After a long, long, LOONNNGGG night, the PE tube surgery is done and over with. The actual procedure takes about 12 nanoseconds, but the food and nursing deprivation for over 8 hours nearly killed all of us. For some reason, our ENT considers breastmilk a "solid" and none was allowed after midnight. Various doctors regard human milk in different categories (our CT scan docs considered it something between a solid and a clear fluid).
I stayed up until midnight so that Nolan could have the latest feed possible. He woke up at 1:00am, apparently wanting more. He cried until 3:00am, then went to sleep. Since we had to leave Jamestown by 4:00am to make our date at the hospital, I never went back to sleep. I'm working on 2 cups of coffee and one hour of sleep. Forgive me if I'm incoherent!
He was the first infant scheduled and I was there when they put him to sleep. It was difficult to see him struggle against the anesthetic. I am glad he is healthy as a horse- I couldn't bear to go through this process time and time again! I left the room as soon as he was out, and they came to get me about 10 minutes later. The nurse was quite frantic to find me, since Nolan was awake and NOT HAPPY. I was the only one who could provide what he wanted, and since his heart rate was quite high, they wanted to calm him down. As soon as he was fed, his heart rate dropped down and he was a happy camper. Shortly after this, we went home. A piece of cake, except for the no-nursing part of the whole deal.
His ear does have some drainage and we have eardrops for the next three days. I was able to talk to the ENT a bit more today and she confirmed that the CT scan was totally normal (after reviewing it herself with her colleagues at rounds). She also said that every one of her colleagues suggested more genetic tests and they were all surprised by the limited panel the geneticist ran. She's going to call Boston University to see what else we should run, and will update me on April 30th (our post-op date). We'll also schedule another hearing test at some point.
April is looking free and clear of medical appointments- thank goodness! We only have an earmold appointment and the post-op appointment at the end of the month. It's been so long since I've had free time, I'm not quite sure what to do with myself! Being free of waiting rooms and doctor appointments is quite liberating!
4 comments:
Glad to hear that you all got through the surgery ok. I feel so bad for these little guys when they have to be deprived of their milky!
Sending a virtual Starbucks Carmel Macchiato your way....hang in there!
Of the 5 times Ethan has had general anaesthesia, the tube surgery was by far the worst. When I asked why he was struggling so much as he regained consciousness, the nurse told me that all the kids who have this procedure are the same way b/c it's so hard on their little bodies to be put under and yanked back to reality so quickly. Glad it's over, and glad you're going to enjoy a break from all the medical appts.
I'm definitely glad the appointments are slowing down!! The anesthesia time for the tube surgery is so short- it does make sense that they would have trouble coming back to reality!
Tina, thanks for the Carmel Macchiato (now I'll never lose the pregnancy weight, lol). We actually JUST got a Starbucks in Jamestown. Still no Target, but I'll take what I can get!
We did the sleep deprive thing with Luca at 4 months trying to get the ABR or ASSR test done without sedation and it was so hard. We went in and couldn't even get Luca asleep afterall so it was all for nothing. My husband and I said we wouldn't go through that again (the audiologist wanted us to try again) and we said no, and went straight for sedation to run the test up in Denver. It was super hard too, but at least we knew we would have results. It was so sad leaving Luca with the nurse when we left, but he did so well. When he came out, he had such a hard time nursing and holding him he felt so limp. I'm glad those days are past us for now.
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