Friday, October 06, 2006
Drainage Tube Removed
Today was a big day, the doctor removed Jason's drainage tube! We are so thankful that he is doing well. We cannot say enough wonderful things about Children's Hospital at Scottish Rite! The entire staff, everyone we dealt with from admissions, testing, nurses, doctors were top notch and very focused on the child's comfort and care. Jason's dr, Dr. Gower, was absolutely amazing and we are grateful to have been lucky enough to have her as Jason's surgeon. As you can see in the photo below, Jason is doing well and happy to have his drainage tube out!
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Surgery Day
Jason did wonderfully on surgery day. We all woke up early and headed down to the hospital. He was getting another cold (most likely do to the constantly infected cycst) and it had gotten into his lungs again. They were worried about his cough when we went in for the pre-op stuff. His Oxygen saturation was low (under 96%) and they were thinking we would have to reschedule the surgery. Jason had a breathing treatment which improved his oxgen levels right away. We talk to the anethesiologist about our options. After some discussion it was decided to go in an remove the cyst because while this was technically an "elective" surgery, it really wasn't.
Once the surgery was a "go" they put Jason on some "funny" medicine to help his anxiety. It was simultaneously disturbing and funny to see my almost two year old son "drunk". Everything made him laugh which made it a bit easier to hand him to the scrub nurse.
Alex and I sat nervously in the waiting room for what seemed like hours, but was only 45 min before we got a call from the scrub nurse with an update on the surgery. 45 min later, the doctor came out and told us that everything went fine. whew! Apparently, the cyst had attached itself to Jason's skin, so she had to remove, a large section of his skin, part of the hyoid bone and part of his tounge muscle. This was inline with everything they had prepared us for and everything that I had read online. We were realived but anxious to see Jason.
They showed us to his post-op room and we waited... then I heard his little cry and I was instantly in "lioness mode". It was tough seeing him, he was still groggy and in pain and obviously scared. He was still connected to his IV and had a drainage tube attached to his chest from this incision. We just sat there with him for hours, he slept for a very long time. The pain medicine was making him groggy so he wasn't able to eat or drink (the key ingrediant to getting the IV removed). Around midnight, I finally was able to mentally let go of him enough to put him in the hospital crib to sleep.
The next morning a nurse suggested giving only a half dose of the pain medication to keep him awake but dull the pain enough for him to eat. This worked wonders and to our immense reflief Jason was eating and drinking with a couple of hours. Amazingly, once he was able to eat, he was ready to get up and walk around. About 24 hours post-op he was walking around the hospital in his little pediatrict hospital gown. We were able to put him in a wagon and pull him through the hospital and out to the garden. At this point his was talking and pointing things out, we were so relived his speech had not been impacted!
There were some complications with his drainage tube, so we spent one more night in the hospital, but we were able to go home the day after that. Now we are back home and honestly the only way we know he had surgery is the bandage on his neck!
Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers!
Once the surgery was a "go" they put Jason on some "funny" medicine to help his anxiety. It was simultaneously disturbing and funny to see my almost two year old son "drunk". Everything made him laugh which made it a bit easier to hand him to the scrub nurse.
Alex and I sat nervously in the waiting room for what seemed like hours, but was only 45 min before we got a call from the scrub nurse with an update on the surgery. 45 min later, the doctor came out and told us that everything went fine. whew! Apparently, the cyst had attached itself to Jason's skin, so she had to remove, a large section of his skin, part of the hyoid bone and part of his tounge muscle. This was inline with everything they had prepared us for and everything that I had read online. We were realived but anxious to see Jason.
They showed us to his post-op room and we waited... then I heard his little cry and I was instantly in "lioness mode". It was tough seeing him, he was still groggy and in pain and obviously scared. He was still connected to his IV and had a drainage tube attached to his chest from this incision. We just sat there with him for hours, he slept for a very long time. The pain medicine was making him groggy so he wasn't able to eat or drink (the key ingrediant to getting the IV removed). Around midnight, I finally was able to mentally let go of him enough to put him in the hospital crib to sleep.
The next morning a nurse suggested giving only a half dose of the pain medication to keep him awake but dull the pain enough for him to eat. This worked wonders and to our immense reflief Jason was eating and drinking with a couple of hours. Amazingly, once he was able to eat, he was ready to get up and walk around. About 24 hours post-op he was walking around the hospital in his little pediatrict hospital gown. We were able to put him in a wagon and pull him through the hospital and out to the garden. At this point his was talking and pointing things out, we were so relived his speech had not been impacted!
There were some complications with his drainage tube, so we spent one more night in the hospital, but we were able to go home the day after that. Now we are back home and honestly the only way we know he had surgery is the bandage on his neck!
Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers!
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