George's Surgery: Day 2

Our first night after surgery was not fun. George spent much of the night gagging on his breathing tubes and sometime in the early morning hours, he kicked out his Foley catheter. He had a wonderful nurse, Stacie, who checked on him very often and was stationed right outside his room. I tried to get some sleep, and it was during one of these short naps that I heard someone calling for assistance. It was Stacie paging the charge nurse because George had just broken his Foley. He was very upset and kicking his legs and the Foley got caught between his toes and out it came. I got up very quickly, and the charge nurse came in and we all got George to calm down. Then while I held his little hand, they managed to put in a new Foley (this I couldn’t watch) and get everything all cleaned up.

 

A few hours later, the sun was up and Stacie’s shift was over. Our new nurse for the day was Monica. On this morning, the doctors decided it was time to remove his Foley permanently, and also to remove one of his chest tubes and his breathing tubes. This was really good news!

 

Here is the little man right after those things were removed. As you can see, he’s still got a lot of tubes and wires. He’s still on oxygen, but at least this time it’s not gagging him. He also still has two drainage tubes. His pacer wires are still in (just in case), and of course his IV’s (one in each arm and a central line going through his neck). He also got a gown on to help keep him warm. After the ordeal of getting things removed, he was in for a little nap.

 

 

I was able to go home and shower and rest while Aaron and his mom stayed with George. During this time, Aaron got the opportunity to hold George for the first time! I know this meant a lot to him. Here is one happy daddy and one very sleepy little boy. I’m so glad that Grandma was there to capture this moment.

 

 

When I got back, George was awake and hungry. Of course having not eaten in two days, we had to start off slow. Our nurse, Monica, had brought in some swabs to moisten his mouth, but as soon as George discovered that the swab contained water, he grabbed it and got to sucking. He was so thirsty! After he sucked the water out, he’d hand it back to the nurse for more. He ended up drinking a good amount of water and the nurse had to cut him off, for fear he might be getting too much and not be able to keep it down. But here he is with his nurse and his swabs. I loved how he kept looking at her with those handsome eyes, almost begging for more water. How could anyone resist?

 

After all this, he was in for another nap! It was during this time that we finally cleaned the betadine from his face where the breathing tubes were. One other great moment for him was getting his pacifier back. It really helped us all out because he could soothe himself back to sleep and I could lie down and rest for longer periods of time.

 

Bridget and my parents came by for a visit that afternoon. Bridget helped Nurse Monica with the scan gun they used before administering medication. Bridget watched Monica very carefully and seemed to be learning a lot.

 

 

The only big concern that we had on this day was that George hadn’t pee’d since his Foley was removed that morning. We waited, and waited, and waited. We rubbed his tummy and used damp clothes on his feet and nothing seemed to be working. His bladder was getting very, very full. It was time for Nurse Monica to go home and Nurse Stacie was back for the night. Because of the concern of George’s bladder rupturing, Stacie left to go get a Foley. We were all really dreading having to put a Foley back in so while she was gone, I kept rubbing his tummy and telling him to pee. Finally he did!!! It was 7:30 p.m. and he filled 2 diapers, one right after the other. Here he is with Nurse Stacie getting checked out. He’s sitting up somewhat on his own. He was a bit wobbly so we were sure to keep a hand close by in case he started to fall.