(Day 34 in the hospital)
The plastic surgeon intern came at 6am to find the wound open even more. The JP drain bulb will not even stay compressed anymore because it is sucking air instead of fluid. The bandage covering his wound is now saturated with fluid because the drain isn't working. The nurse changed the dressing over Rayden's PICC line yesterday afternoon. (It has to be changed once a week.) The line kinks under the bandage now every time he bends his arm making the IV beep constantly. When he holds his arm stretched out it goes off. Rayden likes to sleep with his little hands folded under his face so we heard that thing ALL night!
Rayden worked his job at the front desk for about an hour this morning and then realized he had not eaten breakfast. It didn't take him long to realize what was going on when we didn't allow him to eat. From then on he was kind of crummy acting. He just laid around and kept whispering "I'm NOT going into the OR!" It just broke my heart. I certainly didn't want to make him go back into the OR but what choice did we have?
The transport came to get him about 4:30. I placed the anointed hanker chief from Sanson Community Church underneath his pillow. Rayden turned into a statue when we placed him back in the bed. He knew what was going to happen. He didn't cry, but you could see his sweet little face was full of worry and fear. He didn't stay in pre-op long at all. Everyone actually met us at the door looking for hunter man. Rayden was given the versed and precedex into his PICC line to get drowsy. He began to telling the anesthesiologist NOT to put that smelly mask on his face again. She promised not to do that and they rolled him into the OR around 5pm. The first thing they did was change his PICC line bandage so it didn't kink anymore when he bent his arm. At 6:15 both Dr. Elton and Dr. Damitz came to our room to tell us about the surgery. Dr. Elton stated when they got him uncovered he had stool packed into the opening! I couldn't believe that!! We have been so super careful with his diaper changes and we had just changed him before they took him down. The only thing I can figure is that he got so scared that he pooped and with all that moving it got squished up his back. I know both doctors are aware of how careful we are with him so I know they understood this incident. They, of course, cleaned it all out and scrubbed it up real well. They did another culture but who knows now what it will show because of the stool. Dr. Elton stated again that he didn't see any spinal fluid leaking! He even did three pressure tests. He saw a tiny pathway in the tissue going northward. He investigated to see how far it would go just to make sure it didn't tunnel all the way to the top. It didn't, and he put a couple of stitches deep inside to close the tunnel. They both agreed he had super healthy tissue in there. They didn't see any puss or anything to suggest infection or fungus. They do believe he had a ton of swollen tissue of which was being expressed out the JP drain. They believe it will heal well with the vac. The vac is only over a small opening. Dr. Damitz scheduled pediatric sedation Friday, Monday, and Wednesday to change the dressing. It's not going back into the OR, it's just sedating him enough to change the dressing. The hope is the vac will close the wound itself without her having to actually sew it back together. We shall see.
The PACU called me to go see him at 7pm. He only needed a dose of Tylenol and Valium for the leg cramps. This is the first time he has ever come out of the OR and not needed a ton of narcotics to calm his pain. All the prayers and the anointed hanker chief really worked. We were back to the room by 8pm where Rayden ate an entire ham and cheese sandwich, applesauce, and half a gatorade. He was starving!
We have spent 34 days in a tiny, little room with a broken window blind. We couldn't see out, and could barely squeeze between the beds, chairs, and bathroom door. While Rayden was in the OR the nurses moved us into the giant corner room. Since we have been here so long with no real end in sight AND since Rayden is the employee of the month, they decided we deserved a bigger room. This room is HUGE with a giant window!
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