The surgery itself went well. It only took about an hour and the original estimate was around 3 or 4 hours. It also turned out that what looked like a hernia in all the images and what felt like a hernia in all the exams actually wasn't a hernia at all! It was a big area of hyper-extended muscle. So, the surgeon tightened up the muscle using a pleating technique similar to putting pleats into pants and then removed a large portion of excess skin.
X is an angry little guy when waking up from anesthesia usually and that day was no exception. They had to call us back into recovery the moment he woke up instead of the usual 30 minutes later because he was inconsolable. He was hurting, disoriented, not dealing with the meds well, and he just wanted Mommy. He wanted kisses from Daddy, but he was so angry, he would only sit with Mommy. Poor guy :(
Within an hour, he was able to go back to his room and we started the recovery process. It was rocky few days. X has some stuff going on with his lungs that doesn't typically cause him any issues. After anesthesia and surgery, however, it's a different story. He was having a really hard time keeping his oxygen up. He ended up on a cannula for a few days before he was able to get rid of the extra support. He also started developing a wet sounding cough and a rattle in his chest. He also spiked a high fever of 102.6 F. A low grade fever after surgery (below 101 F) isn't uncommon, but this was awfully high; especially for his age.
The combination of needing oxygen, the rattling, the cough and the high fever can be indicators of the early stages of pneumonia starting. Thankfully, his pediatrician intervened and got him started with chest physiotherapy as soon as possible. It was just what he needed and we thankfully avoided pneumonia!!!
He did need pain medication for a couple of days, but being the strong boy he is, he didn't need any medication at ALL by day 3! Most ADULTS wouldn't have handled pain that well!
The biggest hurdle was getting X to drink his bottles. That was a struggle...ok, it was a BATTLE! The night of surgery, he drank 20 oz of his bottle in a few hours. He kept up the great drinking until about 4 am the next morning when his fever spiked. By that time, he had to have iv fluids turned up as he was drinking less and less. By the next day, he wasn't drinking at all. We asked to have his GI doctor paged.
When she saw him, she agreed that he needed to stay until he could drink enough fluids on his own to be hydrated. She gave him some medication that would help him feel hungry enough to want to eat and that was all he needed. He drank enough that day that we finally got to come home!
After a week in the hospital, X's physical recovery is well on its way. His incision looks great! He's healing nicely and moving and playing a lot more. His spine is already straighter than it's been in a while and his reflux type symptoms are totally gone! YAY!
The big thing we're working on now is healing the emotional and mental injuries. In a child like X who has to undergo frequent and often painful things, they develop a lot of anxiety in the hospital. That anxiety amplifies after they come home. That's what we've been working through the past few days. It's almost PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) type symptoms, but in a 20-month old little boy. It's heartbreaking to see that his toys, his sock falling off during play, even sometimes clapping his own hands startle him so badly that he just cries and shakes. But, true to who he is, X is overcoming the anxiety a little bit each day.
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| Incision with the bandage still on |
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| Incision with the bandage off |
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