On August 1st James had a Nissen fundoplicaation & G-tube placement surgery. His pediatrician & GI doctor have discussed about these 2 procedures being done months before the surgery took place. James was on a medication for 3 weeks prior surgery to help his stomach empty faster. If you remember my previous post James wasn't eating very well nor gaining weight.
The medication worked wonderfully, but it was only for a temporary fix. A week before surgery James vomited up to 4 times a day. We did laundry every single day b/c he would vomit in his bed, our bed, his clothes, the sofa, pillows, you name it.
We received a phone call the day before surgery to confirm time of check-in. We woke up quite early on August 1st and left for the hospital at 7 AM. The check in is at 7:30. 5 minutes in our trip my phone rang, I couldn't take the phone call since I was driving. We arrived at the hospital around 7:15. Again my phone rang, I scrambled through my purse to get the phone. It was a nurse from the surgery. She informed me that I was late for the 7:30 AM surgery. Confused I responded that I was told that I have to check in at 7:30. I replay the voice mail in my phone and there is no information regarding having a surgery scheduled at 7:30. Ryan and I sprinted to the check in area and soon after that we were sent down to the lower level for pre-op check.
The surgery took about 2 hours and it went without any complication. Thank you for your prayers for James' surgery.
Since only 1 person could see James in the PACU, Ryan went inside while I wait in the lobby of James' designated room for the next 2 days with Diane (mother in law) and Alyssa (sister in law). I was able to FaceTime with my mother while we were waiting to be let in to JAmes' room.
One hour later we got the permit to enter the children' floor.
James was quite sleepy when we saw him. Ryan spent the afternoon holding James and making sure he was comfortable. James started to wake up a couple hours later. He was very agitated and looked quite miserable. As part of post-op rules, James wasn't allowed to have anything per mouth until the next day. Boy, that was rough! I asked for a mouth swab/sponge and dipped it in the water. James took that swab like there was no tomorrow and sucked the water dry from the sponge. He was very upset when I took the sponge away.
I sent Ryan home for the evening and spent the first night of hospital stay with James. After hours of holding him I laid him in his bed so I could get ready for bed. James cried and cried and cried some more. The only way to stop him from crying is by holding him. He was on scheduled pain medication but at the same time he was held the entire time after surgery. I dont know if he cried solely due to pain or b/c he wanted to be snuggled. This is the child who doesnt want to be snuggled but wanted nothing else but snuggled with during the entire hospital stay. I asked the nurse for a breakthrough pain med. I showed her that James will only stop crying if I hold him. It took the resident hours, I mean HOURS to get the breakthrough pain medication. I was livid and in the brink of tears. Bless the nurse for putting up with me.
Since James wouldn't settle by sleeping in the crib by himself, the nurse switched the crib with a regular bed so I could cuddle James for the night. I repeatedly thanked her for caring for James.
James finally manged to feel content after receiving the pain med. He, however kept waking up every hour or so, touching my face as he was checking if I was still there for him. It was a long night, neither of us got proper rest.
When morning came I told one of the med student how unhappy I was the night before and how James' pain wasn't managed. I don't want to write about this pain medication deal but it just went on and on. On top of that, nobody seemed to have the information as to when James can take his milk. There's only so much I can do to keep him content.
Anyways, 2nd night I had Ryan to stay with me so we could take turn holding James. Ryan's parents also came by taking turn holding James.
James had surgery on Thursday and got discharged on Saturday. During morning rounds we were told that the discharge paper was done and we could leave whenever we wanted to. Alright, so it sounded a bit weird to me that discharge paper were all done before 9. I mean, hello that's unusual! In my experience as a nursing student I have never seen a discharge on saturday THAT early. Anyways, with my all my questions regarding education/ post-op care/ pain med management I wouldn't blame them for wanting us out as quick as possible.
So.. now that we're out of the hospital, I was hoping that the recovery process would be smooth. Well, I was wrong. The easy part was to get the surgery. We didn't see what was coming during recovery.
to be continued.....
