Sunday night, Max couldn't sleep. He didn't want to be up, didn't want to be down. Didn't want on his back, didn't want on his side, or his belly. He was fussy as fussy can be, and kept us all up all night long.
Monday, he wasn't acting much better, and as the day wore on, we knew something was definitely going on. He couldn't eat without becoming very bloated, and trying to throw up. He was having a hard time regulating his circulation in his legs, and wasn't having any output.
All of those were warning signs enough to call the doctors on call...all while packing our bags for the hospital. Because, any time we call an on call doctor, we know we'll have to go in. Once it gets to that point, we're half-way there. Sure enough, we had to take him in on Monday afternoon.
We weren't sure what was going on, other than he wasn't wanting to eat, and was very uncomfortable. They put us in a room in the ER to see what they could find. Once they read his history from December, of having abdominal surgery for a pinched intestine, they ordered an x-ray straight away.
While we were in radiology getting the x-rays done, Max did his best to defile every inch of their equipment with his stomach contents. He vomited about ten times while we were in there. That's when I knew it was happening again.
We got him back to the ER and shortly after getting his IV going, the doctor came in and said, we've called surgery and GI, they'll be down shortly.
This was what they saw that kicked them into high gear.
See that big loop on the left of the photo? That's his transverse colon. The large intestine. Which had once again closed itself off and was filling with air and liquid, not letting anything else through. It was swollen well above his liver, and pushing into his right lung, making it difficult for him to breathe.
Surgery and GI talked, and they thought the best first plan was to let GI go in with a scope and try to open up the pinch and let the intestine correct itself, without emergency surgery like last time. When GI came in to meet us, he let us know about the procedure, and then told us no one here had ever done this specific procedure in that area of the colon on a pediatric patient before, and only one reported case study has been published. He had calls into his colleagues at University Hospital across the street, and they hadn't ever done it either. Our first question was, "Will the surgeon be in there too?".
Indeed she was going to be, because if the colonoscopy didn't work, because they wouldn't force it, they would open him up on the same incision as his last surgery on his intestines in December and try to relieve the pressure that way. We had caught it early, and they were confident that if they relieved the pressure early we could avoid a surgery...rupture...infection...resection of intestines.
By 9:30pm, we were rolling into the OR. We got to the hospital at about 4:30pm...and that was fast.
They took us into the same room as we were in before his surgery in December. We gave him quick kisses and hugs and off he went.
We didn't know really what kind of night we would have when they took him back. He was being prepped for a colonoscopy, with the possibility of surgery, which could mean so many things, depending on what they found inside.
About an hour and a half later, the anesthesiologist came out got us. They didn't have to do surgery, and the colonoscopy worked....for now. They will work together, Surgery and GI, to see how they can fix this so it doesn't keep happening. But first, they need to know why it's happening. So, a lot of follow-up appointments are coming on.
Today, he's pretty much back to his normal self. He's been sleepy, and a bit grumpy with so many people messing with him, and just being in the hospital. But, we've watched a couple of movies, and he pretty quickly got back on his regular feeds. All of his specialists have been checking on him all day, and they all agree they've done what they need to this time round, so he'll likely be discharged tomorrow, Wednesday.
So, that's the short and long of it. We fixed the immediate problem, but we have to get to the bottom of what is causing this, and get it fixed.
But for now...we just want to get home.
3 comments:
Oh Max you have had quite a weekend. glad your mommy is so awesome and caught it early.
Hope you get home very soon. Big hugs
Wow, another holiday another hospital stay! I am glad that surgery was not needed.
I hope you are home now. I keep checking Facebook to see if you all are back in your own beds. I hope so!
That is a seriously impressive x-ray! I've been following and reading but didn't get to post until now - I hope that there is a plan to relieve this for good in the near future, although I know it will no fun for anyone!
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