Back Home Again!!!
November 10, 2007 | Updates
Thanks everyone for the comments on the site and ideas for dealing with the new tube. They are MUCH appreciated! So sorry we missed a chance to see little Parker and his mom (who commented on our last post), but more sorry that he will be having the same surgery sometime next week. Hope all goes well for the cute little man!
We are back home! We got home about 5 pm. Samuel actually slept really well last night. After my last post, he struggled quite a bit. He was fine if I was holding him, but I could not lay him down. So, I held him for most of the evening. Around 9:30 pm, he fell asleep on his own and slept until we woke him at 6 am. I did get up with him 4 or 5 times when nurses would come in for meds or vitals and wake him up, but he would quickly fall back to sleep, so I got some good rest! The only down side was that he slept too well and was never awake enough to urinate. I had actually warned the doctor (Dr. Jackson - since Parker’s mom was wondering) right after surgery that that would be a good possibility with Samuel because when he is sleepy or groggy, he just doesn’t go. Well, I was right and by early morning, his bladder was registering over 400 cc’s. We tried cathing him, but could not get it to work because he holds the muscles in there so tightly clamped - especially when he is screaming because we are trying to cath him.
After no luck and a lot of torturing, we gave up and decided to try a suppository. Most often when he has a bowel movement, he will also urinate. We waited an hour and nothing. So, we got ahold of the doctor and a nurse that apparently is the “wonder nurse” when it comes to cathing kids who are hard to cath. So, I held his head, one nurse held his arms, one nurse held his legs, the doctor stood by the bed and Mr. Awesome Cather got it done within a few minutes. It was a good thing, too, because I could tell Samuel’s full bladder was beginning to hurt and that added to the residual pain from the surgery couldn’t be fun.
After all that, Samuel was really tired again and fell back to sleep. He slept for several hours while we slowly began to feed him through the new tube and give meds through it to ensure that it was working well and there was not vomiting or other problems because of it. All the feeds went well, so at about 2 pm, we packed up and headed out. Samuel was still not very happy until I put him in his wheelchair and then he seemed to know we were finally going home. He was happy all the way out to the car and even sat in the breeze while I loaded the car without fussing. (He usually hated the wind.) He slept all the way home.
As soon as I pulled him out of the car at home, he started smiling. He smiled at Dad. He smiled at his brothers. He smiled as I put him in bed and I caught him later smiling at the movie that was playing. He was happy and content all night. I think he was just thrilled to be home. His pain seems minimal and he is just on tylenol and motrin. He’s had a lot of sleep today, so I’m hoping he’ll still sleep tonight. We’ll see.
Well, that’s about it. He seems to be doing well and now we just have to change the dressing each day and keep it clean so there is no infection. We’ll switch it out for a “button” that is much smaller and easier to manage in about 8 weeks. For now, I’m just loosly wrapping the old abdominal binders that we got when he had his baclofen pump surgery around his abdomen to keep him from grabbing the tube. It seems to be working fine.
Thanks for all the prayers. We’re SO glad to be back home. I had to take a picture of little Nathan after 36 hours with his dad and brothers. Let’s see - red & blue shirt (unbottoned), green and brown army pants (rolled up to different lengths on each leg), bright blue socks (that are too big because they aren’t his) and straggly, snarly hair a bit sticky about everywhere from milk, I think (you can’t see it in the pictures, but believe me, it’s a mess in the back). I guess it’s a glimpse of what the world would be like without women :)!
Love,
The Jewkes
RSS feed for comments on this post.
TrackBack URI
November 11th, 2007 at 1:14 am, Sue Searles Says:
I’m so glad to hear that Samuel’s surgery went so well and that you are both home again. Thanks for sharing the picture of Nathan, he is so darling, though I can for sure see that some man dressed him.
Love in Christ,
Sue
November 11th, 2007 at 5:18 am, Caradie & Corbin Says:
Hi Teresa,
Corbie HATES!!! the wind too.
I love your sence of hummor. Nathan is so cute it makes up for the “men” factor LOL.
Caradie
November 11th, 2007 at 5:20 pm, ann bailey Says:
And still he’s a cutie!
November 21st, 2007 at 1:45 am, Sue Searles Says:
How’s Samuel doing? Is everything going okay with his new g-tube?
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.
Love in Christ,
Sue