Of course, he did just fine and was probably too distracted by all the fun stuff to see at the hospital and nurses coming in and out prepping him to realize he was hungry.

We met with the urologist beforehand, and he reiterated how he seemed to feel Anthony's case was very mild and would be a fairly routine surgery with a quick recovery. We knew there was still a chance it might be a little more extensive, but they wouldn't know for sure until they actually began the surgery. As it turns out, they called us shortly after they took him back, and the opening to the urethra was slightly off-center, which is called hypospadias, and they would need to correct it. So, what was supposed to be slighty over an hour ended up taking closer to two and half hours, and Anthony would now have to wear a stent and catheter throughout his recovery. We were disheartened with the news, and it definitely made things a little crazy for us. Namely for me in waiting since I was not mentally prepared to sit there for so long worrying about my little guy! Thankfully, David kept me from getting too antsy and kept reminding me how tedious the surgery was and that the doctor needed to be taking his time.

After what seemed like forever we learned that everything went fine, and we were able to see Anthony in recovery. When we walked in, he was sitting up in one of the nurse's lap and there were a few others circled around doting on and on over him. He had a little apple juice in recovery and I was also able to nurse him, and then we spent a few hours loving on him and waiting to make sure he was okay before we headed home.

The first couple of days at home were rough...we had three different medications to give him at various times, plus, he was still on pretty heavy pain medicine and was pretty much out of it for the first couple of days. He also got his days and nights a little mixed up with how much he was sleeping and with us having to wake him up during the night to give him more medicine. We saw a huge difference in him though by Day 3, and he was definitely starting to feel better, which was a big relief to us. It was short-lived though because we had to take him back the following day to get the dressing and bandages removed, which was pretty traumatic for all of us and also had to put him back on the heavy pain medicine for that day. To top it off, this was around the time Anthony caught a cold I had been dealing with, but fortunately, the antibiotics and pain medicine he was on kept it from getting too bad.

Slowly, but surely, Anthony continued to heal and get better with each day, and we went back about a week and a half later to have the catheter and stent taken out. That made all the difference in the world in how he felt, and I can only imagine how uncomfortable he was with that in after the nurse pulled it out and it was well over 12 inches long! With that, we were also able to stop giving him the medicines, which was an ordeal in and of itself those couple of weeks.

All I can say is, I am so thankful that this is behind us, and we are hoping that he won't have to have another surgery in the future. At this point we don't think he will, but only time will tell as he gets older and grows. It was definitely no fun those couple of weeks, but really for about a month. Anthony had to take it easy, and we spent lots of time snuggling and loving on him, reading books, watching videos, and calmly playing with toys when he felt like it. I'm so proud of him, and he was a little trooper through it all. It was so hard to see my little boy go through this, but it's best we were able to have this done early on, and thankfully, he's too little to ever remember any of it. We have his follow-up appointment soon with the urologist since it took a couple of months to heal completely, so I'm anxious to see how that goes and hope he's pleased with the outcome and how well Anthony seems to be doing now.

Here are some pictures from the surgery and while he was recovering:

Here Anthony is in recovery and still a little groggy shortly after the surgery.

This is called a playnest and is basically an inner tube with a fabric cover. We had this for him before his surgery, but it worked perfect for him to rest in while he was recovering. Here he is watching one of his favorite nursery rhyme videos.

Lounging around...

...but enough energy to wave hi to the camera.

Reading one of his favorites, Where's Spot?



Anthony couldn't sit in his high chair so meals were served in the bouncy seat.

First bath several days post-surgery - still had to leave his diaper on though.

It was easiest to let Anthony wear his pajamas day and night while he was recovering. He discovered his feet and played with them all the time. This pair had giraffes on the feet, and he especially loved to try and get them.

Resting on Daddy