Love is Patient: Seiden Grace's Surgery Story: October 23, 2013

Ever since we knew Seiden had a cystic hygroma (a fluid filled cyst) under her neck, we knew that some sort of measure would be taken to make sure that cyst was gone. There was talk about just waiting it out and seeing if it would go away on its own, injecting a saline fluid in it to cause it to harden up and calcify so that it would be reabsorbed back into her body, or surgery to remove the cyst all together. We had no idea what the doctors would decide was the best option, and they really didn't know either. Every single one of us from the surgeons, neaonatologists, my OB/GYN, to mommy and daddy, had absolutely no idea what method would be chosen. We were sort of on the "non-plan plan" until she was here and the doctors assessed her airway and really saw how big the cyst was. When she was born, Dr. Thomas, the pediatric surgeon...who is absolutely wonderful, amazing, and just such a Godly man, told us that she let out a big cry...more like a scream...when she was born. Which means that everything was open and working as it should...praise The Lord! But, they went ahead and inserted a ventilator in her for precautionary measures. And, they would have had to do that anyways if surgery was the method they decided would be best to remove the cyst. Dr. Thomas told us pretty soon after she was born that the cyst needed to be removed by surgery. Otherwise, it would be a really lengthy process if we did anything else. It was just too big and by the time she was full term, the cyst had also filled with some mucus as well as fluid. So, it was more dense and doing anything but surgery probably wouldn't work. He came in to check on Seiden multiple times after she was born. A few times he came in, he wasn't even on call...he just wanted to come see "his girl." Precious man! We talked to him on Monday, October 21st, and he said that the soonest day he had an opening in his schedule was possibly Thursday, but it may be Friday or even one day the week after. If that was the case, he would have one of his other partners look at their schedule to see if the surgery could happen sooner. Which, would have been fine because all his partners are world renowned. But...we just felt so comfortable with him and we knew that he truly had made a special connection with Seiden. He was also the surgeon that was there when she was born, so he's known her from the moment she came into this world. But, on Tuesday morning, he was in there checking on her and he told us that he wound up having an opening on Wednesday, October 23rd!!! We were absolutely thrilled. Both of us just looked at each other and just couldn't believe how God had just opened this door for Seiden. Ever since we knew about this cyst, He has continued to bless us. Every single thing; trials, tribulations, fears, excitement, joy, amazement, awe, God has been right there laying His hands over everything. We have definitely had some major down moments, but when we fully surrendered this over to God, He has turned this situation completely around and just truly blesses us 10 fold. So, as we started telling our family, friends, and prayer warriors that Seiden would be having surgery on the 23rd, we just prayed for God to move in her surgery and for everything to just go perfectly and smoothly. For Him to guide the doctors and nurses minds and hands as they performed their God given talents on our precious 4 day old baby girl. I got to give Seiden a bath the night before her surgery...any princess has to have a spa day before something major takes place! And we went to bed that night in absolute comfort and peace knowing God was going to be laying His hands on Seiden's surgery team.

