Before his 11th surgery they asked “are you ready?"

Since Mateo was in the womb we knew that he had an arachnoid cyst. So in December 2018, Dr.Ibrahim decided that it was time for surgery. The surgery was to open a little passage from the cyst to his ventricles for the cyst to drain. The surgery went well, with no complications and Mateo recovered in a short period of time. Fast-forward to July 2019, Neurosurgery did an MRI and they found out that the little passages that they had made had closed. You see, the body doesn’t know that we want those little passages open, and it creates scar tissue and closes them up. So the doctor decided it was crucial to repeat the previous surgery.

The Neurosurgery team called me a couple days before the surgery and asked “are you ready?”. What can I say, is a mom ever ready to bring their baby to the hospital and hand them over to the doctors for a surgery? On one hand the surgery can be very low risk and have no repercussions if everything goes well, but on the other hand it could cause a stroke and brain damage. The answer to that question is “no I am not ready” I don’t know if I will ever feel ready to see my baby go off to surgery, but with love and hope we make every moment of Mateo’s stay at the hospital a joyous and loving one, well…as much as we can. He still needs to get blood work done, which breaks my heart every. single. time, because he cries to the point of exhaustion, he sweats and screams, and although all I want to do is pick him up and hug him. Instead I have to get involved in the process and hold his little arms or hands softly and caress him gently to try to have him stay still while they poke him, yet hopefully feel my love at the same time.

On September 13th, Mateo went in for the planned Neurosurgery, this time they opened two little passages on the cyst, in hopes that at least one will stay open. Only time will tell if Mateo will need any more Neurosurgeries. The team will follow him closely, and do routine MRI’s to make sure that the passages have not closed. We also have the responsibility to watch him closely at home, and make sure that he is not showing any warning signs.

Mateo recovered in the CCCU, his auntie Andrea, abuelita Eli, caregiver/ECE Zac, his grandparents Alice and Stu, and his friend Krissy were all there with Kyle and I to give us support and to help us with the 24 hour shifts. As when Mateo is at the hospital, there is always someone by his side, loving him, advocating for him, and caring for his every need. Mateo is blessed to have such a loving and caring team behind him, and we are so grateful for all of the support that they give us! We could not do this alone.