I awoke this morning at 5:45...not a time I'm normally awake, but I popped out of bed, belly and all, filled with a sense of responsibility to bring my boy to the hospital...it was his big day!!! This was the day we've been waiting for for 4 months after we found out Cole was born deaf. John and I agreed it'd be best for me to take Cole early and for he and Ryder to meet me at the hospital later when they both woke up...this way Ryder wouldn't have to be there longer than he needed to be. I quickly showered and grabbed my clothes I had laid out the night before. All ready to go, I walked into Cole's room, woke him up and dressed him as he sleepily smiled at me in the soft glow of the light from the hallway. He's always had such a sweet disposition and has never minded being woken up. It felt strange knowing that he had no idea why Mommy was getting him all ready to go at such an early hour...I put his shoes on and he started getting excited, knowing we were going somewhere.
We arrived in the waiting room at the hospital at 7am and waited for about 20 minutes until a sweet older lady in her 80s who was a hospital volunteer called our name and walked us down the hall, down the elevator, out the doors and down another hall to our prep room. Cole smiled the whole way down with the group we were with, all filled with families of those going into surgery that day. One man would have his knee replaced while another woman would have heart bypass surgery...all were excited and nervous at the same time. Cole definitely stole the show, though as he smiled and pointed at everyone, looking deep into their eyes as they smiled back at him.
We arrived in our prep room at 7:20 and Cole had his temperature and heart rate checked while the nurse asked questions to verify his name, birthday, the procedure we were having done and the last time he'd eaten or drank anything...(8pm the night before...he wasn't allowed anything after midnight so we were both hungry!) She showed me his gown that I was to change him into as we waited for the nurses and doctors to arrive to take him away, and before she left, she marked a purple x in front of each ear indicating that both ears would be operated on that morning :) Then she left and we were left to wait for a half hour in a room with lots of cords, plug outlets and one airplane I brought from home! This was probably the most exhausting 30 minutes of the morning as I "chased" after him in the tiny room, determined to keep him safe from harm for a short while longer!
The time drew near for the nurses to arrive, so I propped him up on the bed they had for him and tried to put his gown on. He was not excited about this! He did like throwing his shoes down for me to retrieve though, so we played this game for a while until I'd had enough of bending and finally put his gown was on :) The booties they gave me for him kept falling off and were a little snug. He quickly decided he'd rather wear his own socks and the booties would be more useful as toys, as he started throwing them over the side of the bed instead of his shoes :) We played that game for a while too with lots of hugs in between throws. Every once in a while he'd stand up and come at me with his arms wide open as if to say..."I love you mom and I'll be okay!"
As we were in a sweet moment together as mother and son, Jean walked through the door, (Cole's audiologist from the start) and Cole was taken aback...why was she here in this funny room? Jean talked to Cole a while and then looked at me funny and asked if I was having surgery today too! Apparently through all of our hugs, the purple Xs on Cole's ears had rubbed off on me too! I had one on my chin and two on my cheek! We laughed and I scrubbed them off as I tried to see my reflection through the picture on the wall. :) Then she asked how I was doing, and tears started to come...I choked them down as I said, "This is the hard part." "It definitely is," she said with compassion.
In the middle of that moment, Dr. Novak poked his head in all smiles, and said "Good morning Cole! You and I have a date!" As Cole stared at him with wide eyes and pointed, Dr. Novak said, "You won't want to talk to me for a while after, but a year from now you will!" "And you'll be able to!" Jean chimed in too. I smiled through it all as the rushing realization of my boy going into surgery flooded my senses. The nurse came to take him away...she held out her arms and he went right to her. Jean said to the nurse who she knew well, "This one is one of mine." Cole looked at everyone, trying to figure out what was about to happen...the nurse said she'd take good care of him as she held him tight and off they went to the operating room at 8:30. I realized later that this was the same nurse that took him for his ABR hearing test months before. Another nurse walked me to the elevator telling me that they would treat him like their own, as emotion rushed over me and tears began to flow. I went down to the waiting room to wait for John and Ryder to arrive at 10:00...I was getting hungry!
