Surgery: Part III, A Mother's Intuition

Post-op... I had no intention of having a "Part III" of this surgery business, but yesterday/today changed my mind on that. Shortly after we got home, Chase's mood started going downhill, even with the Tylenol & Codeine for pain control. He was given a caudal block during the surgery, so that helped immensely in the beginning of the day yesterday since it pretty much blocked all feeling in the groin area. He was so flushed from the atropine, and felt like he was burning up, but we had faith that the Tylenol would kick in and he'd just be passed out most the day.

WRONG.

I laid next to him (have to watch them closely the first 24 hours post-anesthesia), and he would sleep in 5-10 minute increments, waking up crying his pitiful froggy cry. I eventually gave up on him sleeping, so just held him, he was so lethargic and miserable! Had to wait again until 7pm to give him more medicine, and that was even pushing it. Basically I ended up staying up with him a majority of the night, he couldn't sleep, he was just inconsolable and in pain. I finally brought him out to the living room around 10pm to inspect his surgery area further, and noticed he was extremely swollen, and looked to have a distended abdomen/bladder- for some reason it seems he was retaining urine- which is extremely painful. I called the surgeon's office, and got the on-call doctor. He had me take pictures of the surgical site, and eventually called me back. He was slightly concerned about it, but wanted to give it the night since swelling is common after surgery. The low-grade fever, labored breathing, etc, is apparently common too.

So sleeping in the infamous recliner (I spent a large portion of the pregnancy in this thing), with Chase propped up to sleep- both for comfort around his surgical site, as well as to try to keep him slightly elevated for the breathing issues. Eventually made it back to our room in the middle of the night and got a couple hours of restless sleep- better than nothing. But this morning I noticed the swelling was just as bad, and his breathing was really worrying me. He was still in so much pain...

I started to become that crazy mom- part of me felt I was overreacting, but the other part didn't want to wait another week to see the doctor. Luckily, the surgeon's office returned my call within an hour, and agreed to have him come in. We were expected to see the on-call surgeon who I'd talked to the night before. As we pulled into the parking lot, Chase's primary surgeon was getting out of his car and walking into the building too. He came up behind us as I was waiting to check in, told the receptionist he was here to see us, and pushed the stroller himself directly to an exam room. Apparently he had just found out about my calls to the office, and came in on his day off- I must say how impressed, relieved, and grateful I was to that.

First, they noticed his cough/breathing noises- but determined his lungs themselves are clear- so that was good. Just a side effect from having the tube down his throat yesterday- just can't take chances on pneumonia. He agreed with my concerns about swelling, and as I had mentioned last night, agreed that a catheter was needed... Let me tell you, almost as soon as the catheter was put in- his mood did a complete 180 degree turn for the better. We ended up doing a quick temp check and weigh in on our way out (backwards since the doctor took us in himself), and since yesterday Chase had gained over a full pound- weighing in at 20 lbs 5oz- that's ridiculous water weight/retention- a huge red flag!

Anyhow- moral of the story- with the catheter in and a prescription for antibiotics- he's on the upswing of recovery... I just now (at 4pm) gave him his pain meds, hours after I planned on. He's been rolling around and gabbing again- which is such a relief! Sure, we still have a long way to go until he's completely himself- but nothing is as scary as seeing your baby hurt and scared and feeling helpless about it. Yay for an awesome team of physicians who took me seriously and seem to genuinely care- what a refreshing change of pace!

(I had missed this smile!)