E's surgery

Elijah was born with a melanotic nevus, something in the mole family most people called a birthmark. At birth, our pediatrician told us that we would need to have it removed when he turned five. There wasn't much concern of cancer because he only had one, but having it removed would still be the thing to do. So at his four year checkup, she referred us to a dermatologist. The dermatologist said in no way would he have it removed because cells could be left behind and cancer could occur with no visual indicator. What? I was thrown for a loop. So we had a third opinion with a pediatric dermatologist. She told us that we should have it done, but only at Chapel Hill where there are specialized pediatric surgeons who would take enough margin to bring the cancer risk down to zero.


I stayed with my grandparents who are an hour away from Chapel Hill, because we wouldn't know the surgery time until the day before. This is laughable, because they told us to get there in the morning, but Elijah's surgery was pushed to 2 in the afternoon. It was a miracle that he wasn't grumpy with nothing to eat that day, because I was STARVING. As soon as they put him under, I took off my surgical gear and headed straight for the cafeteria. Somehow we kept him occupied. I was glad Jamie decided to come. On the way, however, his transmission finally gave out. I had previously told him that should this happen, he was on his own. Wouldn't you know that with his luck he ended up breaking down right next to a car dealership where he test drove a vehicle to the hospital! But he was a great help in entertaining Elijah during the hours we had to wait.

When Elijah woke up, he was so violent from the anesthesia that they had to put him back under. I wish they had let me back there to help calm him when he woke up. He was hard to get to wake up the second time, but the nurses wanted to go home so we finally bribed him with some apple juice. Unfortunately for me, the pain medication they gave him made him CRAZY! This was especially unfortunate because the kids and I had to drive to the car dealership where we had to wait for an hour for Jamie to talk the price down on a van he purchased. (Seriously. My son is still bleeding from his stitches. Knock a thousand off and let's call it a day guys!) When we got home of course he wanted to eat snacks and run around all night with his dog rather than rest.

I am glad to have it done while he is young and bounces back so easily, but you try keeping him still so he can heal! Thank goodness his surgeon makes tight stitches.

While we ate another snack, Elijah made a flipagram of his day.

Post by Carol Anne Oakley Bruckmann.