Today Mason successfully underwent the G Tube surgery! Yesterday evening the NP gave us the word that his surgery would most likely occur tomorrow morning. A couple of techs from the lab came by to try and get an IV started. After the 3 allowed sticks (one in each foot and in one hand) they were unable to start an IV. Poor Mason just about passed out from those attempts. He was covered in sweat! Around midnight two of the nurses from the floor came in and attempted to place an IV in the remaining hand. Thank goodness they succeeded on the first attempt.
Around 5:00am we were told that Mason's surgery time would be 8:45am. Around 8:00 or so the NP came in and told us that the actual surgery time would be at 11:00. After a short wait we were off to surgery. I carried Mason in my arms, while one of the nurses carried his portable monitor. We were checked in and were visited by the cardiac anesthesia team. Dr. Robin Church and Dr. Ramamorthy were to be the cardiac anesthesia team and I couldn't be more pleased. They had successfully brought Mason through his first heart surgery and this time he would be under for a much shorter time. I requested to meet the surgeon prior to the procedure. Dr. Hartman promptly came out from his previous surgery and introduced himself to me and "Mr. Terrazas". He was a very nice man and said he had lived in the Taos, NM area before. Here is the link to his faculty profile...http://med.stanford.edu/profiles/Gary_Hartman/
Mason went in to surgery at approximately 11:05 and Dr. Hartman came out and told us all went well at approximately 12:25. Fabulous! After about 40 minutes or so I was called to go ahead and come back to recovery. Sweet Mason was crying his eyes out! Clearly the local pain injections were wearing off. The nurse gave him some pain meds and he felt better. In the meantime, his hematocrit levels had dropped from about 45 pre-surgery to 35 post surgery. This caused some concern with the cardiologist and he requested that they draw more blood before we left recovery. Apparently, this was typically unheard of-the drawing of blood before leaving recovery and the nurses were a little huffy about the request. Nevertheless, the blood was drawn(I requested an expert for this one) and we were back up to the third floor. So far, he has needed one injection of morphine and has been on Tylenol. It appears that he is mostly comfortable. I am so pleased that he came through it very well. One more thing down.
I'll update with photos when I have direct access to ftp sites. Unfortunately the wireless web here at the hospital blocks some sites and prevents uploading to several sites as well. The hospital tries to help the families as much as possible. There are several day lounges that have washer/dryers, microwaves, refrigerators and sleep beds that can be reserved for those families wishing to stay overnight. We are fortunate in that our room allows us to stay overnight at the bedside. Our nurses basically take over everything at night so parents can sleep-for that I am very grateful.
Thank you Dear God for getting us through one more day..... Since I noted the link to Dr. Hartman, here is the link to Dr. Frank Hanley, who performed Mason's first heart surgery...http://med.stanford.edu/profiles/Frank_Hanley/. I saw Dr. Hanley in the hallway while I waited for Mason to return from surgery. Dr. Hanley assured me that these heart patients eventually recover from their eating difficulties and had words of encouragement for me. It was a pleasure meeting up with him again.
Around 5:00am we were told that Mason's surgery time would be 8:45am. Around 8:00 or so the NP came in and told us that the actual surgery time would be at 11:00. After a short wait we were off to surgery. I carried Mason in my arms, while one of the nurses carried his portable monitor. We were checked in and were visited by the cardiac anesthesia team. Dr. Robin Church and Dr. Ramamorthy were to be the cardiac anesthesia team and I couldn't be more pleased. They had successfully brought Mason through his first heart surgery and this time he would be under for a much shorter time. I requested to meet the surgeon prior to the procedure. Dr. Hartman promptly came out from his previous surgery and introduced himself to me and "Mr. Terrazas". He was a very nice man and said he had lived in the Taos, NM area before. Here is the link to his faculty profile...http://med.stanford.edu/profiles/Gary_Hartman/
Mason went in to surgery at approximately 11:05 and Dr. Hartman came out and told us all went well at approximately 12:25. Fabulous! After about 40 minutes or so I was called to go ahead and come back to recovery. Sweet Mason was crying his eyes out! Clearly the local pain injections were wearing off. The nurse gave him some pain meds and he felt better. In the meantime, his hematocrit levels had dropped from about 45 pre-surgery to 35 post surgery. This caused some concern with the cardiologist and he requested that they draw more blood before we left recovery. Apparently, this was typically unheard of-the drawing of blood before leaving recovery and the nurses were a little huffy about the request. Nevertheless, the blood was drawn(I requested an expert for this one) and we were back up to the third floor. So far, he has needed one injection of morphine and has been on Tylenol. It appears that he is mostly comfortable. I am so pleased that he came through it very well. One more thing down.
I'll update with photos when I have direct access to ftp sites. Unfortunately the wireless web here at the hospital blocks some sites and prevents uploading to several sites as well. The hospital tries to help the families as much as possible. There are several day lounges that have washer/dryers, microwaves, refrigerators and sleep beds that can be reserved for those families wishing to stay overnight. We are fortunate in that our room allows us to stay overnight at the bedside. Our nurses basically take over everything at night so parents can sleep-for that I am very grateful.
Thank you Dear God for getting us through one more day..... Since I noted the link to Dr. Hartman, here is the link to Dr. Frank Hanley, who performed Mason's first heart surgery...http://med.stanford.edu/profiles/Frank_Hanley/. I saw Dr. Hanley in the hallway while I waited for Mason to return from surgery. Dr. Hanley assured me that these heart patients eventually recover from their eating difficulties and had words of encouragement for me. It was a pleasure meeting up with him again.
No comments:
Post a Comment