Cochlear implant surgery day
8:45am, during surgery — As I write this, my husband and I are at the hospital while Henry receives his simultaneous bilateral cochlear implant surgery. We just received a text from the operating room nurse that Henry’s first side surgery is complete (within 30-40 minutes of starting surgery!), and they’re starting on the second side now. What I feel right now is amazement and admiration for how efficient and talented Henry’s surgeon is — he’s one of the most (if not the most) experienced cochlear implant surgeons in the world, and we are very fortunate to live close to his practice.
By the way, my brother is a talented sonographer and happens to work at the same hospital as Henry’s surgeon (of all places). He came by the surgery waiting room to say hi, and it was so great to have his moral support as we wait!
A peek into our morning, pre-surgery — This morning, we woke up at 4:15am to get ourselves ready before getting the little guy up. With a surgery start time of 7:30am (and a check-in time of 6am), we wanted to leave by 5:30am. The plan was to tuck Henry in bed last night wearing the same PJs that he’d come to the hospital in to avoid waking him up completely in the morning. This morning, once my husband and I were both ready and the car was loaded with the stroller, diaper bag, bag of toys/books, we took Henry’s car seat upstairs and turned his nursery light on dimly before transferring him into the car seat and pulling the car seat canopy cover as far down as we could. Then, we turned the house lights off before carrying the car seat with him in it down to the car. Not a single peep during the ride to the hospital, and I think he just went back to sleep! He woke up when we arrived and clipped his car seat into the stroller in front of the hospital entrance — and just relaxed with his moose pacifier.
We were escorted by a lead nurse to the pre-op prep area, where they took Henry’s vitals and went over his medical history in preparation for surgery. The pre-op nurse, anesthesiologist, and operating room nurse came in and walked us through the anesthesia and surgery game plan, and Henry made himself a few new friends with lots of pointing, waving, and babbling. :) He was in such a good mood this morning despite not having eaten since 6pm last night (his normal dinnertime before our bathtime/bedtime routine — we were instructed not to feed him anything after midnight the night before surgery). Very upbeat, curious as ever, and was happy hanging out with us in our pre-op prep room.
We brought a couple of Henry’s favorite books and toys with us knowing that we’d likely have some periods of waiting time with an antsy and hungry 9-month-old as his care team came in and out during pre-op prep.
I got more emotional and anxious when the anesthesiologist stopped by and let us know that she was prepping the operating room for him and that the operating room nurse would come by and take Henry back with her. I didn’t want Henry to see me upset and therefore possibly get upset himself, so I held the tears back until after we kissed him and he went back with the nurse. Whew!
Tips: aside from a couple of your kid’s favorite books, toys, teethers, pacis, etc. — bring a blanket that they’re familiar with to wrap them in after you put their hospital gown on. This blanket will keep your kid warm with their gown on, and the familiar smell/feel of it will help before and after surgery as the post-op nurses use whatever comfort blankets/objects you bring to help ease the initial wake-up/regulating process after surgery before you are able to go back and be with them in the post-op recovery area yourself. If you’re formula-feeding, recommend packing bottles and formula to have ready as soon as you’re taken back to see your little one because they will likely be hungry, cranky, and disoriented (it’s okay, they’ve just been through a lot and haven’t eaten in over half a day!).
9:30am, post-surgery: Henry’s surgeon just came by the waiting room to say hi and share that the surgery went well! Again, I am blown away by how extraordinary this man is — he successfully completed Henry’s simultaneous bilateral cochlear implant surgery in less than 1.5 hours (for both ears total). He walked us through how they did audiology testing right there in the operating room to ensure that both devices were in working order and effectively sending electrical signals to Henry’s brain. He shared that Henry has a big bandage on his head and that he looks a little bit like a ping pong ball (his words!), and he’ll be numb for a while. Per his instructions, we’ll give him over the counter infant-dose pain medication and antibiotics after we get home. Little guy is now in the post-op recovery area being taken care of by his team, and they’ll come get us in a little while to feed him and help him get more comfortable.