Monday, September 29, 2008

The day of the GI procedures

What a day it was! And not a fun one at that. Surprisingly, last night I was actually not too worried about Elem having his procedure today. I was pretty confident in the doctors, and tried not to focus too much on his being put to sleep. I was mostly preoccupied with his not eating after midnight, and trying to think of what all I needed to take to the hospital so early in the morning. Our day went pretty much like this....we woke at 5am, he did well, and did not take a bottle or cup or anything, and pretty much headed to the hospital starving and in need of his bottle (his security item) Nonetheless, we made our way, me, Seth, Elem, and my mom in one car, and Grammy and Ali in another car. :) We needed as many people possible there, don't you know! We arrived around 5:30am, checked in, and pretty much just waited. We had been instructed to arrive at 6:10am and that the procedure would be at 8:10am. Which I assumed, that was super early, so Elem must have been the youngest patient that day and he would most likely be going first! Uhm, no. There was 11 other children about his age or younger that were told to be there by 5:30am, so they were already lined up before we even got there. For then, like I said, we just waited:

Luckily, being a Children's Hospital, they did have a few stationary toys around, plenty of kids to watch, and some cartoons on for background noise. This made it much easier than just the yucky ole regular waiting room in the ER-that we have visited several times during this whole thing.

At first a little timid and grumpy about the no bottle and no breakfast thing, but the toys were tempting and took the mind off the other stuff for a little while.

After a little waiting, we headed back for a quick consult to check in, and off to get Elem's stats. He weighed in at 25lbs and 9 ounces (slightly lower than the past few months), and about 32 inches long. Not sure if that was accurate cause he wasn't thrilled to be laying on a hard table with some strange woman hovering over him. A few tears and a lot of screaming, but overall a pretty easy process for station one. Then we headed to our room, Seth, myself, and Elem. Here was his set up. The little bed is so pitiful! They shouldn't have to have them in those sizes. Basically a lot of machines, wires, and a huge window! Thank goodness!

When getting measured he had to get stripped down and put on the official hospital gear. He was so not into the outfit they chose for him. Yellow scrubs for my itty bitty man! The nurse came in to get some more vitals, which is always hell for us. He is sooo strong it is ridiculous, and no one is getting a blood pressure, or a heart beat without a fight. And I mean that! After several tries, and consoling with bubbles, gloves, etc, they got what they needed. He was-to say the least-not a happy camper. (this one is so fuzzy, but it shows his true feelings at that time)

Hard on mommy too to hear her baby screaming and people asking me to "please hold back his arms and what not". haha. So sad. He is terrified of the stethoscope (any ideas on curing that one?) and takes a while to calm down after all that trauma.

After about 15 minutes, the anesthesia nurse came in, asked us some questions, and got back in there with something equivalent to Valium for kids. It was oral, so I was able to get that down super quick. She let us know it would kick in about 10 minutes later and he would be super lupy. About 20 minutes later, we had one chilled out little dude. This was the only humorous part of the day.

His eyes were barely open, and he was giving out unlimited kisses to mommy and daddy. We couldn't help but giggle uncontrollably, as did he! It was good to have a moment of laughter on such a hard day. Seeing your child doped us for the first time, is quite a site. He was wobbly, and chilled, and actually calm for a few minutes-which I hoped to last when they took him away from me.

And so they came to get us. We walked down a hall, and the nurse took him from me. I had totally held it together so well, and was really wanting that medicine to make it easier for him to go without a fight. But it didnt go that way. He went screaming and crying, yelly, "mo-mmy", "mo-mmy". And looking at me over the nurses shoulder, with his hand stretched out. He did not understand what was going on at all, and looked so scared. The nurse assured me he would not remember any of it, but it still hurt. They quickly pointed us to the waiting room exit, and out we went. Seth and I at first giggled, because he was screaming so loud, we heard him out two sets of doors and all the way down the hall into the waiting room. Not a good feeling. And it was at that point, that I started to cry. :( Not too much, but that was just all I could take. His screaming was so heart wrenching, and just took it out of me. Seth did good, (he is usually the crier!), and held it together for me so I could be the one vulnerable. AFter that I needed to get out of that waiting room, so I got a pager from the nurse and we headed to get something on our stomachs. By this time it was 8:30am.

