Surgery

Jason is in his 3rd week of his surgery rotation and by the end of it he will have spent 4 days on call. It hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be but the kids are definitely feeling his absence. Jason has to get up and leave before the kids are awake and only gets to see them for a few hours before they have to go to bed. It's been rough, but we are surviving. Jason is on call every 4 days with a post call day off. We do get to spend a little more time with him on post call days but the kids aren't convinced that is enough time. haha.

When Jason started this rotation I was worried about how our "daddy's girl" would handle it. I have been pleasantly surprised. She does cry for her dad but I can usually calm her down and we are actually getting along quite well. (I usually just ignore the "I hate you" comments and tell her "I know, but you still have to listen to me" it seems to be working quite well)

The other surgery we have to look forward to is Ridgedon's.

A couple of years ago Ridge got a suspicious looking lump on his left arm by his armpit. We took to the doc fearing bad news and were told it was just a hematoma or bruise under the skin. They drained it in the office and it seemed to go away.

Well, the mysterious looking lump has reappeared. I showed the lump to Jason, who was in Grenada during the discovery and treatment of the last lump, and he talked to the doctors he was working with in family practice. They suggested he go to a pediatric vascular surgeon. OK.

So we did. When the surgeon saw the lump he immediately diagnosed it as a hemangioma not a hematoma. A hemangioma is a collection of blood vessels that are tangled together. They don't cause any concern of damage or pain, but they won't go away on their own and will continue to get bigger and bigger over time, which is why it came back after we drained it. We made it smaller by taking out some of the blood and fluid but it didn't get rid of the source. The only way to get rid of it is surgery.

So Ridge gets to have another surgery! Poor kid. Luckily my mom and possibly my dad will be coming to visit us again next month and we will schedule the surgery for when they are here.

Ridge is such a brave little man and I know he will do great but I am still super nervous about the surgery. His surgeon is one of the best in America so I know he is in great hands.

It seems that we get to battle the surgery front from both sides. Wish us luck!