Tuesday afternoon we drove up to DHMC for Cam's pre-op appointments. We talked with Dr. Bauer and Dr. Scott Lannan -- Dr. Bauer's APRN -- all about what would be happening the next day, really hammering out the schedule for Cam's surgery. We had to be back to the pre-op area at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, so we left and got our room at David's House, let Cam play outside for a while (they have an awesome playground) then enjoyed our night together.
Wednesday morning we arrived to the pre-op area and were taken back to get Cam changed, then he got to play in their playroom while the many doctors came in to ask us questions and introduce themselves. By 7:45, I was riding on his bed with him into the OR. He got to play with an iPad while he got the anesthesia. Luckily they were able to avoid drawing blood or putting his IVs in until after he was already asleep. From there, he was getting all set up for surgery, then having an MRI, then being taken right back into the OR. The day was long -- Shawn and I spent most of it with his parents, Faith and Mike, playing games, walking around, eating breakfast and lunch. At 1 p.m., we got an update that they had finished the retraction of his brain and Dr. Morse was being brought in to place some electrodes to try to get some EEG readings from other areas of his brain, and they would be closing up shortly.
At 2:30 we were paged again, so Shawn and I (quickly) walked over to see Dr. Bauer walking around the corner with a big smile on his face, and we were able to let out a huuuuge sigh of relief! He brought us into a consult room to let us know that everything went great. The removal of the sections of his brain were very routine, nothing surprising. When they placed the electrodes they saw no obvious seizure activity, but did see a little "irritation" in the back section of his brain -- they're not sure if that will clear up, or really what it meant, but they weren't worried about it. Cameron was then taken down to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, where Shawn and I met him shortly after. He was crying a lot, very groggy and didn't even open his eyes for probably a solid hour after getting out of surgery.
I had leaned over his bed to give him a kiss and he wrapped his arm around my neck and didn't let go for upwards of two hours. I treasured the moment, but man, did my neck hurt after that! Haha
Throughout the day, he was really groggy and grumpy. He cried quite a bit about how his head hurt, so they gave him morphine and we tried to keep ahead of it as much as we could. That night, we were getting excited to watch the Sox game, and were hoping for a World Series Championship!
This was our setup:
And this was the picture that started Cam's face being shared across the country!:
We were so excited that Cam was starting to feel better, smiling a little and talking some, snacking on crackers and drinking a little water, then the game started and Shane Victorino smacked that three-run double to start the game, it was really a special moment. Cam has cheered for Victorino all season, most of you know, because he's #18 -- Cam's favorite number. At that moment, we were so happy and so excited! Cam had already fallen asleep, so I leaned over and whispered in his ear "Victorino got a hit, bud!" Then Shawn decided to share the moment on Twitter, and from there the whole situation was an absolutely awesome distraction for us while Cam was still in the PICU! The first night was a little rough, Cam had woken up around 2 a.m. crying, so they gave him some more morphine to help him sleep, then around 5 a.m. I noticed that he had completely soaked his bed -- the nurse said because of all the fluids he was getting, diapers fill quick. So we had to pick him up and change all of his sheets, which didn't go over too well. After we laid him back down, he was pretty inconsolable, crying because his head hurt so much, so they gave him a "breakthrough" dose of morphine. From there, he slept pretty well into the morning.
Throughout the day, we really just tried to manage his pain. He's on steroids too, which makes him very emotional, so he was really weepy and easily upset, but overall pretty good. Mid-morning Dr. Bauer came in to check in, and suggested Cam get up and go to the playroom! He was all about it, until he pulled his blanket off and was covered in blood! His IV had slid out, but his hand was under his blanket so we didn't see it! He was fine, but didn't end up getting up and out. We worked all day on trying to just get him to sit up, but it was pretty painful for him. In the early afternoon, a woman came in and asked for Shawn. She said there was someone from Media Relations on the phone for him. We had NO idea what was going on, but then Shawn's cell phone started ringing -- it was his boss, Paul, from The Sentinel!
I answered it, and Paul was laughing -- he said that Channel 7 News from Boston had called The Sentinel looking for Shawn, they wanted to talk to him about a tweet he sent! That tweet had almost 300 retweets, almost 400 "favorites" and over 100 replies -- some by major sports guys from WEEI, NESN and WBZ! We couldn't help by giggle about the whole situation. Channel 7 News set up a satellite interview for Shawn to go to Dartmouth College and talk to them. We organized some pictures of Cam to send and told Cam he was going to be on TV! It was so fun to see, and we even had nurses coming up to Cam and telling him they had seen him on TV! WHDH Article and Video
Then The Sentinel did a story about what was going on, so Cam's cute face was plastered on the front page of Friday's paper! What a fun treat to come home to! Thanks Kyle, for writing such a sweet story about him! Keene Sentinel Article
Thursday night Cameron was transferred upstairs to the Pediatric Unit in CHaD, though the room was smaller, we were more comfortable there, as we know that floor pretty well, and know some of the nurses too. He had a pretty good night sleep and the next morning, Dr. Lannan came in and said that if Cam got up and moving, he could go home that day! He told him about a race car video simulator they had on the floor that Cam could go play in! Within minutes, Cam had sat up for the first time since Wednesday, and was climbing off the bed to go check out the race car!
We've been truly blessed this week, by the surgeons, doctors and nurses, our family and friends, and people from all over the country wishing Cam well, praying for him and truly showing us the most incredible amount of love and support that we could have ever asked for! Cameron is one lucky boy, that's for sure! Cameron is doing great right now. He's very easily worn out, but has been in an awesome mood all morning. He's very giggly and has his silly sense of humor back! We're so proud of him and how well he's dealt with everything this week. He's a strong little monkey!
"Don't worry, about a thing. Cause every little thing is gonna be alright." - Thanks Shane!!!
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