Surgery 2012 - Day Five - The Day After

Surgery 2012 - Day Five - The Day After (orig. published 7.12.12)


I'm not going to lie - today was awful.

We slept good last night. Great actually. Woke up at 8 to Dr. VB and another doctor in here talking to me and showing me how to rotate the knob on the tension bar on the fixator. I told them they both looked very awake being as I had been up for all of two minutes when I was instantly deep in the discussion of very complex medical equipment. The "tension bar" has a different name, an official name which eludes me at the moment, but it does sound like some sort of sailing equipment. I'll have to ask - preferably not two minutes after I wake up tomorrow.

Colson's sedative was turned off today about 9 am, and right on cue, two hours later, he was a mess. We endured hours, literally hours of "Someone please help me!" and "Please help me please!" and "I don't want to walk anymore" and "I wish I never had my surgery and never ever had this thing on my leg!". Emotionally exhausting is an understatment. I did not manage to hold it together and had to walk away and cry. Daddy stayed strong because one of us had to, I could see on his face it was hurting him too. There was absolutely nothing we could do for our little boy to make him feel better.

After a lively conference of anesthesiologists and PICU doctors and nurses, the descision was made to add some sedative to his epidural as well as start him back on the Precedex which is the IV sedative. He's on max level pain medicine, his epidural is pumping Ropivacaine, then there's the Precedex, then there's the Morphine and the Valium, then we have IV tylenol and advil and one more thing I can't begin to spell or pronounce. He is slightly more manageable ever since. Grumpy as all get out, and nothing is good enough for him, but at least he's stopped screaming. Science is amazing. I LOVE science. And the best part of science right at this moment? Medicine.

We go through this phase after every surgery, and it's sort of comforting to know we do. He acts this ornary for two days, every single time. By day three post-op, he's a new boy. I'm praying for the same this time. Saturday, oh Saturday, please get here quick!

Some of you have asked about Cayleigh, she is doing remarkably well. Behavior well beyond her years. She is actually not allowed on the PICU floor until she's 12 years old, but she is so well behaved, no one has said otherwise. She is quiet, she listens, she cares for her brother. Not to be outdone by his ornary-ness however, she did finally just fold her arms at one point, walk over to him and say "Oh Colson would you just stop it please!". Had to work really hard not to laugh, Colson was just SO mad today. At everything. There weren't any cartoons on TV, so guess what? NO ONE got to watch TV.

Praying for a better tomorrow, and perhaps some sleep tonight. I've been holding his hand for almost eight hours straight. And he's begging me to stop writing this and hold it again. Off I go. Love my boy, praying for some comfort for him.


Much love.


-J-


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