Another hurdle over

We are home from Casey's surgery and what an experience that was! This might be along post.

We left on Wednesday night because the hospital is an hour away and we had to check into the hospital for 6am. There was a B&B type place on the hospital campus for families who had children staying at the hospital. They rely on donations to keep them open. We stayed there the first night. Casey does not like sleeping in pack-n-plays but we had no choice. He cried a good portion of the night and Tim and I took turns letting him sleep in the twin beds we were given in our room. This was not comfortable. Of course once he finally fell asleep in the crib, we woke him up to feed him one more time before cut off so he wouldn't be starving come morning.
We were up by 5am to get ready for the day. By 7am, they were ready to get him started. We played in the playroom with him until the doctors came in to discuss the procedure and whatnot. They wanted to give him an epidural instead of a steady morphine drip. It was easier to control the pain and less side effects. I was surprised, but glad that he wouldn't be pumped with heavy narcotics. I was able to take him into the OR which was one of the hardest things I have had to do. To leave him behind was heartbreaking. He was so exhausted that he drifted off to sleep in no time and very easily. I left the room in tears. The surgery took nearly 4 hours. Because he was so chubby, they had a hard time getting an I.V. in and the epidural. His ureter was more malformed then we thought and it was a bit harder then the doctor anticipated. There was about 2 inches of ureter that was narrow and small and needed to be removed. They also had to take part of his kidney that had expanded into his renal cavity before they could reattach the ureter. Once that was done, they stitched him up on the inside and used Dermabond on the outside (like superglue). I was a nervous wreck and once his scheduled time to come out had come and gone, I demanded to know what was going on. I couldn't wait any longer. Just as I was getting up to find out if a nurse was going to talk with us, his doctor appeared from the double doors. I nearly hugged him!
He explained to us what happened and what his kidney looked like. They had put in a stint to minimize any leakage of urine. It wasn't long before we were able to go see him in recovery. His recovery went well. By the next day, he seemed more like himself. They shut off the epidural and removed his catheter. Unfortunately, when they removed the catheter, it snagged the stint and pulled that out too! The doctor said it wasn't that big a deal and he does them just as a precaution. We were discharged on Saturday afternoon.
As soon as we got home, Casey started going down hill. His temperature spiked, he was very lethargic, moaning in pain, and listless. We called the doctor right away and were told to bring him back. So back in the car for another hours drive. They did an ultrasound which came back fine. We were admitted for another night. The doctor wasn't sure but gave the possibility that because he was so constipated, that it could of caused his symptoms. By the next day, his plumbing was working just fine and he was back to his old self. We came home again Sunday afternoon and he's been the Casey we are used to.
Thank you to all the wonderful nurses who took such great care of my baby. They actually fought over who would be his nurse for the day. That made me feel good. He made a friend with a sweet little (older) girl. All in all, I am so thankful to be home!