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The thought that brought Orson the most trepidation going
into his surgery last week was vomiting blood up after it was over like his
sister told him she did after her surgery last year. Well it happened. More
blood vomit. It’s absolutely expected after this sort of surgery but its
nonetheless traumatic and scary for the puker and full of surprises for those
taking care of the puker.
After his three hour fifteen minute procedure the
ENT/surgeon came out to talk with us and said he was shocked at how many polyps
Orson had. He said he had difficulty finding any passage at all and was shocked
if Orson was breathing through his nose at all before this. But he assures us
all the impacted (clear back to the back on both sides and up and down) sinus
were cleaned out, along with tonsils and adenoids removed. Thanks Doc good
work!
So then we go back to Orson who is balancing between sleep
and awake in post op. He’d already thrown up blood the first time before we got
to him and is looking miserable. When Orson pukes he thrashes violently around
the general area he is in and yells. It’s like he is riding a terrible horrifying
invisible rollercoaster and he can’t get off. But add to that roller coaster
blood vomit. First thing the sweet post op nurse says to me is “careful mom
he’s making real sudden movements.” She doesn’t know about his vomit coaster,
but his Dad and I do. So next time he thrashed up out of the bed Frank Daddy
grabbed his shoulders to hold him steady and I had the vomit bag (the nurses
quickly upgraded him to a vomit bucket) to catch Orson’s worst fear in its expandable
blue plastic sleeve, blood vomit.
The other sweet thin and petite post op nurse was like, “mom
feel free to get right into the bed with your son its OK we will let you.” And
I’m thinking “lady I’m 5 foot 10 and I’m all about that bass no treble so I
don’t think crawling into the hospital bed with my son who’s attached to an IV
and is vomiting blood is my best choice. I really really sincerely appreciate
your idea but I’ll opt for leaning in and stroking his head as opposed to
smashing him and getting blood vomit more directly on myself than I’ve already
gotten.”
He would beg for water, drink a bit, then vomit blood.
Common post op protocol. They gave him a bit of morphine which knocked him out
well enough to take the edge off and get him upstairs to his overnight bed. Frank
helped the nurse wheel his bed upstairs as opposed to waiting for
transportation to come. Just as Frank left to go get Orson’s bag out of the car
he blood vomited again only this time I was the only one there. So I’m
attempting to hold him steady and also chase him with the vomit bucket. The
results were not pretty. A kindly tech then changed the sheets with scary
looking red bombs dropped in various places while I held Orson in my lap in a
char. Then his nurse came in and asked, “so is this blood or vomit,” “both” I
said as she changed the arm board and IV dressing that also was a victim of the
vomit roller coaster.
Tonsils, adenoids, sinus surgery, and bronchoscopy’s done
simultaneously are definitely in the more common procedures for kids/adults but
it sure threw our little underweight CF boy’s body and mind for a loop. We’ve
felt extremely grateful for his g-tube it has taken a tremendous amount of worry
and stress out of taking care of him post op. We can do all meds through it. I
even had a sweet friend back east make a video for me to show me how she
administers enzymes through her daughters g-tube. While I didn’t master the
task as well as her 5 years of experience has, I did manage to administer them
as many times as it took for Orson to hate it and be motivated enough to start
swallowing at least enzymes again. Five days later his ears are killing
him, he’s got dark purple/red circles under his eyes, and most of his calories
(like 95%) are administered through the g-tube because his pain is too
bothersome to eat BUT he is already noticing his ability to breath clearer and
we look forward to complete recovery when he can smell, breath, and hopefully
have more desire to eat like the hungry hungry beast he needs to be.
Good job Frank Daddy for spending the night in the hospital
and having your own solo blood vomit experiences throughout the night. Good job
Orson for facing your fears and being a champion all star for all the crappy
stuff you have to do. You remain to be The King of Brave. Good job my Mom (our
Bebe Girl) for taking care of everything else so we could be at the hospital.
You are one of our Angels. Good job amazing staff at the best hospital ever we
appreciate all the kindness and care. We are one of those families that are too
blessed to be stressed and its all because of our faith in a Heavenly Father
who has a plan for each of us and helps us all along the way.