Her surgery was supposed to start at 11:00 on the 23rd, but it wound up getting started a bit later. It was a blessing that it was later though. I was also discharged from the hospital on Wednesday, so we were rushing around trying to get everything done and out of the room as quick as possible. Brent had come to see us the night before and he and Cody took most everything to the car that night, which was such a huge help! We have such amazing friends. I need to stop calling them friends...they are our family!!! And, thankfully, both my parents were there and helped get the last of the things to the car while the nurse was giving me the discharge information. It was a little after 10:00 that morning when we headed down to the NICU, but it was closer to 11:45 when one of our precious NICU nurses peeked her head out of the door into the waiting room and said they were ready to head to Cooks for surgery. We've been at Harris this whole time...I don't know if I mentioned that or not! Anyways, Cooks and Harris are connected by a bridge, so Cody, my mom, and I walked the short distance over to Cooks and into the PRE-OP rooms. Before we left the waiting room to walk her down to surgery, we all stood there and prayed together. Sandra and LaDell came to be there with us, and my parents and Cody's dad was there too, so we all prayed together as one big family and lifted Seiden and the surgery team up to our amazing Father. The whole walk over, I had some tears in my eyes, but I was never scared, nervous, or worried. It's just so hard seeing your precious baby in an incubator! We had to sign some consent forms and the surgery team told us exactly what they were going to be doing and how much time they had set aside for the surgery to take place, which they said would be around 3 hours. Give or take, of course. Dr. Thomas even described the type of magnifying glasses he would be wearing so he could get as good of a view as possible and make sure that he wasn't going to damage any nerves or muscles. He said he was going to go super slow and test all her nerves and muscles, and if part of the cyst was right up on any of them, he wasn't going to cut there. He described the cyst as a bunch of soap bubbles. From the outside, it looks like one big cyst. But, from the inside, there were lots of little "bubbles" that would need to be dissected little by little to ensure he got everything without damaging anything. We talked to the anesthesiologist and he told us just exactly how he was going to give her the medicine to put her under and we signed one more paper before it was time to take her back. Before they did though, Cody asked if we could pray together and every single doctor and nurse joined hands with us and my mom and Cody just lifted Seiden up and asked God to be with each and everyone of the doctor's and nurses as they were performing a healing miracle on our baby girl. When he finished, both of us just told Dr. Thomas how blessed we are by him and just how thankful we were that he was her surgeon. He just pointed his finger right up to the ceiling and said, this is all for the Big Man upstairs. And, that's not the first time that he's acknowledged our Lord and Savior since we've met him. It is so comforting to know that the man who will be working on your baby gives all the glory to God.

Dr. Thomas left pretty quickly after the prayer to get the OR ready, and we stood there and talked a little more to the anesthesiologist and nurses. All of whom also acknowledged that God was who they did things for and without Him, they knew that they wouldn't be blessed to be able to perform these awesome miracles or have the talents and abilities that they did. What a huge comfort for us! We all just had so much peace, it was amazing to feel God's presence just wash over Seiden, us, the surgery team, the hospital, just everything. He is just everywhere and has His hands on everything. It's absolutely amazing to truly see how God works in all things when you turn everything over to Him. I looked at Cody and I told him that I wasn't nervous, scared, or even anxious about the surgery. I'm sure I was somewhere deep in the back of my mind. But, all I truly felt was peace, comfort, joy and excitement. I just kept saying how I couldn't wait to see her after the surgery was over. Cody said he felt the same way. We just knew that God was going to guide the hands of Dr. Thomas and the rest of his team and the surgery was going to go perfect and smooth. We just had to sit back and wait for that phone call! We left the room so they could get Seiden ready to go into surgery and headed to the waiting room. When we got there, mom headed back over to Harris to get my dad, Cody's dad, and Sandra and LaDell. That was all happened about 12:30, and we got a phone call in the waiting room about 1:50 that they had just gotten started on the actual surgery. Before they could get started, they had to insert 2 more IVs and she was not happy about it. So, after they got the IVs in, they had to wait for her to calm down a bit before they could put her under. She's a feisty little girl! Bria came by a little after 2:00 and we sat there and talked for about an hour. Which was so wonderful because not only was it wonderful to see my sweet B, but it helped to make that hour pass by so, so quick. Bria had to leave about 3:00, and when she did, mom and I walked with her out because I was going to get a drink from the cafe at Cooks and then mom and I were going to wander in the Build-A-Bear workshop to pass the time. I squeezed B's neck, kissed her cheek, and then mom and I went to go do those things. We were in the Build-A-Bear store when Cody called to say that they were DONE!!! It was about 3:45 when he called to let us know they had just called the waiting room to let us know. I booked it back up to the waiting room with mom...I honestly can't believe I moved so fast...especially because I am still recovering from a c-section. But, no one could have stopped me from almost running back up there to hear exactly what the head nurse had told Cody!

