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surgery

Post-op Update, Day 1

Rich was “on duty” with Anthony this morning, while I was getting some stuff done around the house. I sent him a text message asking if he was at the hospital. Ask a silly question, and you get a silly answer:

Anthony is doing well today. He hasn’t had any pain meds since 7am and seems comfortable. He is definitely not quite himself as evidenced by no smiling yet. He has some congestion which isn’t surprising. Will need some chest PT. They started him on Pedialyte at 10cc an hour via the new J-tube. They will increase the rate and eventually switch him over to Peptamen as tolerated. He has been at 10cc per hour for 4 hours and so far so good. The G-tube is draining via gravity to keep his stomach empty.

We will likely be moving to the regular pediatric floor today.

I came in at 11am and Rich and I had lunch together in Anthony’s room. He has a really good nurse today. I’ve been very impressed with the nursing care here in the PICU.

We were chatting with the nurse about our boys and the care involved at home. She was just amazed that I was able to take care of the boys myself. Don’t I get nursing help? I told her that I manage just fine and that it really wasn’t that difficult. She was very impressed. Then she asked me if I was able to walk. At that point, I realized that I was sitting in Anthony’s wheelchair! There was only one chair in the room, so I just sat in Anthony’s chair. Never gave it a thought. We all had a good chuckle!

Will update again soon and post a photo of Anthony’s new tubes.

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Anthony | cindy | | 1 Comment |   J-tube surgery

Surgery Done

Anthony was in the OR for over 9 hours, from 7:30am until 4:45pm. The surgery went well. He did lose quite a bit of blood, especially toward the end of the surgery. He received 6 units of blood, which is a lot for a 90 lb boy. He also received “cell savers,” I don’t know what that is, will have to look that up. The wires and rods go from his sacrum up to T2. His doctor said he now has about a 20-30% curve, which is a big improvement. She said she put in a lot of bone, meaning bone grafts which will fuse his spine together. When I asked where she got the bone, she said, “out of a jar”. The bone is from a donor and we will be able to send the donor’s family a thank you note.

Anthony is settled in the Pediatric ICU now. Rich will spend the night with him. He is on a ventilator, he has an arterial line and a central line, a urinary catheter and a drain in his back. His face is quite swollen from all the transfusions and fluid plus laying on his stomach for 9 hours. They will keep him quiet and sedated through the night, will update again tomorrow. Thank you all for your and kind words of support.

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Anthony | cindy | | 4 Comments |   PICU scoliosis Spinal Fusion surgery UMass Worcester