Cheeks!

Samuel has beautiful cheeks! I know, because I can finally see them! No tape, no tubes, just sweet little cheeks :)

The surgery went so well! And even better - the first 24 hours after the surgery were smooth sailing. Samuel's nurse was joking with me today that she doesn't think he realizes he even had surgery :) He has been smiling and playing just like any other day. Go Samuel!

For the first 10+ months of his life, Samuel has had breathing or feeding tubes in his nose and tape on his face...

Morning Dad! DB and I got to the hospital bright and early... what an incredible thing we saw... our beautiful boy with no tape and no tubes. Just a sweet smiling face - ready to play :)

They took out the tubes in preparation for the surgery, no eating for Samuel. He didn't seem too upset, for the most part smiling and laughing up a storm!

He just takes my breath away sometimes.

DB and I stayed surprisingly calm... until they wheeled him away. Right after this photo a surge of emotions came out of nowhere, followed closely by the knot in your throat and the explosion of tears. I'm not sure there's ever any way to prepare yourself to watch your child go into surgery - it's overwhelming. But, his nurse gave us updates throughout the procedure and all were good which put us at ease :)

Then we saw our little guy... I've said it before, there aren't words to explain the feeling.

Everything went as we hoped! The bronchoscopy looked good - a little collapse to follow up on when we get another scope in about six months - but nothing to be concerned about. In fact, they had huge praise for the NICU team because his airway looked so great! Then came the g-tube and nissen, which they were able to do laparoscopically! Only four small holes, all covered by the band aids. You can even see the tube sticking out of his belly :) For those with tough skin, I asked about the stitch that I thought was holding the disk DOWN onto his belly... it's not, it's holding his stomach UP while the procedure heals! Agh!

He was groggy after the surgery, as you can probably see in the photo :), but never inconsolable. What a brave, strong little man. Today Samuel is doing so well! His oxygen requirements and vent settings are already back to normal! His CO2 numbers are looking great and we've started the trache collar trials for short periods of time! And, they have even started feeding him through the g-tube and he seems to be tolerating very well. Incredible.

When we got to work today, there was a surprise :) (BA is the school where we work.) One word... wow. What an incredible place, with incredible people.