SURGERY

Yesterday (Thursday 4/21/2015) was the big day.  Isaac had his brain surgery.  We all woke up together around 5:00 A.M. EST time and got ready.  We were all tired but ready for the day to come and be over...if that makes any sense.  We took a moment as a family to say a quick prayer and give each other a big hug.  This was going to be a day we will remember for better or worse.  

We took a taxi into Boston Children's hospital and arrived at the hospital and checked into Pre-Op at 6:00 A.M.  We waited a little while and then had a nurse grabbed all of us and started prepping Isaac for surgery.  During that time Isaac got to play with a bunch for toy cars and "Choo-Choo" trains while she asked us parents a bunch of questions.  That lasted for about a hour and then around 7:00 A.M. things started picking up quickly.

We had multiple doctors and nurses come down to meet us and they began explaining how they would be involved with the surgery.  It was like medical speed dating in a sense.  "Hi I'm Doctor so and so...I will be involved doing this in Isaac's surgery."  It kind of went like that for 20-30 minutes.  After all of that Dr. Goumnerova, Isaac's surgeon, came into greet us and basically asked if we were all ready.  Not really...but let's get this done.  It was nice however that she did come by to see us as parents before the surgery started.  It gave us more peace of mind.  

We signed a few consent forms and then at 7:45 A.M. it was time to take Isaac to the operating room.  With Isaac being only 19 months and having a group full of strangers with him, the anesthesiologist allowed mommy to come back until they got Isaac asleep.  It was very hard to leave our little guy but we knew we had to be strong for him.  Allison said (while tearing up) she kept talking to him until he fell asleep.  Obviously this was very hard for us and him, but God does not give us anything we can not handle.  

Allison, my dad, and I migrated out to the waiting rooms where we would get updates from nurses every 90 minutes.  This was so nice for us to know exactly how the surgery was progressing while also providing us with peace of mind.  It was also fantastic to have my dad here during the surgery.  He was great and there for whatever we needed.  The first two updates were rock-solid.  The first incision was at 8:30 A.M. EST and IZ was doing great.  He was stable and tolerating the anesthesia very well.  They had also started to remove some of the tumor tissue at this point.  Great news!

We grabbed a quick lunch and got our third update where they said Isaac was now getting an MRI which essentially checked "the margin" the surgeons had to ensure they were not getting close to any of his vital areas.  The MRI took about 45-60 minutes.  Another update came around 12:45 P.M. and said they were finishing the MRI scan and planning to close up after that.  

At 1:18 P.M. Allison spoke to the surgeon Dr. Goumnerova...of course I was in the bathroom and then had no idea where she went.  Impeccable timing!  According to Allison, she said the surgery had been going just as planned.  The surgeon estimated that they removed about a 1/3 of the tumor.  She also mentioned they had found a cyst which they were able to drain.  A big praise was the tumor kind of shriveled up like a deflated balloon and the surgeon said this was good news because his brain moved downwards close to normal positioning.  

At 3:05 P.M. we got word from the nurse in the waiting room that Isaac's surgery was complete!  He was doing very well and they were taking him up to the intensive care unit.  We were told we needed to wait about 30 more minutes before we got to see our lil peanut!  We could not wait!  

At about 4:00 P.M. we finally got to see Issac.  It had been about 8.5 hours and it was such a relief and joy to see our son.  He recognized us right away when he opened his eyes and immediately said "Mommy" and then followed up with "Wa-wa" (which means water).  Praise God!  Our little boy knew what was going on and it filled our hearts with such joy, bringing us to tears.  

We continued to stay bedside with Isaac and taking turns rocking him in a chair.  Around 8:00 P.M. daddy went back to the Ronald McDonald house and mommy stayed at the hospital to watch Isaac.  Isaac had neuro checks every hour and passed them.  Doctors continued to come in and check on random things leaving Allison and Isaac with next to no sleep.  

Coming into today Isaac has now been moved out of the intensive care unit and into his own room (we were sharing with two other patients).  Right now he is getting some much needed sleep and mommy is going to following closely behind.

We will get Isaac's official lab results back late this week and will be meeting with the oncology doctors early next week to determine the best course of action with Isaac.  We can say with almost 100% certainty that it will be a form of chemotherapy.

We thank God for the amazing progress and work Boston Children's Hospital has already made on Isaac and we are hoping that the next post (in a day or two) will be of our little guy playing!  Keep the prayers coming.  We love you all!

Nick, Allison and Isaac