I sat in the beautiful waiting room complete with flat screen TVs, nooks with computers hooked up to the Internet, magazines and hot chocolate machines. I found my own little cove and cried as I read encouraging e-mails from friends, wrote in my blog and read my Bible...it's seems God's love is sweetest in those moments when you come to the end of yourself. I was thankful for the time alone to process and be filled with the Word of God through the body of Christ, His Word, and the Holy Spirit. Just as I has done with Ryder months before, I gave my son to the Lord. I felt empty in many ways as if I had lost something, only to be filled with the peace and completeness in knowing my Savior. It was a moment of redefining my identity as a Child of God...the One who saves.
At 10am John and Ryder walked through the doors of the hospital...John walking and Ryder bouncing actually! Ryder said, "Hi Mommy!" We had missed our morning hugs and greetings that morning but made up for it in the halls of the hospital. The he asked, "Where is Coley?" "He's in surgery right now sweetie but he'll be done soon. Let's go eat breakfast while we're waiting!" I told him. So we went to our most visited "eating out" establishment since we moved to Illinois...the hospital cafeteria :) It had just been decorated for Christmas, complete with tablecloths and pitchers of iced tea and water on the tables...such a pretty surrounding as we were waiting for our Coley to come out of surgery.
Cole had gone into surgery at 8:30 and Dr. Novak said it would be 3 hours later that he'd come find us in the waiting room, so at 11:00 we made our way back up to the waiting room. Right before walking into the waiting room, we bumped into Jean and Leann, another audiologist from the ECHO program who had both just been in the operating room testing the first device. They were looking for us to give us an update! They said they got a great response from the first side they had just tested (meaning the device was functioning and his brain was responding to it!) We were SO thankful to say the least! The Lord had answered our prayers for the first side, now one more to go :) It was comforting to have them come talk to us in the middle of it all...what a blessing they are to us.
We found an empty table in front of a TV playing an old western movie, and Ryder pulled everything out of his backpack to play and wait. We colored, played with his Spiderman math cards from my grandma, and waited with other families to hear news of our loved ones in surgery. Every hour or so, a nurse would walk around and update each family on the status of their family member in surgery. She found their name on a list and with a smile and soft voice would tell us how they were doing. She told what we had heard from Jean in the hallway and that Dr. Novak had begun working on the 2nd side at 10:45. John took Ryder for a walk as he started to get antsy and I read a bit and cleaned up our area from our play time :)
Dr. Novak came into the waiting room at 12 noon to give us a report on the whole procedure. John and Ryder were still on their walk and joined us at the end, but everything was repeated so Daddy didn't miss a thing. Here's a rundown of everything he told us with such compassion and assurance...
- Everything went smoothly as expected and Cole did great!
- The right side took a little longer to implant since that is the ear with the Enlarged Vestibular Aqueduct. This is a malformity of the ear that made it a little tricky to get the electrode strip into the cochlea, but he did it and the device is functioning great! Praise the Lord!
- The left side went much quicker and also responded well to the brain response test done immediately after. Thank you Jesus...
- He even noticed brain pathways that must have been created through use of his hearing aids for the short time we used them...amazing!
- He had to position the implants a little further back than expected because of Cole's head shape (a little flat in the back) but he tried to make them as symmetrical as possible and positioned them in the best place possible for him...that's all we could ask for :)
- Cole has a big wrap on this ears and head and we should try to keep it on until tomorrow if possible....so far so good! He's in bed and it's still on!
- Tomorrow we get to give him a bath and wash his hair gently. He has stitches on both sides covered with superglue that will wash off eventually.
- He prescribed Tylenol with Codine for us to give him if we needed it. He hadn't had anything yet and was doing great. They did give him antibiotics through his IV to try and ward off infection. We're supposed to keep our eyes out for any signs of infection (redness or swelling) in the next couple of days.
- He'll have puffiness in his face and around his eyes for a while and soon it would go away.
