Anthony Bissell
Anthony is so happy to be home! I talked to his surgeon today, he does not have to be seen again until next month. His sutures are subcutaneous, so they don’t need to be removed and the steristrips that you see on his back will just fall off (some have already). No school or therapy until at least after his follow-up appointment on November 2nd. So, time to rest and heal.
Anthony is so happy to be home! He did amazingly well, much better than we expected. We are so please with his doctors and aside from a couple of minor issues on Friday, the nursing staff was excellent. We already knew that his doctor was good, as she operated on Eric several years ago and did an outstanding job. We also knew the PICU was very good having spent time there with both Eric and Aaron in the past, and we also know a couple of the nurses who work there. In fact, two of the nurses were from the Memorial NICU and took care of the twins back in 1993! We were concerned about the pediatric floor. However, it seems they have improved in the years since our last stay. So, an all around positive experience at UMass Medical Center.
Anthony will have a follow-up appointment in the orthopedic clinic next week. They will remove his sutures and let us know when Anthony can return to school. For now, he can get up in his chair as tolerated. We need to change his back dressing once a day. We still need to get his feeding and bowel routine back on track. He can have Tylenol with codeine for pain and valium for muscle spasms as needed. He will be seen by visiting nurses, which is really not necessary, but routine.
Now, I must go and catch up on life!
They finally restarted Anthony’s g-tube feedings at 9am this morning. I’m hoping that if he tolerates his pediasure he can come home tomorrow. He got up in his wheelchair again today and we took a walk outside. It’s a beautiful Columbus day here in New England, the leaves are changing, the sun is shining with deep blue skies and about 72 degrees.
The orthopedic doctors were in this morning and said that his x-rays look good. He said what they do in the OR is attach wires to each vertebrae, then place the rod and tighten the wires to the rod to straighten the spine. I remember the surgeon telling me that one of the wires broke during the surgery! I can just imagine the amount of force it would take to move a spine into alignment! And it’s no wonder there is so much pain associated with this surgery. They checked his back incision and one of the docs said he’s never seen so many steri-strips on one person. The incision goes from the back of his neck down to his buttocks. I assume we will have to bring Anthony back to the hospital to have the sutures removed sometime soon.
So, today was a quiet day. Rich has been doing the night shifts with Anthony and when he gets home, I head out. It’s been tough this long weekend, with no school. But Aaron has been a big help watching Eric, so Rich can get some sleep. When I got up this morning Aaron was sleeping in Anthony’s bed. So sweet, he really misses Anthony and worries about him. It has been a tough week and we will be glad to get Anthony home and get back to normal (such as it is for us).
Anthony had a physical therapy evaluation and he sat up in his wheel chair today! A big step toward getting him home. We had to make some adjustments to his chair since he is now taller! So nice to see him sitting up so straight:-)
Anthony’s tube feedings are on hold because he still has some abdominal distention. They did a KUB (abdominal x-ray) and he just has a lot of air, so they should restart his feedings tonight. He has to be back on his g-tube feedings and off the IV before he can come home.
He has finished is IV antibiotics and morphine. He is just getting Tylenol with an occasional Tylenol with codeine for pain. We are guessing he should be home by Tuesday.
Anthony continues to make progress. Last night, an IV nurse was able to get a regular IV into Anthony! Rich said she was really good and took her time and spent about 45 minutes checking every vein until she finally picked one out. So, he now has access which is a good thing and something the doctor felt he really needed. I’m just glad he won’t need a central line! He is getting IV fluids again and can get IV pain medications if needed.
We had a good day today. It was nice and quiet at the hospital, being a holiday weekend and Anthony had a very good nurse and an aide who did a really nice job scrubbing him from head to toe. He got up in a chair for the first time. Well, sort of a chair. They call it a “cardiac chair”, but it looks more like a stretcher to me… but he tolerated it well. And he was able to go for a ride and get out of his room for a while.
He also had his back x-ray done today, amazing photos below – photo includes four films – the left two are a lateral view, top and bottom. The right film Anthony is on his back, upper and lower back straight on. He looks like a bionic boy!
He tolerated the x-ray procedure well and he seems to be having less pain. He has not needed IV morphine today, just Tylenol in his g-tube. He has good bowel sounds and he is getting his usual pediasure via his g-tube. But he is getting more distended; time for a bowel movement I think.
Here is a photo of Anthony with a musical vibrating bug that Nana sent him from Arizona along with a nice card. Thanks Nana! Anthony loves it and the card is hanging over his bed:-)
