cranky mom

Surgery

12:47:00 PM

We for the first time ever had our first experience with...dum dum dum...surgery in any of our children. This whole piece is going to be a bit TMI but I have had many followers wanting to know what is going on. Basically my son...was well...rather endowed when he was born. ONLY for it to of course continue to grow in the last 4 years. The problem is that when a small child has a body part like that grow too fast it can grow extended excess skin. This skin created pockets and adhesion's around the head of his privates. Yes. He is circumcised and NO it is NOT related in anyway shape or form to the circumcision. In fact my mother in law who is a recovery nurse thinks it would have been an even tougher surgery had he not been circumcised! The reason we had to get the adhesion's removed is because they created pockets and under the pockets (that are sealed into the skin) you can see white build up called...crud. Very scientific right?! We tried steroid creams and different methods our doctor had shown us in office but nothing worked. The urologist said none of that would work for the type he had. Noah's surgery we knew in advance was going to be more invasive.


The day before the scheduled surgery you find out the time of your surgery. As not fun as that is...its a children's hospital and you just kinda have to go with the flow! We of course were scheduled for the first surgery of the day making it so we arrived at 6 a.m. Due to us driving there we were up at 4 a.m. We were ready to go! There are signs everywhere stating that you can only eat in the cafeteria which is located on a different floor. This is because the children are not allowed to eat or drink past a certain time. You also have to be healthy to enter this hospital area which is wonderful knowing that you should not leave with any sort of bug! The nerves set in with Noah right away (what am I talking about they kicked in the night before at Target when we were shopping for snacks and he lost it...people staring at him like "look at that bratty child throwing a tantrum" when really they had no clue what so ever what my boy was going through. And to that I say shame on them!)


He was not thrilled in the least to get his hospital scrubs on so we waited until the latest possible moment to get ready. Mind you...we are not in separate rooms but instead we are each separated by curtains. The sweet 5 year old behind the curtain you see there...was getting ready to have her 3rd brain surgery. The surgery itself would take 7 hours. In order to prep for that they had to arrive at 7 a.m. for a 10 a.m. surgery. I was more than a little thankful that the procedure we were doing was on my sons "man parts". They come in and check vitals. The doctors each come in and talk to you about anesthesia risks etc and then he was given silly juice!




My little loopy drunk man started out angry (they said he could be one of 2 ways!) and then his eyes drooped and he became infatuated with his pillow! "Mama...this side is warm...feel. NO I mean like SO warm." "This side is cold...I wanna make the WHOLE pillow warm". We had a few good laughs and before you know it they are ready to wheel your baby away. I can honestly say I am glad they do not do the IV until they are actually in the O.R. as I feel this makes it easier. He was wheeled off with a smile (we were able to go to a certain point...stop give kisses and say see you soon baboon). Inside the O.R. the first thing they do is give him a mask that has a sleeping gas in it. Then when he is asleep they put in a breathing tube (yep...rough) and IV. This surgery was supposed to be 20 minutes to a 1/2 hour. It ended up being EVEN more invasive once they got in there so he was in surgery for over an hour. I have never looked at my clock as much as I did that day.


I thought the waiting game was the most torturous part of the process...by golly. I was in for a rude awakening!

 
He came out...they shoved a popsicle (the nurse) in his hand and instructed him to eat it. Ummm...my kids are not popsicle fans! lol! He couldn't hold it up straight and began to get MAD...like furious. As he was coming out of anesthesia he wanted me on the bed with him...then he didn't. His breathing sounded like he was a pug snorting and gasping for air. His nose was snarfly and stuffed up and he was ANGRY, flailing and there was nothing we could do for him in those moments to calm him down.
 
 
Little did I know we STILL had not come to the worst part! Once the anesthesia had fully worn off he started complaining of pain. We thought OK...IV...we totally get it. The nurse took it out and immediately he was screaming that "my pee pee hurts" over and over and over again. Tears streaming down his face. He was contorting his body in different ways trying to get comfortable and just plain miserable. I was holding back tears and completely stumped as they had already told us a block was given in surgery to help with pain. But once the nurse watched him a bit longer she said no...we need meds and we need them now. So we had to FORCE him to eat. ANYTHING. Popsicle, jello, graham crackers...anything we could possibly get into his stomach because since the IV was out if he was to take the narcotics they would make him vomit on an empty stomach. Great I thought...just what more can we handle?
 
 
 
We tried distracting him with cartoons, with talking, with angry birds on my ipod. NOTHING worked! It was horrible. Finally about 1/2 hour after he had taken the pain meds he was starting to calm down. He was talking to us calm but still complaining of pain. But praise God we had it under control for the time being! The doctor came in and told us that there was a short, a medium and a long adhesion. The long adhesion's are a lot more difficult and because of this he would be down 2 weeks instead of 1. He also had stitches in his privates and they had to cauterize in different areas so parts of his area would look like charcoal. They also had to wrap it with what they call plastic wrap...its like a sticky saran wrap that is supposed to last a few days (it lasted only 1 in his case!).

He was annoyed with the shirt so we put his own shirt on him...his favorite nurse Twyla was telling him she would send him home with the scrubs on if he wants...he loved that idea only cause it came from her! After a while I finally asked if we could go home.



I thought...this will all be so much easier at home. We clipped him carefully into his car seat and took our slow drive home! Arriving we were greeted by two hyper excited girls wanting to know everything and it was completely over whelming for me...I couldn't imagine what it was like for him! We finally got everyone calm and quiet...set everyone up for naps and Paul layed on the couch with him to stop him from wiggling. All cashed out...although I was soon awoken by the phone...multiple times so I never got to rest that day! I was a bear!

 
The days ahead have been rough. Its really hard to keep a 4 year old laying down. I thought movies etc would do the trick and boy was I wrong! The medications tend to make him wired before he eventually crashes and if he is up too much his "area" starts to bleed. He is whiny, fussy and just plain tough to be around right now! I didn't think it would affect me as much as it has! I am exhausted, worn out and a mess of emotions! I can't stand to see my child in pain and yet I have 2 other children to care for. I am thankful for friends that have been bringing meals by. It has been a saving grace in my days! I am just plain wiped out by 9 a.m. each day! AND its only Thursday! Yesterday was tough...he didn't want to listen or cooperate at all. I let Paul take over once he got home! I wish we would have planned on Paul being home a few days instead of just a 1/2 day! Would have been easier! Today he woke up in excruciating pain. I had hoped it would help him to slow down a bit...it has. BUT not as much as I would like! I am a cranky, mean, fussy mama and I seriously could use an IV of java just flowin' into my veins right about now! SO if you see me anywhere...frazzled hair. Lookin' like a mess (we are out of bread and milk! Go figure!) just smile and nod your head! Peace out readers I am off to try and veg out!

You Might Also Like

5 comments

  1. Oh man surgery is one of those things I hope we never go through. You are a trouper momma! BTW - your son is adoreable! :) Glad you guys are back home.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, wow! Sending lots of healing thoughts his way!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Aw, poor baby--and poor momma! I hope everything gets better for him soon!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh sweet boy! How is he doing now? I wish I lved closer so I could bring you some snacks and coffee!

    ReplyDelete