Monday, August 11, 2008

Nic's Gall Bladder Surgery

I just realized that I hadn't updated my blog about Nic's surgery! Guess I've been a little distracted. LOL

We went in as per scheduled but the surgery was delayed by about an hour. I guess the ORs can get a little backed up at times. LOL Daddy put on the silly gown and cap and carried Nic into the operating room. They looked at a book while the doctors got busy putting in the IV and sending him off to dream land. Apparently he didn't even fuss when the needle went in so the EMLA cream did it's job.

Stephen and I walked down the hall from the ORs and found my friend Hope looking around for us. She stopped by on her lunch break for a quick hug and a little added support. Stephen and I ended up just wandering aimlessly for a while, nibbled on sandwiches brought from home and tried to be patient.

After the surgery, Nic was in recovery for a while then he was taken upstairs to a post-op observation ward. He stayed nicely passed out for a couple more hours and was still sleeping when the surgeon came around on rounds. Because Nic was still passed out for those rounds, we had to stay the night. I wasn't happy but what can a Mommy do? LOL

When Nic FINALLY woke up, he wanted to eat and drink everything in sight. I had just bought myself a burger from downstairs and he wanted that thing with all of his being. The nurses said he could have ice chips but they didn't go over very well. LOL I snuck him some apple juice and he was a little happier. Then we tried toast and that went down like a dream! So juice, toast and finally part of a muffin ended up being his menu that evening and night.

Once he was awake, he was AWAKE! Like I said, he wanted to eat and drink everything. I had to go down the hall to get his toast and juice and when I came out of the kitchen, there's Nic, standing there with his IV pole! He was bored and didn't want to wait for me to come back. That was it...he wanted to walk everywhere! We toured the 5th floor and our ward, sat and watched some TV, wandered some more, got snacks, wandered some more, watch more TV...and on and on it went.

When the nurses saw that he was drinking, eating, walking and peeing with no complaints, they turned down and finally turned off his IV. He had to keep the IV port in overnight just in case but the IV pole didn't need to be towed along anymore.

Nic's roommate had just had surgery to put a metal rod in his leg so was in a lot of pain and in traction. He was screaming every 2 hours or so, so Nic and I didn't get a lot of sleep. The nurses kept apologizing but it didn't increase my sleep any. LOL

The surgeon's resident and a couple of lackeys came around at 6am and verbally released Nic. We got dressed and waited for the papers to be "filed" in our chart and for the IV to be removed. I knew that it was close to shift change so I tried to be patient. LOL When a student nurse came in to do Nic's vital signs, she almost fell over that we were both dressed and packed to go. She got his release papers and the prescription and took out the IV and the two of us RAN out of the hospital. Neither one of us wanted to be there anymore. LOL

We drove back to Stony Plain, got his painkillers and scooted home. Stephen and Nathan were pretty happy to see us and we just wanted to rest some more. It took a while to get us back on a proper sleep schedule but we're doing better.

He came through the surgery like a champ and healed beautifully. The incisions are really tiny, like the width of my fingernail tiny. He still guards his tummy a little and doesn't want it to be pushed on but he's playing and wrestling and being a boy just like normal. Like anything/anyone in my house is NORMAL! LOL