Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Surgery day recap (so far)

What a day!

Last night,at 1:30am, the three of us were woken at our hotel by the fire alarm. The loudest fire alarm I have ever heard. Jay and I were scrambling around trying to figure out if it was for real, all the while getting jackets on and such to leave the room. Riley was screaming.....it was quite the experience. Turns out, someone burnt something in the microwave in their room which set off the alarm. How nice.

So back to bed, until 4:30am, when we had to get up again, to get ready to come to the hospital. Arrive there at 6am, wait about 30 minutes to be taken back. Riley was taken back to surgery pretty close to 7:30am, so right on time today.I donned the "bunny suit" as they call it and carried him back there again. He wasn't as peaceful about it this time, even with a little pre-sedation. He put up a little bit of a fuss, but I'm still glad I could be there. When he was out, he went limp in my arms, which was disturbing, but there again, I'd rather have that memory than know he was back there with strangers and terrified.

They got an IV in him on their first try! Than in itself is a small miracle. So no central line. Surgery began about 8am and lasted 2.5 hours. There was no phone call to say there were done, Dr. H just surprised us like last time and was all of a sudden there. That scared me to begin with because he has always called out,other than his emergency surgery that time, so I was afraid he wasn't able to remove the ostomy due to other issues. But he DID reconnect his ostomy. He had to free up all his small intestine again though, as there were some areas that were dilated a little larger than he liked, so he wanted to be sure there was no partial blockage. He was thorough in all that he  did, and we will gladly trade extra worry at the amount of time the surgery was taking, in exchange for a job well done. 

He's not going to be a softie on Riley this time in any way. He intends to keep the Replogle tube in until its evident that stuff is moving through. I don't know if this means until he poops or just until the stuff in the tube is no longer green. Either way, if Riley yanks the tube out this time (like he did the morning after his last surgery), he's getting it put right back in. We want that connection to have all the time it can to heal without any unnecessary pressure on it. They have already ordered up some arm restraints that they refer to as "no-no's", in preparation for the tube yanking that is likely to come. These are just stiff wraps that will go around his arms, preventing him from bending his elbows, to be able to reach his face. Sounds like a good time doesn't it?

Currently, he is resting somewhat comfortably. He has moments of irritability, and it can be hard to discern if he's in pain, or just uncomfortable with the position he's in, or just aggravated, etc. When we were first allowed back to post-op, he was laying on his belly with his knees drawn up underneath him. Seems that when he first rolled into post-op, he was on his back, and then rolled himself onto his belly. The nurse had to flip him back to his back to examine his incision line and listen to his belly and stuff. Once she was done, he rolled right back over. He's laid that way the majority of the day, but he's on his back right now with a pillow propping his legs up some, and blankets kind of bolstering his sides.  He is running a low grade fever, which can be common after surgery, but is obviously something that everyone here will keep a close eye on.

He is back on the regular pediatric floor, in the same area we were at before. Our nurse was the nurse he had the day the leak was discovered back in September.  A few other nurses have already come by to see him, as they saw his name on the board today.  All have commented on how big he is now.

His room, doesn't have nearly as decent view as his last room did. It looks out into a courtyard of sorts, that is really just where other walls make a square over a roof below. However we can see the blades of the helicopter when its on the roof from here, and watch it take off and land. God's way of therapy?? Either we will be commited to the mental ward before he's discharged from the stress of the helo's or we'll be over the trauma of them one right? I'm sure he will love watching them once he's feeling better and can get out of bed and over to the window.

Jay just went down to get our stuff, to "move in" to the room, and then is going to get us some dinner. Riley is sucking away at his paci, I can hear him (well see him too but can hear it without looking) and cuddling his bear. Today went well obviously, but we aren't celebrating yet. He's got to heal. Once that happens, that will be when we celebrate. Until then, we will do the best we can to keep him comfortable and occupied/entertained, and try not to go crazy within the confines of a small hospital room.

Thank you so much for all the sweet comments and emails today. As I said last night, they are really uplifting and we certainly appreciate you all taking the time to care enough to check in on sweet Riley Bear. Hoping to Skype with Travis later tonight. He's going to love that!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Lindsey, Thank you so much for the recap of the day. You will never know how much these updates ease my mind. I hope Riley has a good night without too much pain. Keeping you, Riley and Jay in my thoughts and prayers. Love, Pauline

Anonymous said...

God Bless all of you.I never thought I would be wishing for poop,but bring it on. Give them heck Riley,kick some booty and lets get mommy and daddy home soon
Prayers
Barbara and Don Zagorski
Kellie Myers mom&dad

Vince and Patty said...

We are sending positive vibes and lots of prayers your way! Hopefully you can breathe easy soon! :-)

Much love,
Vince and Patty D'Angelo

Anonymous said...

Prayers continue to be with Riley and his family.

Anonymous said...

Continuing prayers for Riley! Keep the faith!!

Kim Maguire

Anonymous said...

Thinking of all of you, especially little Riley bear. Thanks for the update on the day. Love all of you, Debbie and Gary

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