Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Success!

We are home from the hospital and Alex's did a great job. We got him up at 5:00 AM; into the car; to the hopsital by 6:00 AM...
waited...
and waited...
and waited...
okay it is finally 7:15 AM and we get to start discussing surgery.


Getting ready. Time to take blood pressure. Posted by Hello


Alex is so good. No screaming. Just wants to get it done. Unfortuantely it is going to take a few tries with the needle.


Dr. Butler gets Alex ready for the IV Posted by Hello

Alright. The fun is over. Find the vein and knock me out. Of course Alex is pretty much non verbal and has a high tolerance for pain, so he really does not complain. Till the 4th or 5th try!!


Dr. Butler looking for a vein for the IV
Posted by Hello


Still looking. Let's try the other arm. Posted by Hello


Marycke feels the pain more than Alex Posted by Hello

Off to surgery and it is only 8:15. We expect the surgery will take 45 minutes to an hour but are surprised to have it completed in 30 minutes.

Thankfully no surgery pictures, eh?


In recovery after VNS surgery Posted by Hello

Finally, almost time to go home.


Recovery almost over. Let's go to MacDonalds Posted by Hello


He finally got up and was ready for lunch. We got home by 1:00 PM. Alex seems okay. We go back to Dr. Szabo Friday to have the VNS turned on.

Neal and Marycke



Okay, one more picture, if you want to see it. It is the incision and a highlight on the neck showing where it connects into the vagal nerve.


Just keep


Paging down.


More


More


almost there


Really sure?


Okay


Here it is:


VNS implant and where it attaches to the neck. They were able to reuse the leads from the old implant. So just the one incision. Posted by Hello

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am so glad this is behind you. I anxiously await the results. Please keep me posted.
Linda

Anonymous said...

Neal, Marycke, we will keep praying for you and Alex.

Anonymous said...

Marycke - I was just going thru the holiday letters and ran across the website you talked about and FOUND it!! Wow, it sounds like you guys have so much going and ALex is a very brave guy with wonderful parents! Can you send me your email address? I'd love to catch up with you. Take care, and hope to hear from you soon....Sally (Johnson) Stansik
PS my email is SallyStansik@aol.com