Toshi’s Surgery

Posted by kara

We’ve known that Toshi would need surgery since her 2-week-old appointment. Her pediatrician identified her birthmark on her scalp as nevus sebaceous. It’s generally benign but has the slight chance of turning malignant after adolescent hormones make the nevus grow bigger and bumpier. Toshi’s pediatrician recommended removing the nevus between the ages 5-10. After research (I should never be allowed to do medical research because I’m too much of a hypochondriac), Paul and I decided to do the surgical removal when she turned 5. I figured we should do it while we are on Paul’s good insurance and while she is old enough to be brave, but young enough to not really know what’s going on and for it to become a fuzzy memory. Plus after the many times visiting Children’s Hospital, I felt confident they would be a good place to have it done.

I stressed out about Toshi getting sick before her surgery. They said that she should be cold-free for the two weeks prior to surgery so her anesthesia wouldn’t be messed up. Sometimes she would cough and I’d freak out. On the morning of her surgery, she had the sniffles, but they were gone by the time we left for the appointment. (It was Marf that had the bad cold.)

Two days before her surgery, I told Toshi about it. She seemed worried about how they were going to take off her birthmark. I assured her she wouldn’t feel it. She seemed to kind of get the falling asleep part. The surgery center sent a PDF that had pictures of a kid going through the steps of surgery. (Of course they left out the surgery part.) So she was able to focus on the fact that she could bring her Meow Mix, get a hospital bracelet, watch TV, and get a popsicle afterwards. The morning of she was pretty good. She didn’t seem very nervous. She was actually pretty upbeat and didn’t complain that she was hungry.

It was a lot of waiting. Paul and Toshi got to play Wii Disney Princesses.

Finally we got into a prep room. Toshi got in her gown and watched Doc McStuffins. She was so into Doc McStuffins that she ignored the doctors and nurses that tried to make friendly kid-talk.

The room was pretty cool. I do love that they spent money on making the building and rooms good for the staff and the patients. There were so many floor-to-ceiling windows. I’m sure that helps the staff and patients feel less cooped up. On the ceiling there were twinkling lights in the shape of stars and clouds.

However, it was still a surgery. The falling asleep and waking up went less smoothly than I thought it would. There were too many people huddled around Toshi. The strawberry scent was probably way too strong for Toshi. She looked like she was going to be sick in the mask. And then she furrowed her brow and seemed upset. She focused on Paul, and then quickly fell asleep. I thought they could have done it better, by making it less chaotic and more soothing. It was not soothing at all. If I were her, I would have been scared.

So then we were immediately ushered into another room…where we watched a screensaver with the hospital logo bouncing around. We watched to see if it would ever bounce in a corner. Paul saw it and didn’t warn me it was about to happen. He claims there wasn’t enough time to alert me, but I don’t know about that– he has pretty quick reflexes. Anyway, forty minutes later, the surgeon came in and told us he believed it was successful. He thought everything went well and that he got it all out. So it will be sent to a lab and we’ll know for sure that it was benign in a week or so. That was good, but I was pretty anxious to see her. I just knew we should be there when she woke up.

Finally they took us back to see her. She was crying, and pretty upset. I tried to hold her, but she’s so big that when she kicked her legs, she knocked me over a couple of times. So Paul held her until she calmed down. I gave her some crackers and she had 2 popsicles. Paul let her watch some movie clips on his phone.

The recovery nurse told us that her room wasn’t ready right after her surgery, so she actually woke up in the surgery room. Then she was brought to her room and then they got us. So, no wonder why she was upset! She woke up in the surgery room with strangers (we hadn’t even met the recovery nurse beforehand). I think they should have made a better effort to allow parents to be with the child while they wake up. And if that doesn’t work for their hospital procedures, then they should assign one nurse with each kid so that they know someone when they are prepped and when they are recovering. I was very displeased with the avoidable situation. Luckily, I think Toshi forgot about all of the unpleasantness she experienced.

She enjoyed the wheelchair ride to the car. I was also very relieved that she did not throw up on the ride home. She was able to eat normally once we got home. Aunt Karen watched Martha and said she was fine the whole time.

Toshi’s head looks better than I thought it would. The incision is probably about 1″ and still crusty in areas. I wish they would have shaved more hair, because a lot of it gets stuck in the ointment we have to keep on her incision.

Now I’m just worried that she will hit her head right where her surgery was and it will break open. She is already running and climbing and jumping around. The hospital said no rough play (no sports) for the first 2 weeks and to be careful for up to 6 weeks. The incision should be strong after 6 weeks. I am pretty sure she is already sick of me telling her to be careful and to stop doing whatever fun thing she is doing.

Overall, I am very proud of her for being so brave and not complaining about anything. I remember my parents telling me they were proud of me for this or that, and sometimes I’d think it was funny that they were proud of something I felt wasn’t a big deal. But now here I am, feeling proud of how Toshi handled everything. My mom said that she must have a little of Grandma Toshi’s courage. I’m sure she does.