Makai's Man Surgery

Makai was born with an undescended testicle. We waited until he was 9 months old and then decided to proceed with surgery to bring it down. They couldn't find it with an ultrasound, so we were sent to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City to see a specialist. Our doctor at Primary Children's decided to schedule a laparoscopy and orchiopexy. Laparoscopy is when the put a scope into your belly button so they can see around your abdomen. The orchiopexy would only be necessary if they found his testicle. Then they would bring it down if they could. We were scheduled for surgery May 19th.

This is us Thursday morning getting Mr. Mak ready for surgery:

Well, I have a blood disorder called Von Willebrand. I told them about it way before the surgery and the doctor told me not to worry about getting Makai tested. Then he called me the day we were driving down to Salt Lake to ask me about the disorder and why I haven't gotten him tested. Umm...hello? So he said he wasn't comfortable doing the surgery and we'd have to reschedule. We were literally walking out the door and had our hotel booked and everything.

Long story short, I talked him into performing the surgery anyways and just watching him carefully. He said we 'd take some blood tests before surgery and that if anything was abnormal that we'd have to cancel.

On the 19th, I starved my baby and prepared him for surgery. He kept turning to my chest to nurse and I couldn't. It was so sad. They gave him an IV, drew some blood and sat us in the pre-op room. The anesthesiologist started walking us back to the O.R., but right before we handed our baby over he got a page to come back to the pre-op room. That's where the doctor told me that his blood tests were grossly abnormal, so we needed to cancel.

They sent us up to hematology for more tests; including repeating the tests he had gotten earlier that morning. I finally decided to feed him while we were waiting to get the tests. Then after we got the tests we waited some more and more and more.

Long story shorter again: The hematologist came in and said the test they were scared about earlier that morning came back normal and appears to be a probable mistake of the IV team who drew the blood. Oh bother. Cancelled surgery for nothing.

I worked hard and bugged a lot of people and was able to get the doctor to squeeze us in early the next morning. So, we starved him all over again and this time it wasn't all for nothing.

The surgery went well. He was able to find the testicle and bring it down in one day (we were expecting a two-surgery process). The doctor told us it was quite challenging so he wants to see him again soon to make sure everything is okay. He has 4 incisions and is pretty swollen still. It was hard handing him over and even harder seeing him all drugged up afterwards. I couldn't get him to stay awake more than a couple of seconds for the rest of the day. He's in a little bit of pain, but I'm staying on top of his meds, so he's doing okay. He still has somewhat of a raspy voice from the breathing tube, but it's getting better quickly. I actually got him to smile for me today :)

We were all pretty pooped on the drive home having had two long days in the hospital, so we were head bobbing right along with Makai. Thankfully James, who was driving, kept his head up.

I'll keep you updated on how he's healing, but for now we're all sponge baths, pain meds and rest. Thank you to those of you who prayed for our baby love!