 L's hospital "treat"
Well, it's over. Thank goodness! L was scheduled for his endoscopy at 8:30 a.m. this morning. We arrived a few minutes early and waited and waited and waited. At around 9:40 a.m. they called him back to be weighed. It was then that the nurse informed us that they had made a scheduling mistake and had booked us for Sept. 14, 2007! Therefore, they were having to hustle around and get labels and paperwork for his charts. They squirted some numbing lotion on the top of both of his hands and covered them with plastic. Then they sent us back to the waiting room.
At about 10 a.m. they called us back to the procedure room. He was really doing okay at this point. They gave him a preventative antibiotic for his heart since we haven't seen the cardiologist yet and chloralhydrate to help relax him. Then we changed him into his gown. The nurse brought him a Piglet sticker. He took one look at it and said, "Etta", and then snorted. The nurse got a big kick out of that.
He laid on the table and got downright goofy. His legs kept moving and he kept rolling side to side. He talked non-stop. To me, he was getting more wired-up instead of relaxing. Then came the heplock and the needles. At this point, it was like Jekyll and Hyde. He turned stone cold and stiff-faced. They had to try on both hands before successfully installing it. They gave him the Demerol and Verced. Soon after, he started choking and gagging. The nurses rushed to suction him. He did this several times. The doctor came in about this time. I asked if it was normal. No one answered quickly enough for me. Finally the doctor said, "Yeah, it's okay." I'm not sure that answered my question.
I was then told it was time for me to leave. He was pretty groggy, but not asleep yet. I reluctantly left and sat nervously trying to read my Sunday School lesson in the waiting room. I don't remember much of it. I heard some crying. It was faint and I couldn't tell if it was him or not. There was so much crying in that office! About 20 minutes later, they told me I could come into recovery with him. He was crying and sobbing hard. He had been awake for the entire thing!! The nurse said they tried to give him more medicine to knock him out, but she said she's seen this before in traumatized kids who have been in a lot of medical situations. They actually know that they are being drugged to sleep and have a weird ability to fight it off because of fear of the unknown. She said he was mad and fought all the way through.
I held him the best I could considering there were a million tubes hooked to him. I rocked his pillow back and forth and whispered quietly to him. At first he wouldn't even look at me. I had been told that he would be asleep when I left and that I would be there when he woke up. I had told him everything was okay, not to be scared, Mama would stay with him. I am struggling with whether he thinks I lied to him. I told him I would stay, then I left him, they did hurtful things to him, and then I came back. He finally rolled his head back to me and started to calm down. He cried off and on for the next 10 minutes or so.
The doctor came in and said he had interesting findings. He said that he couldn't even get the scope down his esophogus. He tried several times, but it wouldn't go through. He said he even tried to lightly push it through and it wouldn't go. He finally had to use the infant scope and it was able to slide down. He said he had a stricture and that his esophogus was only about 9mm wide at that point. He said it was in a very odd place and that is why the barium swallow didn't show anything.
So, what now? He is being scheduled for another barium procedure that is a little different. It will be observed by the x-ray department, the GI department, and a speech therapist. He will swallow the liquid to light up his insides and then he will have to eat foods with different textures and sizes. They will observe how it goes down and his swallowing, etc. Then they will consult with a surgeon and schedule a date for surgery. Yes, more surgery, more medical trauma. I cry every time I think about him having to go through more procedures and eventually surgery again.
He wouldn't sleep in recovery at all, but was extremely limp as I carried him across the hospital, across the street and to the parking garage. He didn't sleep for a while even in the car. Finally he gave up. He slept for about an hour and a half when we got home. I got him to eat a little food and drink a milkshake I had bought for him. Now he is running around, doing fine. Although, he did just tell me, "Spat(sleep)".
Debbie, you would love the little pillow they gave him as his "treat" at the hospital(pic above). It was handmade- yellow gingham on one side and Pooh Bear print on the other. They said they looked for a pig so he could snort again, but just found Piglet on the pillow. He loves his new 'padushka'.
Thanks for all of your prayers for us today. It was really rough and definitely difficult. It looks like we've got quite a road ahead of us too. We know that God has him in His hands and that is why he is home with us to get the care he needs. I'll let you know more when we know more.
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My heart goes out to both of you. As a mother I could identify with some of your feelings. What a draining day for you both.
I had an aunt that has a handicapped child. He too could fight off the effects of the drugs. During one of his procedures, he was not relaxing and going to sleep. She asked to be given some time alone with him. She massaged his forehead and talked to him softly. Not sure what else she may have done. He did relax and went to sleep. There was no way though it was going to happen with the medical staff.
Just a thought. Mothers know how to help their children to relax. No doubt you can do it better than anyone.