Surgery

We've had a whirlwind 24 hours...

Silas was sick to his stomach during the night/early morning Saturday/Sunday. I think he just had a stomach bug. He began to perk up around 10am & I gave him liquids & jello. He got sick again around 11:30 & I think that is when he started his serious problems. He had a hernia (probably weakened area since birth) that involved both his intestine & his right testicle. It is common for boys (30-40%) to have the hernias around their testicles & often the testicle moves back & forth from the scrotum up into the abdomen. It is not common that the first time this happens one gets incarcerated bowel & blood supply cut off to part of the intestine & testicle the first time this movement is noticed! The hernia manifested as a large, hard mass in his lower abdomen. I saw it at 12 when I changed his diaper. I immediately called our Memphis doctor's emergency message service & of course my brother-in-law who is a pediatrician. They told me that we should take Silas immediately to Le Bonheur's ER. We made it here by 1pm. As if on cue Silas puked up red jello the minute I walked up to the reception desk & they took us to a room even before I filled out the paperwork. By 4pm Silas was in surgery. Before the surgery we really didn't know what was going to happen - they might have had to remove parts of his bowel &/or his testicle. Fortunately we saw the hernia quick enough that the surgeons felt the tissues could be saved, so they simply repaired the hernia & Silas (& Jason & I) are recovering.

I think we were lucky for this to happen on a Sunday afternoon (when no surgeries were planned & the doctors were rested).

He did really well during the night especially considering he's not able to eat anything yet & people kept poking & prodding him all night! Morphine helps!

I'm not sure when we'll go home - probably tomorrow, maybe tonight (although that thought scares me somewhat).
Pre-surgery

sleepy boy

The morning after