Yesterday Jag and I arrived in Vail at 7:20 for his doctor appointment. When we met with Dr.Viola we were surprised to find out that he needed surgery as we thought we were just getting him a cast. He then asked when we wanted to do it and suggested we move quickly as the sooner after the break the better as then the arm or bones are still pliable and hasn’t had time to start healing or fusing incorrectly. So they called up to the surgery center and said the earliest was 1pm. It was now about 8am so we had a few hours to kill until our 11:15 check in. Luckily the doctor is a friend as well so he squeezed us in with no notice.
Around 11:30 (I was running late from a conference call) we arrived and checked in. Jag said he wasn’t nervous but I could tell he was a bit. The only thing that really bothered him was the thought of getting the IV stuck in his hand. Turns out he didn’t even feel it and all was fine. The doctor was running late so they didn’t take him back until about 2pm which is when I walked down the street to get his a 21″ Philly Cheesesteak sandwich which he wanted. He was out of surgery about 3pm and all was good. No incisions were required as they somehow manipulate his bones while watching his arm on some x-ray machine and then cast it up. He had 3 breaks with two being minor and one that needed to be put back in place which is why he needed surgery.
I went back into recovery about 3:30 and it took him until 4pm to wake up. I videotaped him all groggy on my phone and it’s priceless. I’ll try to figure out how to post it as it’ll go viral it’s so funny, he was so polite! Our friend Heidi who was my anesthesiologist a couple years ago and now a friend, was off as she’d been on call for 8 days but called up and had a colleague put himself on the schedule to take care of Jagger. He was a really nice Harvard man who was probably my age or a bit older. To me, the riskiest part of surgery is when they put you under so I was glad he was able to re-arrange his schedule to be with Jag. Our friend Rick who is the head of HR (Human Resources) for the hospital also came up to make sure everything was well and hung out with us until he went in so we were well taken care of. Funny but now Lori, Jag and I have all had surgery at the Vail Medical Center.
When I spoke with the doctor after surgery he showed me pictures of the bones in his arm post surgery and we for sure made the right decision to have it done. At Jag’s age and as fast as he is growing, you don’t want any bones growing incorrectly or the wrong way. Finally at 4:45 we were in the car and home a bit after 6pm. Lori didn’t make it home until a bit before 7pm as she was swamped at work. Jagger has been a perfect patient and made it through the night fine and seems to have no pain but he can’t hold a pencil which isn’t going to make school easy. We’re going to call and see of he can take a tablet.
So that’s it, lots to do today as I missed a full day of work which I need to make up. If I had known I was going to be there all day I would have brought my computer, oh well, like I said, it was a surprise!
God Bless.