Surgery

Well, it's been a very long day. We arrived at the hospital at 5:30 am. We were taken back to the pre-op area around 6:00 am. We were joined back there by Kay (Nana) and Kurt (our pastor). T.J. was in great spirits, playing thumb war and rock paper scissors with Kurt, up until about 15 minutes before surgery. Then his nerves kicked in. He got very upset and was crying. The nurse administered Versed to help him take the edge off. When he left for surgery he had calmed down, but was still a little teary eyed. Our first update came at 9:00 am. At that time we were told he was calm upon arrival in surgery and was talking about Bella, our dog. He had been put to sleep by mask (strawberry scented gas) and was being prepped for surgery. The 10:00 am update revealed she had removed the bone segment and was proceeding through the layers to shrink the cerebellar tonsils and push them back up where they belong. The 11:00 update indicated that all was going well and Dr. Smith was getting ready to close. By noon we had received a report that he was headed for recovery. At 12:30 pm we were summonsed to meet with Dr. Smith. She informed us that she found a surprise when she went in there. She found a large amount of scar tissue. She felt T.J. must have had meningitis at some time in his life, but we were not aware of this. Possibly due to the limited range of motion in his neck to start with. She did feel the surgery went very well. She was able to return the cerebral spinal fluid flow to normal levels. She removed a 4 1/2 cm by 3 1/2 cm piece of skull bone, as much scar tissue as she could and also removed the 1st vertebrae and shaved the top of the 2nd. At this time T.J. is in ICU on the burn unit. Dr. Smith prefers this unit as it is small and gives great individual care. He is resting comfortably and is just saying he feels stiff, but no pain at this time. He seems to be tolerating liquids pretty well and we are going to try to progress to food sometime this evening. Thanks for your continued prayers and support.