Surgery day hasn't got any easier for this momma, even though this is the 6th surgery in Clay's 6 months of life. It still gets my blood pumpin' when I see all the nurses and anesthesiologists come in in their blue scrubs, ready to whisk him away to the OR. I always walk out with tears in my eyes, holding on to Eric's hand..and praying like crazy!
They took him down around 1:30 yesterday afternoon..and they started out with the Broviak.
...After that, they tried doing the g-tube with a scope going down his throat and into his stomach. The scope has a bright light on the end of it...the light shines through the stomach and can be seen through the abdominal wall, so the surgeons will know where to place the feeding tube. This would've been the easier, less invasive way to insert the g-tube..
...but Clay's stomach was still in odd placement from the repair surgery two weeks ago, and the docs couldn't see the light shining through his abdomen. So they had to opt for the more invasive laparoscopic procedure instead..
..With this procedure, they put a camera through Clay's belly button and used it to find his stomach, which was sandwiched between bowel and diaphragm. Dr. Draus said he had to peel the stomach away from the underside of his diaphragm, because scar tissue had grown around it. He said that once the stomach was off Clay's diaphragm, he was easier to ventilate. So this is really good! With his stomach not putting pressure on his diaphragm, hopefully his left lung will have lots of room to expand and he can just breathe better all together. Pray this is the case!
..Once they got the stomach in good placement, they inserted the g-tube. They were able to put in the mic-key button. I'm still not totally sure about all the g-tube lingo, but I know the button is better and easier to deal with..so this is good! I've still got a lot of learning to do with the g-tube..
..He came up from the OR around 4 yesterday evening and he rested really well all evening.
Our nurse overnight said he slept all night long and never required any extra pain meds or sedation..then, when our day shift nurse came in at 7 this morning, he woke up and was smiling! He has played and smiled all day, with a few catnaps in between.
I swear, this little guy just amazes me! You can't even tell he had surgery yesterday. I know I shouldn't be surprised, though..with all the praying we've done! He sure is a tough cookie.
So the plan now is to give his stomach a couple days to rest, then we'll try to start feeding him through his g-tube. And we'll continue to wean the morphine, which should be off in a few days if he tolerates it well!
Keep on praying that Mr. Clayton Cash continues to make excellent progress and keeps moving forward..'cause at the rate we're going, it won't be long until home ventilators are back in the picture!
I am just in awe and so so thankful for our sweet, strong baby boy. We are so incredibly blessed in every aspect of our life. God is so good!
Thank you all, again, for the millionth time. We love each and every one of you..and I pray for peace and blessings to all!
Here's a pic of our sweet boy with NO TUBES on his pretty little face! And also a pic of his latest accessory--the g-tube:
I started crying when I read your story. We had a healthy boy on March 2 of 2009 Ian Matthew Back ....so we thought! When he was 10 mos old, he started vomiting and couldn't keep anything down. After 24 hours I took him to the Dr. who then sent us to Children's because he was dehydrated. What we thought was just a iv and then homeward bound, ended up being a very tramtic expierence that changed our lived forever! Ian, had a stomach malrotation causing the vomiting, nothing had attached (stomach,spleen etc.) he also had CDH which, the Drs. were shocked because they didn't discover this on any of the ultra sounds. Ian was the 3rd case in 5 years out of all 22 children's hospitals that this had happened later. They did surgery to repair the hernia and put everything in its right place. They placed a g tube so his stomach would build up scar tissue so attachment could take place. 7 more hours and the Drs. said he would have had organ damage or death. We stayed in the hospital for several days and he had to keep is g tube for 4 months. He has one lung that didn't fully develop from the cdh but as for that he is a HEALTHY 3 year old that I thank God for EVERYDAY!! Ian's name means "gift from God" and he truly is! When they were wheeling him down to the ER I was praying the whole way that I would see him grow up! God, PLEASE! As we handed him to the Drs. and Nurses and felt the wind being knocked out of me. They had to tell me to breathe. One surgery is all Ian needed now he just goes once a year and has an x-ray until he is 13. I know our stories are diffrent but, my heart goes out to you!I couldn't imagine 6 surgeries in 6 mos and practically living at the hospital that long. Our family and church will be praying for Clay and your family. I too want to spread the word about CDH!
ReplyDeleteI was so nervous to have another baby,but we welcomed our fourth child Weston Graham Back on Jan 25 2012 and he is healthy! No CDH (which we knew would be rare to happen a 2nd time) but, I worried still! God is GREAT! Going through what we went through as a family (because it effected his older sister and borther too) we don't take a single day for granted. It really makes you realize hoe precious life is!
Blessings & Prayers,
Misty Back
www.mommyoftandz@hotmail.com
If you ever need a ear!
My prayers for baby Clay and for all of your family. He is a cutie!
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