Surgery #7

On July 12th Tayton had his 7th surgery in 8 months.  He has been through so much but he is really happy through all this.  If you have noticed, every night before a surgery we have some sort of party.  We decided to get a hotel in Park City and take the kids of the Alpine Slide.  It was so much fun and the kids loved it.

 First Levi took Tayton down and I stayed with Tanna and Blakeli.

 Look at that face, he loved it and said "That was awesome."

 Then it was my turn to take Tanna down.  We got on the lift and it started to rain.  So we ended up waiting at the top for an hour before they let us go down.  Right when we got down and it started raining again so they closed the slide.  We still had more passes but we decided we will go in the morning before surgery.

 We woke up the day of the surgery and it was pouring so no Alpine Slide.  We need to get up there again before it closes for the season.

 Tayton's surgery was scheduled around 12:30 in the afternoon.  So he had some water and sprite in the morning then he couldn't eat anything the rest of the day.  We decided to go shopping at the outlets  to pass the time and the kids got new shoes, and Tayton got a rain jacket for Burn Camp!

Then the hospital called and said they were behind in surgery and not to come until 3:00.  We had fun and just played in Park City, then we went and checked in to the Ronald McDonald house.  We got to Primary Childrens at 3:00 and they finally got him in surgery at 7:00 p.m.  The poor kid was so hungry but he did so good.

 Luckily they had Lego Indiana Jones to keep his mind off of food.  Then they took him back into surgery and surprise, he was swelling really bad and ended up in the PICU back on a ventilator.  (They always tell me they don't think that will happen but I know my boy and sadly we are used to it.)

 Surgery went pretty good but he hadn't really improved as much as the doctor would have liked.  Guess that means more surgeries in the future.  Levi stayed the night with him in the PICU and I headed back to the Ronald McDonald house with the girls.  Tayton spent all night sedated and then about 10:00 a.m. they took him off the ventilator and it was time for his favorite thing about Primary Childrens...

Root Beer Slushies and Tacos!!!

The nurses thought it was so funny he wanted those, they told him to start with something easy to swallow like applesauce of chicken broth.  This kid knows what he wants and after not eating for a full day he wanted his tacos.  Pretty soon we got to leave the PICU and head on up to the third floor the Childrens Surgical Unit.  He spent most of Saturday playing video games, eating tacos and slushies, and hanging out.  

What I love about the 3rd floor is the girls can go into the room.  They don't let small children in the PICU, so it was nice to be all together and Tayton loved seeing his sisters.

 Tanna had fun pushing Blakeli all over the hospital.  The girls didn't stay to long because they were bored and I didn't want Blakeli around all the germs in a hospital, so Levi took them on a walk and both of them fell asleep.  I thought this picture was pretty cute.

Then on Sunday afternoon it was time for my super-hero boy to leave the hospital and head home!

He had to be on steroids for 15 days after surgery to help the swelling in his airway go down.  He always gets so angry and mad on steroids, his cheeks puff up like crazy, and he is so hungry he can eat the entire house.  He gained 4 lbs over the 15 days.  They keep his airway safe so I guess we will deal with all the other issues that come along with it.  We went back to his doctor for his post opp check-up and he said his airway looks so much better and he has improved a lot!!!!!!  Tayton even rode his scooter in a 5k race but I will post more about that another day.

His next surgery is going to be at the burn unit sometime in November for some skin releases on his hands and arms.   His arms, hands, and thighs from where they took the skin from have scarred really really bad, and it is hard to even find skin because there is so much scar tissue.  The burn unit said his scars are about as bad as they get.  He is very self-conscience about his scars and he would only let me take a picture of his good hand.  This is what his face should look like, but he doesn't have one scar on his face.  We are so blessed.

  His ENT said he wanted to be at the surgery at the burn unit to protect his airway so I am hoping we can just have him do another surgery why he is there and just get 2 surgeries done at once.  It would be nice, we will see.

Tayton doesn't seemed to be bothered by having more surgeries.  I just think we need to make sure the burn unit has tacos and root beer slushies ready for him.  Each surgery does seem to get a little easier.  It is still hard to see your child on a ventilator, that doesn't really ever change, but it is so nice that he doesn't get scared and we can make some fun memories together, even if it is in the hospital.  I am so proud of my little guy and everything he has been through.  I don't think I could do it.  He amazes me every day.