- There may be some bleeding from his nose or in the back of his throat but not to be alarmed...this is normal and would only be a little bit if any.
- He may be off balance at first since he went into his inner ear, but he'll level out after a day or so, so we should just watch him carefully in the mean time.
We thanked him for giving us the best Christmas present ever and he chuckled saying you're right! You could even put a bow on him and he'd look like a present! We shook hands, thanked him again and said goodbye. Now we waited for them to call us down to the recovery room to meet our boy.
Our name was called 10 minutes later and finally we were led to our boy! We walked down the hall and we could see him through the glass doors of the room as we walked. He was being rocked by one of the nurses and I could see his hair sticking out from the top of the wrap around his head. "There he is Ry!" I said....we were all so excited to see him at last. The nurses brought in a recliner for me to sit in as I held him...his face was puffy, head wrapped up, his hand was still attached to the IV and his heart rate monitor was still taped to his toe, so it was a little hard to hold him since he was also still very cranky from waking up from the anesthesia, but we were so glad to be together again! In the 30 minutes we sat in the recovery room, he drank his whole cup of milk and ate a half a banana as if to say..."finally!" John and I switched off holding him while Ryder danced to a dancing, singing Christmas Tree brought in by one of the nurses for him...what a sight...one son dancing and the other recovering from surgery in his Daddy's arms.
A little banana and milk still left on his chin! And very groggy...
We were officially discharged and after dressing Cole, we all walked down to the car. While putting him in his car seat we discovered his first bloody nose which really made him look like he had just been in an accident! My poor boy! Once home, he ate a bit more and was off to sleep for an hour while Ryder and I slept for 2 and a half! Thank you Daddy! 
After naps, we were off to pick up a pizza for dinner, and though still a bit groggy, Cole seemed to like the car ride. He was still in and out of sleep throughout the ride. We all ate a great dinner and Cole was up and playing right after! We thought we'd get a few "sleepy" days out of him but he was up to his old tricks, climbing on the toilet, trying to wrestle Ryder and running after Daddy, head wrap and all. Unbelievable! This boy won't be stopped!
He went to sleep in Daddy's arms as John rocked him to sleep and is still sleeping now...thank you Jesus for a day when your hand was felt in ways we can only try and describe with words...please help our boy recover well over the next 3 weeks until activation day arrives! Thank you for the skills you gave the doctors and nurses this morning that brought our boy one step closer to hearing here on earth...thank you that even in the midst of these "silent" 3 weeks, he can still hear your still small voice speak most clearly to his in his heart...the most beautiful sound of all. We are in love all over again with our Savior and our son...
Thank you, Lord, for bringing our Coley Cole through surgery today. For Dr. Novak's ability and compassion we are grateful, Lord. Bless John, Danice and Ryder as Cole recovers these next few weeks. Keep Cora Grace in utero! This day was monumental in the Burdett legacy!
Love,
Grammie Burdett
Praise God!! I have been checking my email and your blog all day for an update. We have been praying, and now we rejoice in God's goodness!"Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations." Psalm 100:3-5
Yay! Such wonderful news. So glad that everything went so smoothly...God is so good!
Beautiful post.
I have been following along since you've been posting on Deafvillage.
I am glad to hear surgery went so well and your little guy is back to himself. He sounds like a real trooper!
Prayers and good wishes for a speedy recovery and a wonderful activation day!
Praise the Lord! I have read and re-read about this amazing day in the Burdett Family. Our precious Coley was covered in prayer by so many and I am so grateful for Gods mighty work. Thank you for sharing every precious detail.
"...It seems that Gods love is sweetest when we come to the end of ourselves..." What a beautiful line in a beautiful post.
All my love and continued prayers,
Mom XOXOXOXO
You painted the whole story beautifully, Danice! I cried and laughed and praised Jesus with you as I read. We love you, Coley!
-Christiana
Much love from the Glucks to all of you. Thanks for including us in your big day. May God receive glory! We love you Cole!