Jackson's surgery: Post-surgery

  So after the surgery, Jackson was asleep for most of the first day.  Joyce stayed with him in the hospital overnight and was very impressed with most of the nursing staff at Sacred Heart.  His head was wrapped like a mummy and he had a tiny drain tube coming out the top of his head...

3 Hours post-surgery

 ...that tube of red stuff is the drain contents.  He looks a bit pale...

18 Hours post-surgery

   Hello!  Now he's thinking, 'what the hell happened?!'.  He was still a little sedated with morphine for the pain, but was looking a lot less pale after a transfusion from mommas blood.  All that direct-donation crap with the blood bank wasn't for nothing!!!  Yay!

24 Hours post-surgery

   The drain's out, mummy-wrap is gone and you can see the doctor's handiwork.  I have to say, it's really hard seeing your little boy like this...

2 days post-surgery: Discharge!!!

  Boy is it nice having everybody home again!  The night JJ came out of surgery it started dumping buckets of snow.  And I swear as soon as some of these people see a snowflake it turns into student driving all over again!  I mean, splitting lanes on the interstate going 30 mph!  Anyway...here are some CT scans of post-surgery...

Huge hole-top of head

  I know...holy crap what a big hole!  At this point I really started wishing I asked for the bone he cut out of his head.  Just think how cool that would have been for show-and-tell!!!!  That thing going over the skull is  the drain tube.

Barrel stave cuts on right side of head.

Back View

Barrel stave cuts on left side of head..and patchy holes.

  It's truly amazing what doctors can do these days and it's even more amazing how tough little kids are.  Jackson is smiling at mom and dad already and he is on a minimal dose of ibuprofen.  I will also say that it is extremely difficult to see kids go through things like this, especially your own.  I hope this is the end of it!
  So he gets fitted with a forming helmet on Friday and he gets to sport that for six months.  With any luck, he won't have to go in for surgery again and the helmet will shape his head a little better.  Until then, it is really weird to touch the 'hole' in the top of his head since it is really just like touching his brain.  I can't wait for him to rock the helmet so we can get that huge soft spot covered up!