Surgery

The week from February 10th to the 16th was the longest week ever. While discussing plans for S's surgery, getting details and pamphlets on her condition, the valve and shunt that would be inserted into my daughter's brain, and discussing possible surgery post-op complications, all I could think was This can't be happening. They told us that this was actually a fairly routine surgery. Dr. M does shunt surgeries once or twice a week, on average, maybe more. It was really hard thinking about my daughter having surgery when we weren't really seeing any symptoms. She wasn't lethargic, she wasn't vomiting, her fontanel (soft spot on her head) wasn't bulging, though it was starting to look a little different.

The week leading up to S's surgery was something of a blur. One thing that we did notice, though, was that in that week, she started to seriously deteriorate. She had already started losing balance while sitting. She was uncomfortable lying down in any position (the added pressure in her head was magnified any time she wasn't upright). Her fontanel slowly started bulging out over that week. By the time February 16th came, we were actually pretty thankful that she was having surgery. She was in pain, you could tell just by looking at her. Looking back at her first 8 months of life, more specifically the 2-3 months before her surgery, it was hard to think that she had most likely been suffering from headaches. She would hit and scratch at her head around her ears, more when she was upset, but sometimes for no particular reason at all. I kept thinking she had an ear infection but her ears were always fine. As early as we caught it, I still almost wish they had found things sooner, or moved even faster than they had.

The morning of S's surgery, we had to fast again. Something that was very difficult with a breastfeeding child. The only good thing about having a breastfeeding child needing surgery is that they don't have to fast the whole 12 hours. She only had to stop breastfeeding 4 hours prior to her surgery. The downside though was that it was in the morning, so I had to wake up and wake her up very early so we could get one last nursing session in. The surgery was scheduled for 9:45am, and we had to be at the hospital an hour and a half before, to go through registration, admitting and the pre-op exam. What ended up happening was that the OR was delayed because of emergencies or whatever, and she wasn't taken in until around 1:30pm. From 5:30am until 1:30pm, my little angel was not allowed to eat or drink anything. Needless to say, it was an extremely long, difficult wait.

Surgery was scheduled for 2.5 hours, but S came out in under 2 hours. She was taken to the PICU, to be monitored for 24 hours. She was awake and coming out of anesthesia when we got to her room. She was still very groggy, but she perked up when she saw me and Daddy. She started crying, but was so hoarse from the tubes that had to place in her throat. I was told it was a partial trach, so it didn't go all the way down, just far enough to keep her throat open. She had an IV and the nose cannula and was being slowly weaned off the oxygen.

Dr. M was there either as soon as we arrived, or shortly afterward. He said that everything went perfectly, there were absolutely no complications. She handles anesthesia well. He probably gave us information about caring for her once taking her home, but really, we were just so relieved that everything was done and she was awake and well. Dr. M told us that because she had done so well, that she might even get to be released within 24 hours! Once he left, we worked with the nurse to get S comfortable in my lap so we could finally nurse, almost 12 hours after her last meal.

Wayne stayed and kept us company until around 5pm when my Aunt Brenda showed up. We are only allowed 2 visitors at a time in the PICU, so Wayne left to get some rest. Aunt Brenda stayed for a few hours, and then Wayne came back shortly after she'd left. I was able to feed S a small amount of applesauce I had brought along for her. At around 9 or 10pm, a nurse came by to tell me that because of another emergent case coming to the hospital, and because S was doing so well, we were actually getting bumped out of the PICU! It was all happening so fast. At 11pm, we got transferred to another floor where we were put in a monitored room. Once we'd gotten S settled and comfortable in her new room, we actually left for the night. I felt so bad leaving her there, but I knew I'd get no sleep there, and I really needed to be rested when she came home. We left around 12:30am and I came back at 7:30am. She had had some difficulty through the night, had been somewhat upset at my leaving. We'd left our stroller there, and the nurse had put her in the stroller and rocked her and walked her around the ward. She'd even tried to feed her, but S hadn't been interested. She wouldn't take a bottle either.

S's release was delayed by a few hours because one of her doses of antibiotics had been missed. She was supposed to get them every 8 hours, but with the late night switch from the PICU to the monitored rooms, something had been missed. We ended up being discharged around 2pm that afternoon, after my insistence. I know we hadn't been there long, but Dr. M just kept telling me how well she was doing, and I seriously hate hospitals. I just wanted to take my baby home. We knew she was accepting the antibiotics well, so as soon as she got her last dose, doc signed the papers and released us.