Surgery seems successful (updated)

(A couple details were updated on Friday morning)

Loki is out of surgery, and everything appears to have gone well. He is recovering now.

As expected, the top inch (2.5 cm) or so of Loki's ureter was in poor condition, somewhat like a wilted plant. This was cut out, and there was plenty of extra length to pull the remainder up and attach it to the kidney. A stent - a plastic tube inside his flesh tube - was placed in the ureter to keep it in place. Loki's nephrostomy tube, the one installed during his surgery a couple weeks ago, was removed. A Penrose drain was placed near the bottom of his kidney, on its outside, in order to collect any stray fluid or urine that leaks from all the places that his kidney has been poked. Added Friday morning: Finally, a Foley catheter was placed in his penis (yes, ouch) into his bladder to ensure that urine flows out and does not back up and reflux up the ureter and into his kidney.

He was extubated (breathing tube removed) while still unconscious. The surgeons did not work on his hernia, because they did not want to interfere with the delicate work they had just done, and because Loki will have to go under general anesthesia again.

I rode up the elevator with Loki and into his new room. He was waking up, but not quite aware. I turned on his favorite song (or at least the one that Mom says is his favorite!) on his musical bear, and placed that in his bed.

All of the several doctors and surgeons involved in the surgery took plenty of time to talk with me. I am very appreciative of that. The lead surgeon (Laurence Baskin, Chief of Pediatric Urology) gave me his card and said to email any time.

The timeline in the future:

• Loki will gradually wake up, and continue to get some pain medication. He won't be fed for perhaps another 24 hours. He will be monitored for the usual stuff: breathing, temperature, urine, poop, etc.


• (Added Friday morning) His Foley catheter should be removed tomorrow (Friday) or Saturday.


• His Penrose drain will be removed soon after, in perhaps a week or less. It is removed through a very minor surgery, using local anesthetic and stitches.


• Perhaps on Monday, Loki will be transferred back to Children's Hospital Oakland. He can't go to Alta Bates then, because there is not a pediatric urologist there.


• After another week or ten days, he may get transferred from CHO to Alta Bates.


• It sounded like he could go home within two weeks, if all goes well.


• In about a month total, the stent will be removed. This will require general anesthesia. His hernia will be fixed then.

Loki is so out of it:


Waking up a bit:

While I am posting photos, here is one more. Loki's new room has a view to the north. Not bad, eh? (Like all photos, you can click to enlarge it):