Monday morning my tia Terry and I went to see Luke before he had his last surgery. We spent maybe an hour with him before they took him in and he was upset because he was so hungry. I hated seeing him like that. His plastic surgeon came in and told us that they will be doing the skin graph and was trying to prepare us for what was next. We waited for about 3 hours until Dr. Wang came out. He called my name in the waiting room and once we went up to him he told us, "Mrs. Vasquez, we were able to close your son's back with out the skin graph. He looks good and is in recovery. You'll be able to see him shortly." Hearing him say that, I was in awe. I couldn't believe it. I was preparing myself to see him and couldn't stop worrying about the scarring and the way the back would look. I was afraid to see it. Some pictures that I've seen of back closures from parents on-line had frightened me. I was worried about how it would look and how he would feel. That day and night I really wasn't allowed to hold my baby boy. All I could do was see him and the nurses would feed him. He was on a bunch of pain medications and just so not himself. The next day when I went in to see him the nurse asked if I wanted to clean the wound. I really didn't want to because I was so nervous to see it but I decided that I had to step up and take charge. Like I said it wasn't about me, it's all about him. I asked God to give me strength and wisdom. To walk me through this and teach me to be a good mother to my child, to get me prepared. Once the nurse removed the dressing, my mouth dropped. It looked so painful. But he was fine! While cleaning the wound it didn't seem to bother him. He is so strong!! We had to wash it using guaze, baby soap, and sterile water. Followed by a rinse and bactrine (antibiotic ointment) then covering it back up with the guaze. We had to clean it with every diaper change. Very challenging but we did it.
During this week the nurses were just teaching me how to care for my child. They stood by me and my husband, along with my mom and tia's making sure we capable of caring for him. By day three I was able to carry him and breast feed him again. It was so much more comforting that the wound vaccum had been removed and he was free of tubing. Later that day I was notified to stop cathing because his sonograms on his bladders came out fine. Whoo. What a relief. The nurses started getting me ready to take him home that Friday. Unfortunately he was not released till Saturday because of paper work and they wanted to make sure I received the medical supplies at my home. Saturday he was HOME! Thank you GOD!!!! I praised him all day. Prayer is a strong thing. Don't ever give up and don't lose faith. HE holds my hand through my whole journey and we still have quite a long one to go. I am sorry if the picture is graphic to anyone in anyway but I decided that I am doing this to tell our story and I don't want to leave any major details out. I want other mothers going through this to know they are not alone. I want them to know that there are others and we need to stand by each other so we can learn from each other. My next blog will start from a few stories of recent doctors appointments to our life now. I just wanted to tell our story of how it started to explain our situation. If you have any question feel free to comment and ask. I have no problems answering them if I do have the answer. If you are a mom and in the same situation I don't mind being the shoulder to cry on when you need comfort or ears to listen when you need to vent. I've been there when I was pregnant and I am going through it right now as we speak. Luke is currently 3 1/2 months and this is his scar.
