It's off!

Allisters bandage that is. We went for a follow up appointment at 8:15 this morning -yeah we had to be out the house for 7:30am- it didn't happen!

Everything looks good and you can barely see the scar.

All done with Surgery.

Allister's surgery is over, and it all went without a hitch!

He did great going without food and water right up until about 10:30am, then he just had enough! He was tired, it was nap time, and he screamed, for almost an hour :(

All I wanted to do was feed him to make him happy, but I couldn't.

Then he fell asleep and woke up all happy again!

Here are some photos of us in our pre-op room.

And a video of us trying to keep Allister (or is that ourselves?) happy.

We arrived at the Children's Hospital at around 9:30am, and after registration and tagging went to the room above. We met with the Plastic Surgeon, 3 nurses, and the anesthesiologist. They were all lovely, helpful and informative. They all really put our mind at rest about the procedure. At about 10:30am Allister started to get tired and hungry, I woke him up at 4:30am to feed him, and he didn't have anything after that, so its not surprising at all.

He started crying, and carried on for almost an hour, he finally fell asleep on my shoulder bless him.

After his little cat nap he awoke happy as a lamb again!

We chose a strawberry flavored mask for him to be put to sleep, he loved to chew on it :)

We walked him down the hall and handed him to two lovely nurses who whisked him away to be put to sleep. It was no where near as bad as I had in my mind, mostly because he was happy and laughing with the two nurses.

We went to the adjoining waiting room, and were given a tracking number! Hospitals have come a long way baby!

We could see on the screen if Allister was in pre-op, when he was in having his surgery and then when he was in recovery without anyone having to come find us. It helped calm our nerves tremendously!

A slice of pizza and coke later and the surgeon appeared to tell us all went well, and the nurse would come get us when Allister was a little more awake.

Yay!

We went to another post-op room, and waited for him, he came in cranky, pale and sounding funny :(

His eye, though, looked great! We were kind of expecting lots of bruising and a big old patch but there was just a little take, and a little swelling.

I was allowed to nurse him straight away, and after a brief after care instruction we whisked him home, still in his hospital gown!

He was fast asleep so we didn't want to get him changed. And those baby hospital gowns are super soft and comfy!

So here he is after surgery....

Such a sweet baby boy :)

When we got home Grammy had made us a scummy dinner! Yummy!

Thanks Grammy:)

Allister wouldn't let me put him down, he pretty much laid on my lap and nursed the rest of the day, and then went to bed at 6pm.

Closely followed by myself at 8:30!

He only woke up around midnight to eat, then was up at 5:30am happy and cheerful and almost back to himself. He has a little more bruising today, but it doesn't show in the photos due to the flash.

Here is Allister this morning happy and giggling away as usual.

He's such a brave, happy baby.

We have a follow up appointment in 2 (or 3 or 4 depending who you ask!) weeks, and that should be us done!

Surgery Update.

Allister's surgery is tomorrow at Columbus Children's Hospital. We arrive at the hospital around 9:30am and he is scheduled for 11:40am. they expect him to be in surgery around 20-30 minutes, plus preparation time. He will then go to recovery for an hour or so.

They will try and do his anesthesia via a mask, apparently they scent it so it smells yummy! Then they can do his IV etc while he is asleep. I can breastfeed him at 5am then nothing but water or pedialite till 9am. I can also nurse him as soon as he is out of recovery, I'm so glad I breast feed, otherwise he would be so uncomfortable!

We will update via Facebook as it reaches out to everyone at once, so as soon as we have him out of recovery check my updates! don't assume any updates until at least 2pm I guess.

Prayers and good wishes for our little man please.

Allister Update.

Yesterday we met with a Pediatric Plastic Surgeon regarding Allister's cyst.

He confirmed its a congenital Dermoid Cyst.

Meaning it was something that has been there since birth, and is only now noticeable. He suggested surgery to remove it sooner rather than later. I was wanting to wait until Allister was a little older, but he gave some real benefits to not postponing the surgery.

1- The scaring will be worse the older Allister is, due in part to the size of the cyst and in part to the rapid healing of baby skin.

2- Once Allister is mobile, it will be harder for him to not damage or knock the wound as it heals.

3- A dermoid Cyst tends to start in the bone at birth causing a tiny divot or dip, in Allister's case this would be in his eye brow bone. As the cyst grows so will the divot. At Allister's present age the bone will likely heal completely and Allister will be left with no bone damage, the older he is the more damage and less healing will occur.

We schedule his surgery for September 22nd. It will be early in the morning. The surgery will likely last 20/30 minutes and be done as an outpatient procedure. Therefore he will be able to come home about an hour or two after surgery. The incision will be made in his eye lid crease if the cyst is mobile enough to be pushed down, this will cause virtually no scarring. Alliteratively, if the cysts is not mobile, the incision will be made in his eyebrow line.

I'm not at all worried about the surgery, just the thought of the anesthesia and not being able to hold him. Also, he wont be able to eat or nurse at all prior to the surgery, I'm sure we will have a screaming hungry baby on our hands that morning, which will make it all the harder to have him wheeled away!

We wont know what time his surgery is until they call the afternoon before, so I will keep you posted! Prayers and good wishes for the little guy please.

Poor little Allister

We took a trip to the doctors today because I notice a little lump on Allister's eyebrow yesterday.

Don't worry, its nothing to panic about!

He has a cyst :( and he will need it removed at some point.

If you look at the previous photos you can see it on his eyebrow on his right eye. I am thinking its been there a while, but only now has it got big enough to notice. The doctor assured me its nothing to worry about, just an very ordinary cyst. But it will very likely continue to grow, and being its on Allister's face, and near his eye, removal will be the best way forward. We wouldn't want him to a: look funny, and B: for it to interfere with his eye site or cause any permanent damage.

We have been referred to Children's hospital, and will likely meet with a plastic surgeon in the next couple of weeks. They will discuss whether we should "watch and wait" or go ahead and get surgery done soon. They wont perform surgery until he is 6 months old, but I would rather wait till he is a lot bigger than that, as they will need to have him anesthetized. I guess it will depend on how big it grows and how quickly.

I'm not worried at all about the cyst, but I am concerned about surgery, he's way to young for all that :( and when the day comes I am sure I will be a wreck, but for now its nothing to worry about.

Here is a recent photo I posted of Allister eating his cereal, you can see the lump on his eyebrow, it's so funny how I hadn't even noticed it till now! Its about the size of a very small pea right now.

I'll keep you all posted of events to come.