Patrick finally got some good sleep last night. In fact, he was well on his way to sleeping all day. At 10 a.m., he had succeeded in going back to sleep again no matter the interruption. Therefore, I was in my PJ’s with hair uncombed when the team came for rounds.
I hopped out of bed and found them reviewing the imaging from yesterday. And what they saw looked like good news. The images of the gut still looked healthy throughout. The only sign of trouble was right where the stoma came through the abdominal wall. Right before, there was some dilation that showed that there was a narrowing there.
I asked what that meant they could do.. the answer was pretty straightforward. The surgeon, Dr. Mercer, could take him to the OR and open up the stoma a little more. He said he had some time on his schedule and could take care of it today.
Then, he turned around and said, “Don’t be surprised. My OR nurses are very efficient today. They may come for him in 20 minutes.”
So I called Brian who was finishing up laundry and told him to come quick, which he did. I hurried and got dressed. He got Patrick cleaned up and dressed. And then, sure enough, they came to take Patrick to the OR. The nice thing about this plan was that there wasn’t much time to worry. But it certainly scared and frustrated Patrick. It was hard to send him off knowing how worried he was.
The procedure was quick and successful. Dr. Mercer said that as soon as he released the pressure, he felt like the bowel said “Ah! That’s better!” There was a little scar tissue causing a twist and then a little bit of a narrowing in the abdominal wall and he thinks that was all the problem that was there. So now things should work very well, even when Patrick is ready to eat solid foods.
They also did Patrick’s 3rd scope and biopsy while he was asleep and reported that the bowel looks pink and healthy.
Dr. Mercer said no worries about this. Just consider it some warranty maintenance.
According to the post-anesthesia nurse, Patrick woke up and immediately asked if everything was done. Then he went back to sleep. When she called me back, he was awake again and sad. He asked me to lay in the bed. Then he told me he didn’t want to talk. So we just layed there together. I even laid with him as we came back to the room.
Unfortnately, after we got back to the room, he started to feel worse and worse. His oxygen saturation was low so they had to turn his oxygen back on. That isn’t a huge surprise given the condition of his lungs. However, it was a surprise when he started running fevers.
It sounds like his full tummy might have made him aspirate (inhale) some bile as they were intubating. We’ve seen this a couple of times with him and it’s pretty consistent. Some fevers. Maybe some trouble with his lungs called “aspiration pneumonia.”
The good news is that they are already doing all of the possible prescribed treatments. Antibiotics. Chest x-rays. Respiratory therapy. They did an x-ray and it looks good. His lungs sound good. We were able to get him settled down enough to keep some tylenol down and that has brought the fever down a bit, too.
He got feeling good enough to sit up and play with some playdough and he is asleep now. They have even been able to turn down the oxygen some. He’s also been asking to drink water, something he hasn’t wanted for well over a week… that tells me that his tummy has felt too tight for a while now and how that it doesn’t (and his mouth is dry from the oxygen), water sounds good. Thank goodness his belly is to suction right now and he can drink all he wants.
The great news is that his stoma is working great now, too. The funny thing about raising a kid with intestinal problems is that there are so many occasions to be extremely excited about stool.
Patrick Hoopes 