Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Spring has Sprung (In Summer)

WARNING: We wish to advise you that the following post has been written on less than three hours of sleep, is not in chronological order, is long and rambling and contains an F-bomb (or two).

It's OVER! Spring has most definitely sprung now that Tricky's Go Go Gadget springs are gone!

This morning he went in to theatre as a Bionic Baby and emerged with help of the Blue Fairy (his surgeon in blue scrubs) as a Real Boy. Eat your heart out, Pinnochio!


The day had some ups and downs, and because it's good to end on a high, let's go down first:

Tricky spent almost an hour in the post surgical recovery area where you are monitored until you are sufficiently out of anaesthesia and your vital signs are good. He just refused to wake up.

My poor little poppet would open his eyes for less than a second then promptly fall fast asleep. His oxygen levels kept dipping below 85% and at one point got to 79% - that's not life threatening stuff, but it needs to be monitored and he had to be on oxygen for the first hour to keep it up before being moved to a ward.

In the hand over from surgical nurse to ward nurse (who I'll call Nurse Dimwit) his low oxygen levels were mentioned and it was stressed they needed to be monitored and that he had to be on oxygen if they fell below 92%. So off we went with Nurse Dimwit to the ward where a new pulseox machine was set up because the one already attached to him in surgery (and bound to him with his IV) had a different cord to the machines on the ward - clever huh? As if there weren't enough bloody cords and drips hanging off him already.

He still hadn't woken up, was a little bit gray and breathing quite shallow, but hey, he was attached to a machine so we didn't think anything of it... you can see where this is going can't you? An hour later a different nurse walked past our machine, does an exaggerated double take like you'd expect in a cartoon, then calls out to Nurse Dimwit "Did you set the alarm parameters on this?"

Tricky's oxygen levels had been under 85% for a whole fucking hour because Nurse Dimwit didn't turn the alarm on. No wonder he was fucking grey!

I was livid. I couldn't talk. I just sat there as big, fat, silent tears rolled down my cheeks - like the ones in the movies, except my nose was red and my eyes were puffy.

I did the fuggo version of the silent movie star cry a few times; when the four year old in the bed next to us was crying out in big, heaving sobs "I...want....my....Da-... -ad" and when the tweenage girl a few beds down laid there by herself for an hour and a half while her parents waited in the 'Friendship Room' still thinking their daughter was in surgery thanks to a monumental communication fuc... no, two is enough.

But it wasn't all doom and gloom... I did, after all, promise to end on an Up:

Going in, the anaethetist prepared me for the worst case scenario of a child going under. There was a possibility Tricky would cry, fight against it, shake as if having a fit, make snorty noises (like his Mama), roll his eyes back in his head, then go limp. The limp bit was the bit I feared most.

They were so gentle and kind with him, bringing the strawberry scented gas mask to the side of his face and trying to get him to play with it, rather than just shoving it on. He wasn't interested so they did have to shove it on, but that's not the point. They tried to make it as gentle as possible.

He fought it a little bit and cried out, trying to pull it from his face... but then he started to go a little weak and at that first sign, they said "Now Mum, give him a kiss and we'll see you soon". They weren't rude or abrupt, but they were very commanding, knowing that he was about to go completely under. As I kissed his cheek, his whole body relaxed in to the bed and I turned and left so quickly that I fumbled with the door.

I even made it all the way back to the 'Friendship Room' before crying. 

A short while after all the oxygen issues were sorted (I told you it wasn't in chronological order, it's instead in bad news/good news order), it was like someone flipped Tricky's on switch. He went from hard to rouse to hard to keep still within a matter of minutes. All he wanted to do was climb up on the bed rails, pull on his TWO pulseox cords and bang on the oxygen machine. He was so difficult to contain... it was lovely.


He then slid right back in to his routine that we've been trying so hard to maintain. His new found (and hard fought for) talent of sleeping through the night is the only thing that is keeping me sane. He simply replaced his morning nap with morning anaesthesia and didn't miss a beat. I realize he hasn't had a chance to sleep through, seeing as the surgery was today, but it's a start and I believe in starts!

So it was a stressful day but exciting at the same time. After a checkup in one week (that is scheduled for 8:31am I might add) and six weeks, he should only need to be monitored once every year or two - according to the surgeon we just have to wait and watch him grow. I'm looking forward to it.

___ . . . ___ . . . ___

Thank you so much to all the wonderful people who left a comment on my previous post sharing their personal stories, wishing us well, thinking of and praying for Tricky. It was so lovely to feel such support from people I am yet to meet. Thank you.




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41 comments:

  1. Yeah, so many nurses, blunty put, couldn't give a flying fuck! My mother requested to be called when I was about due to go into theatre, did they? Course not!

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  2. So pleased that things ultimately went well. Big hugs to you both for bravely coming through your busy, stressful day. Tricky is just gorgeous too. A very handsome young man. :-)

    I'm looking forward to hearing about his wonderful progress in the coming weeks. What do you have planned as a treat for yourself for getting through today?

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  3. Glad everything turned out okay in the end, but that Nurse Dimwit [or Nurse Fuckwit as I would have called her TO HER FACE] needs to be sacked... or roundhouse kicked to the head!
    I could only imagine how you must have felt and am glad to hear Tricky has come out of surgery well. Great photo of him there, too :) :)

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  4. gggrrrr to nurse dimwit, she doesn't even deserve capitals!! Glad it ended well and delighted to see you so upbeat :) Jen

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  5. Yay, he's a real boy!

