Adams surgery

For two weeks I've been mulling over what to post about Adams surgery and still come up with a blur of 7 days. Here is my attempt to put days into words.

We were at Primary Childrens Hospital at 6:30 on Tuesday (Jan 10, 2012) morning. Adam was more than wonderful. He could not feed after 4 a.m. and even though he was awake and should have been wanting to eat, he was smiling and talking.

He was adorable in his little gown.


The anesthesiologist came in and gave us the run down on what to expect. Then we gathered everything up and headed out of pre-op. We walked down to the end of the hall and stopped. Then we handed over our little sleeping Adam to anesthesiologist and went seperate ways.
I have no words to describe how heart wrenching it was to turn around and walk away from him.
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Dr Skarda had told us to expect at least 4 - 5 hours, so we took over a corner of the waiting room and began the waiting. Grandma Fritsch and Grandpa Ellett waited in the waiting room with us.
About 2 1/2 hours later one of the ladies at the desk came over and informed us that she had just spoke to Dr Skarda, they were finished with the surgery and he would be out in a couple minutes to speak with us.
We were all very shocked that they were finished already. Dr Skarda brought us all in one of the conference rooms and gave us a breakdown of how the surgery went.
Adam went under the anistetics great and they had no problem getting both pic lines and the IV in. They got in his chest and found the growth was only about 1/3 the size it showed on the original CT scan taken the day he was born. They were able to remove it without any complications and in half the time.
That morning we had asked him if it would be possible to see the growth once it was removed and he said he would be happy to bring it out. After he told us how the surgery went, he brought out the container with the growth.


We couldn't believe how big it was, and to think it was only 1/3 its original size. The best way we found to describe its size was to compare it to a 6oz uncooked steak.

They let us into the PICU a little while after we spoke with Dr. Skarda.
It was hard seeing Adam so swollen and pale.



Day 2
6:00am chest x-ray
They were only able to keep him awake long enough to eat about .5 an oz through the night. So in the morning they were hoping he would latch and breastfeed instead.
Luckily he was a little more alert and latched for a little while.
The rest of the day he was awake on and off but not enough to eat more than 2 oz.
He was still really swollen and really pale, but moving more as the day went on.



Day 3
6:00 am chest x-ray
Adam was eating better, moving more and opened his eyes.
Every day he was getting better and better.



The incision and chest tube.


Day 4
6:00 am chest xray
More and more improvements, until around 4:30 pm. In the usual vital checks the nurse heard a different noise in his right side. She called in the respitory therapists and they were baffeled as well.
5:00 pm chest x-ray
There is a leak in his lung. It isn't large, but still a leak.
Vitals every hour, different drs, therapists, nurses come and go.
2:00 am chest x-ray
no change, air and fluid pockets are still there.



Day 5
6:00 am chest x-ray
fluid and air pockets are smaller, one more x-ray later in the day and maybe the chest tube will come out.
2:00 pm chest x-ray
no change. chest tube will stay for another day. The sound in his lung is quieter now so they are not as worried as they previously were.



Day 6
6:00 am chest x-ray
X-ray looks better, they pulled the chest tube out and find one of the little holes in the tube had moved outside the skin. Which means when Adam sucked in a breath as the tube dressing was pulled off, air went into the tube and into his chest.
4:00 pm chest x-ray
the x-ray showed an air pocket in his right lung so he needed to be watched and have one more x-ray the next morning.

Day 7
6:00 am chest x-ray
The x-ray looked better so we were discharged but we were not allowed to leave the valley until the xray on tuesday morning.

It was great to be out of the hospital, even if I wasn't at home.

Tuesday we went in for a chest x-ray about 9 am and then met with Dr. Skarda.
We got the okay to head home with a follow up in 2 weeks. My sister-in-law drove us up to Inkom to meet Bill.

It was so wonderful to be home, together and not have to worry (as much).

We go back on the 6th. Hopefully I will be able to update that post sooner than this one.

When Ethan came up to visit Adam I took him down to the play area they have at Primarys. He had a blast playing with all the toys.