Bodee's Surgery

Okay, yay for me...a new blog post LOL. I'll worry about catching up on the past ones later but for now, I'm gettin back into it (hopefully). Many people have asked about what Bodee had to have surgery for so....here it is :). Yesterday, Bodee went in for his 4th surgery in order to repair an incisional hernia as well as an umbilical hernia. We definitely have our own little superhero...and he will be called...Hernia-Boy! As many of you know, Bodee was born with a Diaphragmatic Hernia in which he had a hole in his diaphragm that allowed his internal organs to herniate into his chest cavity (more details can be found all over my blog :) )...the incision that was made in order to fix this, over time, has developed it's only little hernia. I noticed it early on (about 6 months old) but the doctors kept saying it was something that was normal for all babies. At his 15 month check-up, Bodee's doctor finally referred us back to Duke in order for Dr. Hoehner to take a look at it. The incisional hernia is a direct result of what has to be done in order to repair a Diaphragmatic Hernia. When all of the internal organs are moved back into their proper place, most times there isn't enough room to be able to close up the incision. This is because that area hasn't grown to accomodate the organs. Bodee's incision was able to be closed, however, it was still a process of having his abdomen stretch out to fit it all in there. In the process of growing, the pressure on his incision caused a weakness in part of it, and therefore a hernia occurred. Dr. H said that it was something that he would eventually need to have fixed...that it would never heal on its own but that it wasn't a situation where he needed it repaired right away. We decided that we wanted to have it done as soon as possible so that Bodee can put all of this behind him. If he was gonna have to do it "someday"...why not while he's still young enough to forget :(. While we were at Duke, we also had him take a look at an umbilical hernia he has had since he was only a few months old. The umbilical hernia is one that they say heals on its own by the time kiddos are 3 years old...most of the time ;). Well Dr. H said that since he was already going to have the incisional hernia repair, that he would also take care of his umbilical hernia so that he could be done with these stinkin surgeries. Our luck, Bodee would have been in that small percentage of kids that don't heal on their own and we figured it would be best to get it taken care of.
We had to be at Duke at 6am yesterday morning for a 7:30 procedure. Bodee was such a trooper (as always). We played in the pre-op room and he danced all around the bed. He was flirtin with the Anasthesia team (all ladies of course)...this is him...sendin out the vibe

and played games with the surgical gloves :)...

When it came time for them to take him back, dad got to get all dressed up in mock scrubs lol...and got to take him back to the operating room. Before they left, they gave Bodee some medicine that made him...absolutely...100%...goofy. They say this helps to calm them down and make it to where they don't remember anything...including the scary docs trying to put a mask over his face to put him to sleep.

The surgery took a little over an hour and Dr. H came out and told us that everything had gone great. They tucked everything back into it's rightful place and stitched him up. We were able to go in with him and hold him for the hour and a half it took him to come to. He was totally out of it and wouldn't even eat a popsicle they tried to offer him for fluids...this is him with his death grip on it...but no eating it :(

They had to increase his IV fluids in order to hydrate him...lazy turd. I think this surgery has been hardest on him...and me. This time he can actually vocalize a little bit where he hurts and how he feels. It makes me sad to see him trying to be active...only to have to freeze up because he can't climb on everything or dance around.

Bodee now has an innie belly button instead of a huge outie :)...I think he's wonderin where it went as he keeps walkin up to me and saying "uh-oh" while he lifts his shirt to look at it. More than likely, it just hurts really bad and that's his way of telling me about his boo-boo. I can't imagine having my tummy cut open in two places...laughing...crying...coughing...(pooping)...seems to all give him trouble. We are praying that in the next few days, he'll be back to his normal self. It's even hard to hold him or pick him up because it seems like all of it causes him pain as it stretches out his incisions. He is super tough though and always motivates me each time he has to endure all of this. We pray this is it...we pray that was the last time that we have to hold him after being operated on (except for the surgeries that he causes himself later in life LOL)...we pray that his body, muscles and skin will freakin toughin up ;) and that he can move forward and live a normal...crazy...active lifestyle.
Before...After...