Surgery Report

Goodness, it is easier to upload photos and videos than it is to take the time to write. I have not forgotten about giving you a surgery/post-op report.

We give praise to our God for His goodness to our family in these last couple weeks. Mike had a few vacation days before he started his new job. Surgery was scheduled during his couple weeks of vacation, thankfully. Molly stayed with her grandparents so we could have some alone time with Stephen. We went down to UVA on Wednesday for a pre-op appointment and stayed the night in a hotel not far from the hospital. They asked us to arrive at 6am on Thursday because Stephen was first case. Our little fella was totally unaware of how his life would be completely changed in a matter of hours. Mike and I sat in the family waiting lounge for 3 ½ hours, thinking the same anxious thoughts that we did when Molly was under the knife. Only this time we had a few more concerns about Stephen’s anatomy. His surgeon mentioned in pre-op visit that Stephen had a small/short cochlea (seen on the CT). The surgeon did not express concern, but we were a little worried that they would not be able to get a good connection to the hearing nerve. This again was all in the Lord’s control. After the surgery, the surgeon came to the lounge to speak with us. He said that all went beautifully and when they tested the hearing nerve after the device was put in, they were able to get an excellent response. As you can imagine, we were elated to hear this. This gives us great hope that the device will work when Stephen is turned-on on December 19th. ( The audiologist waits a month for the wound to heal before she activates/attaches the external device.) So we went to the post-op area to find our wounded soldier in the arms of a nurse drinking pedialyte. He was not pleased to have the dressing wrapped around his head. Thankfully he wasn’t groggy like Molly was at this stage. They gave Molly morphine and it knocked her out for the rest of the day. They managed Stephen’s pain with infant Tylenol and that was all he needed for the next couple of days. After an hour of monitoring Stephen we were free to go, on the condition that we stay fairly close in case Stephen had complications. Yup, outpatient surgery! Amazing!


I must mention how thankful we were that Stephen was finally well for surgery day and he has continued to stay well. He bounced back pretty quickly when we brought him home. We are now 2 ½ weeks in recovery and Stephen’s stitches have absorbed and the bruising/swelling is gone. Now all I have to be concerned about is Stephen falling on the implant side as he learns to walk (it has already happened). Always an adventure!

Thanks for your many prayers and concern for our family during this time. You are an encouragement!