Surgery Report

All I can say is how in the world did we handle 120 + days of the hospital before and when Cohen was born????? We are only halfway through 1 night and I am exhausted!

Cohen had his surgery this afternoon (Thursday). He had his heel cords clipped, adenoids removed and a broncoscopy. I know I have said before but we have been putting off this surgery for over a year. I just didnt think his little lungs were strong enough. After having a relatively healthy winter we scheduled it.

I know hindsight is always 20/20, but this is crazy. Here I sit in the PICU watching him struggle and work so hard to breathe after surgery. I can't believe he is here again. Helpless is such a mild word for how hard this is to watch.

I know he really needed this surgery to be able to walk. Everyone keeps saying in the long run we will be glad. I hope that is all true. The orthopedic surgeon also had to clip the cords on his big toe once he go into the surgery. Other than that is was exactly as planned.

The ENT surgeon came to see us after and said Cohen did great. He also told us Cohen's airway has gown tremendously in a year since the G tube surgery. GREAT NEWS. We were on cloud nine! That lasted about until they called us to recovery!

About an hour after he talked to us they let us come back to recovery. A nurse was holding him when we got there and she told us he had been a "handful". I was not pleased with the comment, but it turns out, she wasnt really our nurse, and ours came back from her lunch then. I held him and his oxygen saturations kept dropping. He just could not get comfortable but was not awake. The nurse called the Anesestologist and he came to check. He did a chest x-ray and gave meds. Cohen rapidly got worse. They ended up bagging him about 3 times. It was scary but thankfully they let us stay in the room.

This doctor and about 4 others, along with several nurses worked on him for about 2 hours. They never left his side. I have to say it was absolutley amazing care. When they finally got him stable they decided we would spend the night in ICU. It took until 11 pm to get him moved. Then more doctors and nurses checking and looking at him.

They think his lungs are just more scarred and weaker than we thought. That he has "reactive airway disease" and this caused his airway to swell up from being intubated. These are all just theories and guesses for now.

I am leaving out many details, but I am tired and cant think clearly. He is stable now but still requring alot of oxygen and is getting pain meds to help him rest. He is still really fussy and crying alot even with them.

Thank you all for your texts, calls, and prayers! Love you all! I left my cell phone charger at home, and my phone is completely dead. We really hope this is just a quick, temporary thing and we will go home in a day or so. I will update tomorrow. Goodnight!