We're home and trying to settle into our routine again from our last trip to OHSU in Portland for Oliver's g-tube surgery.
The brief summary is that Oliver is doing fine with his new tube and is recovering well, but there were some scary moments in the operating room.
Here's the more detailed summary:
We took our time driving up all day on Wednesday and stopped by the Wildlife Safari (photos will come soon) and our friends in Corvallis on the way up. By the time we got to the home we were staying at in Canby we were all completely tired out and ready to be done driving. But even so we we were all up and piling in the van by 5:30am on Thursday to check in for surgery. The girls did really well overall, and the long trip and little sleep were mediated by the gifts of new beanie baby bears from the hospital staff, a volunteer arts program where they make beaded necklaces activity in the waiting room, a playground nearby the home where we were staying, and visits from friends and relatives.
All of the doctors/residents/nurses and everyone helping in the O.R. checked in and confirmed Oliver's condition, meds, medical reports, etc. before they began, and he was whisked away by 7:30am. This simple procedure was supposed to take less than 1 1/2 hours, so by 9:30am we were getting concerned that we hadn't heard anything. Finally the surgeon and then the cardiac anesthesiologist came out in turn to talk to us and explained that Oliver was fine now but had some trouble during the operation. The cardiac anesthesiologist's job was to specifically just watch the details of Oliver's heart during the entire process, and we are so very glad he was there. First, Oliver's heart did not respond well to the nitrous gas used to knock him out. His EKG "flipped", specifically the T-wave portion of his heart beat inverted, similar to how an adult's heart would respond to being oxygen-deprived. The anesthesiologist immediately stopped the gas and used an IV med instead and Oliver's heart went back to normal. Then, at the end of the operation when he was starting to wake up, they saw him make slight gaging motions on the breathing tube and then his heart rate dropped. The cardiac aneth. immediately reached for meds to get Oliver's heart going again and then his heart beat stopped altogether and the surgeon gave chest compressions for 15 seconds. After the meds were given his heart started up again. He "coded" in the O.R. as they would say. His heart had stopped for 15-30 seconds in the episode.
By the time we were being told this it was well after the event and he was recovering under close monitoring, so I had a strange whirlwind of emotions in reaction to the news that my son's heart had stopped briefly. My immediate response may have seemed stoic but I was struck with knowing that it was all done and over and and he was recovering fine now and that I could not do anything about it, so I jumped into thinking about what needed to be done next and checking with the doctors about what we would need to know for future procedures and making sure that they were going to monitor him closely as he recovered for the next few days. The deep down terribly frightened mother and the second-guessing of whether we should have done this elective procedure hit me harder when I finally got to join Oliver in post-op recovery, and thankfully the nurse caring for him there was very reassuring, as were the doctors as they each checked on him over the next few days.
He was monitored extra closely as he recovered (with cardiac telemetry) and was followed by OHSU cardiologists who were talking closely with his cardiologist (who is with another hospital group). They all think that his event in the O.R. was an isolated event, probably in reaction to the gaging reflex combined with his heart condition. I stayed with Oliver at the hospital while Joel and the girls stayed at our friends' home and came to visit every day. We were discharged Saturday night after his feeds had gradually had been increased to his typical meal size and we had been trained in using his new g-tube.
So we're at home now, terribly tired and recovering from the emotions, stress, and poor diet from travelling.
I met with a "case coordinator nurse," or "CaCoon" nurse, today to help simplify our trips to Portland and to help us take advantage of other programs that will help us with Oliver's medical and developmental progress. We we left OHSU on Saturday we were scheduled to travel back to Portland next week, the following week, and then again in a month and possibly two weeks after that. She's already helped us consolidate two of those appointments and, after doing all the appointment coordinating for our trip at the end of July, I'm so grateful to let her do all that now!
We appreciate your continued prayers for our little son. We praise and thank God that we still have him.
The brief summary is that Oliver is doing fine with his new tube and is recovering well, but there were some scary moments in the operating room.
Here's the more detailed summary:
We took our time driving up all day on Wednesday and stopped by the Wildlife Safari (photos will come soon) and our friends in Corvallis on the way up. By the time we got to the home we were staying at in Canby we were all completely tired out and ready to be done driving. But even so we we were all up and piling in the van by 5:30am on Thursday to check in for surgery. The girls did really well overall, and the long trip and little sleep were mediated by the gifts of new beanie baby bears from the hospital staff, a volunteer arts program where they make beaded necklaces activity in the waiting room, a playground nearby the home where we were staying, and visits from friends and relatives.
All of the doctors/residents/nurses and everyone helping in the O.R. checked in and confirmed Oliver's condition, meds, medical reports, etc. before they began, and he was whisked away by 7:30am. This simple procedure was supposed to take less than 1 1/2 hours, so by 9:30am we were getting concerned that we hadn't heard anything. Finally the surgeon and then the cardiac anesthesiologist came out in turn to talk to us and explained that Oliver was fine now but had some trouble during the operation. The cardiac anesthesiologist's job was to specifically just watch the details of Oliver's heart during the entire process, and we are so very glad he was there. First, Oliver's heart did not respond well to the nitrous gas used to knock him out. His EKG "flipped", specifically the T-wave portion of his heart beat inverted, similar to how an adult's heart would respond to being oxygen-deprived. The anesthesiologist immediately stopped the gas and used an IV med instead and Oliver's heart went back to normal. Then, at the end of the operation when he was starting to wake up, they saw him make slight gaging motions on the breathing tube and then his heart rate dropped. The cardiac aneth. immediately reached for meds to get Oliver's heart going again and then his heart beat stopped altogether and the surgeon gave chest compressions for 15 seconds. After the meds were given his heart started up again. He "coded" in the O.R. as they would say. His heart had stopped for 15-30 seconds in the episode.
By the time we were being told this it was well after the event and he was recovering under close monitoring, so I had a strange whirlwind of emotions in reaction to the news that my son's heart had stopped briefly. My immediate response may have seemed stoic but I was struck with knowing that it was all done and over and and he was recovering fine now and that I could not do anything about it, so I jumped into thinking about what needed to be done next and checking with the doctors about what we would need to know for future procedures and making sure that they were going to monitor him closely as he recovered for the next few days. The deep down terribly frightened mother and the second-guessing of whether we should have done this elective procedure hit me harder when I finally got to join Oliver in post-op recovery, and thankfully the nurse caring for him there was very reassuring, as were the doctors as they each checked on him over the next few days.
He was monitored extra closely as he recovered (with cardiac telemetry) and was followed by OHSU cardiologists who were talking closely with his cardiologist (who is with another hospital group). They all think that his event in the O.R. was an isolated event, probably in reaction to the gaging reflex combined with his heart condition. I stayed with Oliver at the hospital while Joel and the girls stayed at our friends' home and came to visit every day. We were discharged Saturday night after his feeds had gradually had been increased to his typical meal size and we had been trained in using his new g-tube.
So we're at home now, terribly tired and recovering from the emotions, stress, and poor diet from travelling.
I met with a "case coordinator nurse," or "CaCoon" nurse, today to help simplify our trips to Portland and to help us take advantage of other programs that will help us with Oliver's medical and developmental progress. We we left OHSU on Saturday we were scheduled to travel back to Portland next week, the following week, and then again in a month and possibly two weeks after that. She's already helped us consolidate two of those appointments and, after doing all the appointment coordinating for our trip at the end of July, I'm so grateful to let her do all that now!
We appreciate your continued prayers for our little son. We praise and thank God that we still have him.
No comments:
Post a Comment