We are officially 1 week post surgery, and 2 1/2 days being home from the hospital. The last update was the morning after surgery letting you know how everything went. It was a long day, followed by a long week. We were in the hospital from Friday-Tuesday late afternoon. Well, Jaxson did great during surgery, and has been doing great since. The swelling started to set in on Saturday morning, and by that evening, his little eyes were completely swollen shut. The poor guy was so frustrated not being able to see, and constantly having nurses and doctors coming in throughout the day/night touching him and giving him meds and everything else they were doing, I can only imagine how he felt! He was just so pathetic and I felt so bad for him! I was able to hold him a little bit, but he was hooked up to many things, and there were just so many cords and plugs, that it made it very difficuly-and I know all he wanted were snuggles! He had 2 IV lines (one in each food), a catheter, 3 of those sticky monitors that were stuck to his chest )I have no idea what they are called), a blood pressure cuff on at all times, and a little monitor on his toe to monitor oxygen levels I believe? It was very hard to see him like that and not be able to do much for him. I honestly thought the surgery would be the hardest and most emotional part, but seeing him in that state afterwards not being able to open his eyes, or know if he was in pain was very emotional. But each day he kept doing a little better. By Saturday night they were able to take the catheter out, and take the blood pressure cuff off. Jaxson ended up kicking both of the IV's out of his feet by himself, so they tried to hook them up in his arms, but couldn't get to the veins because his arms have so many rolls! So they gave his antibiotic orally, and for his pain med, they had to go another route.......but he did fine with it. He ate quite a bit Friday evening and throughout the night. We got transferred to a recovery room on Saturday night/Sunday morning at 1am!! 
    By Monday morning, he was able to start opening one of his eyes, and by the late morning they were both open! I cried because I was so happy so see his little eyes again (I cried a lot during this process), and he was smiling again because he could finally see me too! It was such a good sight to see!!! He was finally starting to be our little man again!! The doctor came in and told us they were going to try and get us out of there by Tuesday. Well, Tuesday rolled around, and by late morning, the doctor hadn't shown up yet. So we waited and waited and...waited. Finally around 2, he called and said he was in another facility, but that if we were comfortable, he would go ahead and approve the discharge. We left the hospital around 3:30 in the afternoon. 
    Since we have been home, Jaxson has been doing pretty good. They told us to keep Jaxson elevated while he sleeps to help with the rest of the swelling. The first night was pretty rough. He was up quite a bit that night wanting to eat, and I think he was just uncomfortable. And we were also very nervous because we took his head dressings off (the doctor told us he didn't need them at home), and we were afraid of anything hurting him. Jenna has been great with him, and very cautious of his head. He has a pretty gnarly incision on the top of his head that goes from ear to ear, so I think she was afraid of touching it! But he has been getting a little better each night. He still wakes up a few time during the night, but it's just to eat. I have hardly had to give him any pain meds since we have been home-just his antibiotic. His incision is slowly starting to get better, and he is acting more like himself everyday-which is great to see!! I have to go back to work on monday, but Justin is off with him, and will be taking him to his follow-up appointment on Tuesday. 
    Thank you to everyone again for reaching out and asking abut Jaxson, and if we need anything! My mom and sister set up a Go Fund Me page to help with his surgery/hospital stay. I have linked it to the CaringBridge in the "Ways to Help" section. If you are able, any little bit helps. We love you all and truly appreciate all the love and support you have given us throughout this whole thing! We would not have been able to handle any of this without you guys!!! Thank you so much for everything you have done and continue to do!!

-The Evelands