Jake's Big Day

5:00 PM
Jake is finished!!! Otolaryngology just stopped by to give the details of the final outcome. He began by removing the lesion on the bridge of his nose. Then he traced the tract under the nose bone. This required him to drill out part of the bone in order to remove the tract. Thankfully, the neurosurgeon had the foresight to take a bone shaving from the skull in case it was needed. So that was used in conjunction with a dissolvable plate to reconstruct the nose. Finally, he had to remove the tract that ran from the bridge of the nose to the tip. This was closer to the surface of the skin than he expected. Rather than tunneling to remove it, he just extended the incision. Thankfully, because it was so superficial, he didn't have to distrurb the septum.

Jake is in the final stages of being stitched up and will head to recovery. Our next hope is that recovery goes well enough for the breathing tube to be removed quickly.

What a wonderful day this has turned into! I spent weeks dreading but it has all quickly turned into celebration. The end of the road is near...still bumpy...but nearer.

3:00 PM
We had the opportunity to speak with the neurosurgeon. The hole in the base of Jake's skull was bigger than he expected. He was not surprised because he said it is common to not get the perfect view from the scans. The dermoid actually extended into the covering of the brain and mushroomed out between the halves of his brain. It was also bigger than expected. The wonderful news is that he was able to remove all of the mass, save his sense of smell, patch the covering, and replace the bone flap. While he stitched the bone back in place, he also used a couple of dissolvable plates to prevent "denting". The plates and screws will be completely absorbed in 6-8 months.

Otolaryngology is still working on the resection of the sinus tract that had extended into the cranial space. The neurosurgeon was in a hurry to get to the OR to "keep them straight".

We are now waiting on the final word and are very anxious to see our little guy.

1:50 PM
Neurosurgery completed their procedure around 1:10PM. The unofficial word is that everything went well. They were still in the process of closing, anticipated to take about an hour. Shortly after, our neurosurgeon will be up to give the official word and much more detail. Otolaryngology will begin their procedure next. Last I heard, that is expected to take 2 hours.

Thank you for all of the love and prayers to this point. It has really helped keep all of us strong and faithful.

12:30 PM
Hoping no news is good news!

9:15 AM
We just heard from the OR and they are just getting started. It is my understanding that it is supposed to be a 7.5 hour procedure.

7:30 AM
Scott and I had barely gotten settled into the waiting room when Jake's Otolaryngology surgeon gave us a personal visit because he missed us in pre-op prep. He told us that Jake was doing great, sleeping away, and everything would begin shortly. He just wanted to make sure we didn't have any more questions. I just know that Jake has an amazing team taking care of him!!

6:00 AM
We arrived at the hospital and got checked-in. Jake was being very good and patient considering we picked him straight out of bed and into the car. Next they called us back to talk to our anethesiologist. She explained more of the procedure and answered any of our questions. Soon they gave Jake an oral "groggy" medicine. It wasn't long before they were ready. I took him back to the OR. He was quite relaxed when I took him from Scott, so it didn't take long for the gas to take effect. He went down brave, quiet, and strong. Prayers be with him. We have been prepared for a 12-hour day. They will try to give us updates from the OR frequently.