    Lots of love, Aunty Penny :)

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  6. What a little trooper pulling himself up to standing and making music so soon after standing, he's amazing you must be so proud. You did great starting so calm around him too by the sounds of this

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  7. * I meant so soon after surgery. Woops.

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  8. sounds good! :) i'm glad for all of you x

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  9. Yay! Happy dance for you all!

    And by the way, that "Friendship Room" is such a weird place to hang out isn't it? I don't know why they call it the "Friendship Room" as I really don't imagine anyone has ever made friends in there, we're all so worried about what's happening elsewhere in the hospital.

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  10. My sister is a nurse and she said most of them don't give a rats ass about most of their patients.

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  11. Oh wow, I have been so out of touch with reading all my fave blogs of late I had no idea! How brave you both are, and how happy I am to hear its a success! Wishing you many happy hours of cuddling you cute and clever "real boy" xx

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  12. Glad everything turned out ok in the end. xx

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  13. Epic tale. I cried, I laughed, I cried some more. You are impressively strong. I would've been balling, with complete theatrics, many swear words, and lots of foot stamping if it was one of mine with the crap nurse. So glad you both got through it. And you're not a jelly-like puddle on the floor.

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  14. oh that made me get goosebumps and cry...poor you to go through all that. tricky is such a trooper!! glad the sleeping is still going strong too.

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  15. Yeah! So glad you all got through it.
    You know your thing about having a 'pretty photo' of yourself in case you go missing? Well, the same theory of preparedness applies to going to hospital. Take your own nurse with you. They don't have to be qualified, they just have to be able to notice if you stop breathing, turn blue or whatever.

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  16. I've experienced the two extremes, last time there was one that was just so wonderful that I wrote a letter, and this time one who couldn't figure out how to do anything. Funnily enough I got a call today asking me to "rate my experience"

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  17. I'm off to the movies with Lani of Me & Boo soon! I'll buy a large popcorn :)

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  18. It would be quite easy to kick her in the head, she was really short :P Only came up to my shoulder and I'm definitely not tall!

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  19. I think I've even got a spring in my step (possibly the one from his head).

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  20. Thank you so much for the flowers and the balloon :) xxx

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  21. I don't think I've even made eye contact with anyone in there! This time I had a tablet computer and browsed Twitter to take my mind off it. Sorta worked, better than trashy magazines!

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  22. I so hope that's not true. They're so overworked. I understand mistakes happen, and he was fine, but it still wasn't very pleasant.

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  23. Thanks, Donna! If you're anything like me your reader is permanently sitting on the maximum "1000+" posts to read!

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  24. Thanks, Tina. I said to mum; "There's nothing different or 'special' about him now... isn't it great!". Normal and average are good things :) xxx

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  25. yea. I hope so too. but while i was preggers my sister basically told me to "suck it up princess". HAHAHAH

    I am glad that the other nurse cared enough to come and check on Tricky.

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  26. Mmmm jelly :) I can't talk when I cry, no one can understand me between sobs so there's no point - but you should see my death stare!

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  27. He slept 7pm-6am last night, Rachel! I was expecting him to wake at least once since he'd had such an eventful day but he didn't! A trooper indeed! xxx

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  28. Glad it all went relatively well. I hope you feedback to the hospital on Nurse Dimwit

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  29. So true! Girl scout motto is right on the money!

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  30. Thanks, Jessica. I'm glad it's all over x

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  31. I was called today by the manager after being randomly selected to give feedback. I very nicely told him what happened, he apologized, said he would bring it up in a staff meeting, then said I should have told the staff that something was wrong. WTF? I couldn't see the machine numbers from where I was sitting holding Tricky, I didn't think I had to watch them if the alarm was on. *sigh* At least he'll tell her and I'm sure she won't do it again.

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  32. glad your little one ended up okay. I have my nurse dimwit stories too.. But it was after the birth of ds3 who ended up in ICU for respiritory (sp) distress and a nurse dimwit who said it stresses the baby to be held (by mother) oh REALLY?!! THAT'S a new one. He's a beautiful boy!

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  33. Grrrrr!!!! I was kinda hoping it was a rare thing to have a terrible experience. I will never ever forget our experience with them leaving my beautiful baby boy in the most horrific pain!! I know I will be terrified if we ever have to go back. I am so glad the op all went well though and hope little Tricky is well on the way to recovery.

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  34. So glad that everything went well, your little man is just gorgeous!

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  35. I was sent here by a friend who happened to connect the dots between what my daughter has and what Tricky has had surgery for. Thank you so so much for blogging about your experience. My 2.5 year old will have her op in May and we really haven't had time to focus on it as our life is a little challenging to say the least. I feel so normal and human knowing that someone out there has experienced what we are about too!!

    xo Steph
    www.moobeardesigns.blogspot.com

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  36. Guess she's never heard of Kangaroo Care - what a dimwit indeed!

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  37. Thank you :) I'm so glad it's over with!

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  38. There are way too many stories like these :(

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  39. Thanks Steph, I've just emailed you x

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