We got a call from the pediatricians office on Saturday February 20 to tell us that the lab call and there is no infection. REALLY?? This did not look like a wound without infection. But who am I to say.
By Monday morning (February 22) I was not a happy camper with the way Milo’s wound looked (it was right around the last screw on the left side). So I emailed the surgeons again (gotta love email). They responded rather quickly and I was given the option to come in right then and catch Dr. Hutchinson in Oakland, drive to San Francisco later or wait till another day to see someone. I opted to jump in the car and go.
We made good time and arrived slightly before Dr. Hutchinson was suppose to leave for San Francisco. Poor guy, if only he knew what he was in for. He took one look at Milo’s wound and was not happy with it either. He decided he’d clean up the area first so he could get a good look at what was going on.
***Sorry, but I did not bring the camera with me. I was not “prepared” and therefore missed some very good pictures in Milo’s progress. O’well, it’s etched in my mind that is for sure. The doctor did get some after pictures that he’ll send me and then I’ll post them here.***
After a good clean up (almost 20 minutes) the wound just looked worse. So Dr. Hutchinson took some pictures and said he’d be back. A bit later he came back in and said ‘We’ve gotta take the halo off.’ WHAT?? I was not prepared for that, but, after talking with Dr. Indresano, they decided it was best to take it off rather than leave it on and let the infection fester. Another side note, Dr. Hutchinson was surprised that the lab came back negative.
With the decision made to take off the halo Dr. Hutchinson and another doctor came in. They told Milo what needed to be done and Milo had a moment of weakness. He slouched in the chair and started to whine a bit. I reminded him that if all went well at the doctor’s office we could stop off at Gayle’s again. He perked up and said ‘Alright’ and sat up straight and man like in the chair. There’s my boy!
***Another side. They originally were going to do this in the O.R. room because of the pain it could cause upon removal.***
After about half of the screws were out there was this exchange:
Dr: Milo, thumbs up if it doesn’t hurt
***Wait***
Dr: Milo, can you hear me?
Milo: Yes
Dr: Thumbs up if it doesn’t hurt
***Wait***
Mom: Hey Milo where’s your thumbs up?
Milo: IT HURTS!!
What a brave boy. They had it off in about 2 minutes. Milo looked physically exhausted. I think it really did hurt. He reminded me of what I look like right after birth. Just an all body exhaustion. We let him sit for a few minutes and he seemed to recover quite nicely. Then we took some more pictures and then we were out of there. We did end up back there a few minutes later since we forgot the prescription for his antibiotic. They also said that they would still have him come back on Thursday so they could take the appliance out of his mouth. That DEFINITELY had to be done in the O.R. room.
We stopped at Gayle’s as promised and he imbibed in her YUMMY egg salad sandwich. He still looked and acted a little out of it but all in all things were better not having that halo on! Instead he gets to have a whole head wrap.
No more halo. Just a head wrap and a happy face!
Happy Milo! Gotta love the sweatshirt. Thanks Mathieu! Milo LOVES this sweater. I may never get it off of him!
No words to describe this one....
In case you couldn't get a good look at it the first time around.
I’m so very grateful for my Milo. He is such a trooper and he teaches me so much about patience and love and being mellow. Even when he has a hard time he lifts himself back up again and keeps going. What a great boy. What a great experience this has been on our whole family. I hope when we look back on this experience we will with a great love and appreciation for what we learned and how the Lord blessed us.