Before we knew it, it was about 9am and the pager was going off! So we quickly put down our food and ran back up to the surgery center. I actually was a little scared because it had gone so fast, but they assured us when we got to the desk that it was all done and we could head back to consult room number 2! Talk about fast! We headed back, and met with Dr. O'Conner, who proceeded to show us several pictures of what she had seen. Let me interject here the actual name of the procedures he had because I was incorrect in what I thought was going to happen: he had Esophagogastrodudenoscopy (tube down the throat into the intestine/stomach to see that there was no damage or anything strange going on in there), and then he had a Flex Sigmoidoscopy (which I believe was only the area around the colon and a limited area inside the colon-not a complete colonoscopy). They retried small tissue samples from each area and drew blood to do additional tests at the same time. Dr. O'Connor informed us by showing us the pics, that everything appeared normal! Which is fabulous news! That means everything on his insides, at least this part of his insides are doing okay! She proceeded to show us a snapshot of what was in the colon and said it appeared to be a normal stool-so we would see later.She also let us know that the blood work and biopsy tests would take about 5-10 days to get results, and they would be calling us at a later time with those results.

After the consult, I headed straight back to the recovery room to find my baby boy surrounded by 2 nurses poking and prodding, while he was screaming and hitting, in utter confusion of what he was feeling and what was going on. I walked down the room as quickly as I could to get to his bed, and with all the wires and things he was hooked up too, I was at first scared to get him. The nurse assured me I could pick him up and I just sat there and held him, while he screamed. It was- Awful. Sad. Pitiful. And with everything he was going through, all I could say was, I am here and try to console him. Nothing worked. Finally, they got us all finished up in recovery and we headed to our own recovery room.

Nothing seemed to pacify him at first, and it seemed that the anesthesia was just making him all confused every few minutes or so. But the offer of a popsicle did seem to calm him here and there for a few minutes at a time. :) ALthough I am smiling here, this is about 20 minutes after straight crying, and shifting around, trying to get him in a comfortable position.

A couple of moments of peace with mommy, daddy, and the popsicle.


What aggravated him the most, was the IV in his foot. It was placed on top of his foot, and a small splint like cast was in the inside of his leg, with just about a whole role of tae around it to ensure he could not rip it off. On the other foot, he had the little temperature thing around his big toe, and he wasnt too fond of that either! They were driving his crazy, and he wanted them off so bad. If we could have just taken those off sooner, I think I could have worked with calming him down regarding the anesthesia.


We eventually found a nice position chest to chest, and legs spread, where he calmed down, and I guess found his "center". he did so good, and I was so proud of him. I cant explain how scary it must have been for him to not understand what was going on, and who the people were, and that we really were trying to get some answers to make him a healthier and happy baby. One day, hopefully, we will get the answers we need and he will understand. Hopefully, not too much more of these kinds of trips or pain for Elem. No more of this if I have anything to say about it! :) The nurses quickly came in about 45 minutes after we got into the individual recovery room, got the IV out, got his vitals, and gave us the go ahead for discharge. I have never been so happy to leave a doctors office in my life! Elem fell asleep on the way home and went straight to his bed as soon as we got home. He slept for about 2 hours-as did I! :) Played for a couple of hours, and ate a TON of food, and then went back to sleep for over a 3 hour nap! Hims was tired!

I just want to say a personal thank you to all family and friends who have been praying for Elem, and sending your kind words and thoughts our way. We appreciate it more than you could ever know, and it feels so good to have such a great support system for our family, and most importantly for our son. Although he doesnt know it yet, hopefully you will all continue to play such a special role in his daily life over the years! Kinda sappy I know, but I mean it. We luv you so much, and it always feels good to know that you got good people on your side. As for the diagnosis, I will keep you all posted. Not much info from today-not as much we would have liked to get, but the news we got was good. SO better than the opposite! A very long and tiring day, but a much anticipated day, that our little family is so glad to have over!

4 comments:

Holly Aytes said...

Mindy, I can totally relate to all that. Both Caleb and Madison have had procedures were they have had to be put to sleep. Caleb has been put to sleep 3 times and is sooo funny to watch when doped up. He laughs at anything and is very loving too. He doesn't wake up happy at all though! Lots of crying and hitting :( Madison was only 3 months when she was put under for that same procedure. She went down easy. She spent some much time in dr offices and hospitals for the 1st 3 yrs of her life that she hates the dr. She screams and hits to this day. I can't give you any advice on how to get his ok with any of that stuff, sorry. I hope that y'all get some results back that point you in the right direction to getting Elem back to his normal, feeling great 100% of the time self!

Anonymous said...

Mindy, I am so glad the procedure went well, and you got good news. Keep us posted on how the blood work and biopsy results go. You are a great mom!

Scott said...

So good to hear the immediate good news from the procedure. Sounds like the little guy went through it as good as can be expected. We are still praying that you guys get the answers you need to get Elem back to his normal, happy self! Love you!

Anonymous said...

He is a trooper Mindy, and I am so glad that part is over. I will keep that cutie pie in my prayers.
Keep us posted!

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