Peyton’s Surgery

Peyton’s surgery was almost a month ago, but thought I’d blog about it anyway. When I took Peyton to the doctor for her routine 3 year well check up the doctor was pressing on her belly button and asked me if I knew about her umbilical hernia? It was the first time I’ve ever heard about it. She said it was small, but she should still have surgery to close it up and that it was unlikely that it would close up on it’s own.

 

Mayo Clinic says “ An umbilical hernia occurs when part of the intestine protrudes through an opening in the abdominal muscles. Umbilical hernias are most common in infants, but they can affect adults as well. In an infant, an umbilical hernia may be especially evident when the infant cries, causing the baby's bellybutton protrude. This is a classic sign of an umbilical hernia.

Most umbilical hernias close on their own by age 1, though some take longer to heal. To prevent complications, umbilical hernias that don't disappear by age 4 or those that appear during adulthood may need surgical repair.

Umbilical hernia is a common and typically harmless condition.”

 

We decided to have her surgery over winter break (Dec. 28th) and it was to be done at Cardon’s Children’s Hospital in Mesa with a Pediatric General Surgeon.

I didn’t tell Peyton what was going on. I woke her up at 5:30 and asked her if she wanted to go bye-bye with me. She was so excited to go. I got her all dressed up in her new coat, gloves and she had her purse. We got to the hospital at 6am and Grandpa Mike met us. Taylor stayed home with the boys.

After some paperwork they got us our I.D bands and into our pre-op room. I was surprised to not find a hospital bed in the room. Instead they rolled out a large play mat on the floor and a blanket. I got Peyton changed into her “new clothes” that she didn’t like but wore anyway. They also gave her a new baby doll. We had about an hour to wait in the pre-op room. They had a TV in the room and that had full length movies including her favorite, Tangled. Peyton was going to be “asleep” for this surgery and I was happy to find out that they weren’t going to setup any IV’s while she was awake. Instead they would use a mask with “special” air that would make her fall asleep and then they would bring out the needles.

One of the nurses came in the room with Peyton’s mask. She put fun smells in the mask (cotton candy) and it made Peyton want to smell and breath through it. On top of that they gave Peyton a bunch of stickers to decorate her mask. I was thinking to myself, these guys are geniuses around here. The very mask they need Peyton to breath though is no longer scary.

 

Here Peyton is putting her stickers on her mask

 

After all the important people came in and introduced themselves to us it was time for Peyton to go to the Operating Room. They asked Peyton if she liked Wagon rides? Of Course! They brought a wagon over filled with blankets and pillows. She got to bring her new baby and her favorite bear.

Peyton wasn’t scared to leave my side. They made this a very pleasant experience for her and myself.

They put her new hat on her and off she went.

It took less then an hour for her doctor to come and tell us how it went. He told us everything went well and gave us some details. Roughly 15 minutes later we were allowed to come see her. She was just starting to wake up when I got there. She instantly wanted me to hold her and I felt the same way. One of the nurses brought in a big recliner and I got to hold her while we watch Tangled some more. They gave her as many popsicles and juice as she wanted. After about an hour we got to go home.

She was pretty out of it all day.  They told us that she would be numb for at least 5 hours. Wrong! About an hour after leaving the hospital she was complaining about pain on her tummy. I tried to get her prescription filled right away and after waiting for an hour, excuse me, after arguing with the staff at the pharmacy for an hour I just had to leave. They were telling me my insurance was invalid. Just short of accusing me of insurance fraud is what it really was. Turns out they entered something wrong and it was coming up under Elderly care. I went home and asked Taylor to take it somewhere else. Hour later that pharmacy calls and says the same thing, that our insurance is invalid. By this point I wasn’t a very happy camper. My daughter is in pain, my insurance IS active, I even called our insurance to make sure. After arguing with them she finally figured out her mistake and then told me it was ready. No apology.

After Peyton turned one year old she became a daddy's girl. After her surgery she only wanted her mommy which made me feel good. She just need me to be near her.

Later on that evening after putting the kids to bed, the first pharmacy called me. Saying they figured out the error when it happened to another customer and said I could bring my prescription back. Still no apology.

Moving on…

This is what they put her belly button. We called it her sticker. The went in through her belly button to stitch up the hole. She no longer has on outie.

 

The sutures are under her skin. Below her belly button is some redness and the doctor said at her post-op appointment that she is having a little reaction to them, but wasn’t concerned. I’m guessing that when the sutures dissolve the redness will go away as well.

Apparently this condition can be hereditary. Our pediatrician checked out Ashton and Kipton as well. She said with Ashton that he probably had one and it closed up. She could feel where it had closed. She said Kipton has one, but it is very small and should close on its own. We will have to wait until he is 3 years old to make sure.