As soon as we got back to the waiting room, I bee lined it for Cody. I don't think I even acknowledged our family when I peeled around the corner. I just rushed over to him crying tears of joy. I asked him what the nurse had told him and he said the nurse had told him that they had gotten the entire cyst! They didn't have to leave anything behind because it wasn't close to any nerves or muscles like they thought it might be. Another answered prayer! Then, he told me that the nurse said, I can't wait for you to see you baby girl, she is just beautiful!!! I was bouncing off the walls with joy! We all hugged each other and just cried tears of joy and happiness. Then, we just sat there all beaming while we waited for Dr. Thomas to come out and give us the full report. He came out to the waiting room about 4:30 and I think I squeezed him so tight and for so long he probably couldn't breathe! We all hugged him and just told him thank you for all he did and how thankful we were that God chose him to perform her surgery, and he again just said it was all for the glory of God...amazing man! He told us that he was able to get it all and tested all her nerves and muscles to make sure that they still reacted the way they should, and they were just perfect. He said he was so very pleased with the incision and you would never be able to see it, it's in a natural crease in her neck and because she is so young and baby's skin heals so quickly, it would probably never be noticeable. He also told us he inserted a drain on the right side of her neck, also in a natural crease, to get any extra fluid that would build-up after surgery. Ideally, that drain needs to stay in for 3 weeks, but he's hoping that she'll leave it alone for at least 2 weeks. If she pulls it out on her own, then it's out for good. The only other thing that he had left to say was that there is a lot of extra skin because of how big the cyst was, but that it should shrink completely up because of how fast baby's heal and she would also grow into some of it. But, if there is any extra that looks like it may just be extra skin, they can just go back in for a little chin lift and remove the extra skin. He said she will heal perfectly! After that, we walked with him back over to Harris, gave him another squeeze before he left, and waited together in the NICU to go back to see our gorgeous baby girl.

When we got back to Harris, we all joined hands together as family and just said a prayer of thanks for everything He has done for Seiden since she was conceived. But especially thanked Him for watching over her during the surgery and allowing everything to just go perfect and smooth and for there not to have been one single problem whatsoever. We also thanked God for the doctors and nurses that He sent for especially for Seiden. The fact that He gave them all these talents and abilities and just gifted them and blessed them so that they could bless others is just absolutely overwhelming. After we prayed, Sandra and LaDell headed back home and we just hung out and waited for the NICU team to get Seiden all settled and situated before we could go back to see her. About 5:30, my parents came over to the Ronald McDonald House to get us checked in. Because the latest time to check in was 7:00, we were starting to get nervous we would miss it, especially because we hadn't gotten to go see Seiden or eaten dinner yet, we knew we needed to get that all taken care of! Around 6:30, I couldn't wait any longer to eat, so I ran down to the cafeteria to grab some dinner. When Igot back, Cody wasn't in the waiting room, so I immidiately knew he was back with our princess! I shoved my food in a locker and booked it back to her room as fast as I could! As soon as I rounded the corner, I just started crying! She just looked so unbelievably beautiful!!! We have always thought she was beautiful. But, to see her without that cyst under chin, was absolutely wonderful. We are just so glad to have this day behind us. But, we are even more in awe of how strong and how much of a fighter our sweet little angel is. God has just given her the strength and will power to blow all these obstacles out of the water. She is our little champion and we are just so proud of her and so in awe of every bit of her!!! God is just SO amazing and SO good!!!!!!!!

Here are some before and after pictures. I do have to warn you, the cyst is really big under her sweet little chin in the before pics. I know everyone of you that have been keeping up with our story and reading our blog have heard me talk about the size. But, it's pretty shocking when you actually see it on her sweet little body. Thankfully...God took care of that through Dr. Thomas and his amazing surgery team and she is now cyst free!!! Enjoy these beautiful pictures of our precious Seiden Grace as much as we do!!!

These first 3 pics were taken as soon as she was born.