June 17 - Meeting with Bianco's Bone Surgeon

We met Dr Tan whos overseeing the surgery for Bianco.

It was about 10am in the morning as he ran through the x-ray that he had taken, which was clearer than the previous one taken at Sunset Way.

From the x-ray, he explained Bianco's spinal cord is fractured and that a surgery requiring the insertion of a metal plate has to be inserted to hold his vertebrae together. He added that we should make the decision soonest as it involves nerves that are living and any delayed decision may cause these nerves to die. Once the nerves are dead, it is really useless for anything. Besides this, Dr Tan also mentioned that there are other things to consider - the hefty cost of the surgery including the post surgery recuperation. The other thing that we should take note is the amount of care required for Bianco after the surgery.

Putting all these aside, my only concern was if Bianco can survive the surgery - the experience that he has been through since June 14, will it be too much for my little one, to put him through a surgery? Dr Tan said that Bianco has more than 90% chance of surviving the surgery.... the 10% is to consider his bruised liver and whatever complications that may occur during the surgery. With that 90% chance, we told Dr Tan to proceed with the surgery. As far as we are concern, keeping Bianco alive is our utmost priority and at the same time, giving him another chance at possibly being able to stand again.

We were told to go and see Bianco before his surgery took place. This little fighter of ours was calling out to us.... something that we have not seen in days .... sounds like an assurance to us that hes going to be alright.... and its a huge relieve to see a reaction like that from him before his surgery. I can't help it but it did put a smile on my face.

The surgery took about 3.5hrs and at 3.30pm that same day, I received a call from Dr Tan that the surgery was a success. However, the next 3-4 days will be critical, as they will have to monitor Bianco to see if he has any reaction to the post surgery recuperation.

We were allowed to see him that very evening but he was going in and out of consciousness due to the morphine that he was given. He has this cardboard wrapped around his lower body to give some support. There wasn't much response from him that day... but we were just glad that he made it through the surgery. For the recovery, we would have to take it day by day.