The Master Strikes Again
Home 5
I got caught by Kayden becoming complacent. He busted me getting used to him and all the amazing things he has done. He just had to remind me that he is the absolute master.
The master of what you ask?
Let’s start at the beginning of Thursday.
Sylvies off to daycare as normal and Kaydens all dressed for the day. We are off to hospital for his ROP ( Retinopathy of Prematurity) eye surgery.
There’s lots of waiting, checking his details and little tests like a RAT, eye drops and blood pressure. Then some more waiting. I’m in the room with Kayden and Lees stuck in the reception waiting room from Covid rules. It was tricky at lunch time and I needed to pump, eat and pee all at the same time. So the nurse took Kayden for a little walk around. Lee popped in to say bye since he’s just stuck out there and the nurses were fawning over Kayden.
We’ve been told we are the second surgery and he will up next. I’m wheeled in with him fast asleep on me to a pre-ops ward and then into the operation theatre. I just handed him over to the anesthetist like bloop and I got escorted out. They said he would be in the theatre for 3 or so hours. I’m sitting back in the ward room , pulled out my crochet to take up some time and keep me relaxed. About 45 minutes later and the surgeon comes in. He said the angiogram went well, his eyes look good and there’s no leakage of the blood vessels. So….no laser required!
The master of self healing strikes again.
A few minutes later and I’m shown to the recovery ward. Kaydens awake and getting a nurse cuddle. He is super yellow, like a baby cheetos from the contrast dye. They said he’ll wee it out in a few days. He’s looking pretty good, two funny sharpie dots over his eyes, an IV line and some ops monitors.
They are mostly keeping an eye on his breathing and saturation as he comes down off the general anaesthetic. The anaesthetist confirmed they did intubate him for the angiogram and she is recommending due to his history and chronic lung disease (CLD) that we stay at starship overnight for observation. He is saturating in the low 90s and she would prefer to be seeing high 90s.
I call Lee and we agree to do whatever they say is best and are waiting for the ambulance transfer. Hours and hours later and there is still no sign or information from St. John’s Ambulance about the transfer. Thankfully the nurses sorted me some dinner. We’ve been in Greenlane hospital now a total of 9 hours for a 45 minute procedure, it’s been a long day.
After chatting to the nurse we decided best course of action is to take ourselves to Starship. So I called Lee to come collect us and I had to sign a self discharge form saying I was leaving against medical advice. I very clearly marked on the form that this wasn’t the case, we were simply taking ourselves to Starship because the ambulance was a no show. The nurse agreed we did the right thing and she will be putting in a complaint to the ambulance as well. She told us we were marked as second priority so they definitely should have sorted us by now.
And we are back at Auckland Hospital, feeling all to familiar but this time into the Starship building. We had to check in via ED and repeat the same information and tests we did at Greenlane. Kayden did another RAT but we avoided the weight in and HR monitor. There were two kids before us which nasty coughs and I didn’t want to touch the same surfaces with Kayden as we’ve just had surgery and CLD. The check in nurse was understanding.
We were swiftly shown up to our room in the wards. The night nurse checks us in and we chat monitoring and then Lees gotta go cause it’s only one parent at a time. They were going to check his ops every 4 hours but I requested continuous monitoring. I felt like I could wake up every four hours and check him at home, I was under the impression the purpose of our stay was to be more monitored. The nurse easily agrees and grabs the monitors.
About 20 minutes in and Kayden is starting to desaturate into the 80s. The nurse rings the doctors for a chat and it is agreed to put him onto low flow. It is really just a sniff of oxygen to help him as he sleeps. He seems to be dropping when he is in a deep sleep.
He didn’t enjoy getting the stickers and prongs put in half asleep but we got it done quickly. The nurse was really gentle and caring, she must have asked me 20 times if I needed anything. I knew I was in for a long night, between being limited to the range of the wires, monitors pinging, Kayden being uncomfortable, not a great bed and other kids screaming; its not a recipe for any sort of rest.
The next morning we wait the doctors rounds to find out the plan. Kaydens low flow has been off since he woke up and he seems to be saturating in the low 90s and when he is alert in the high 90s. The paediatrician consults with the surgeon and anaesthetist, they decide we can be discharged home. The GA should be out of his system now. Within a few days a home nurse will contact us so we can run an oximetry test on some overnight monitors.
Also a shout out to our day nurse who gave Kayden cuddles at the desk so I could eat some lunch. It’s super tricky with the one parent rule and I feel so bad asking nurses to just watch him.
We prep and pack up to go home. The nurse comes in the take out the IV and the low flow prongs/sticker off. She’s starts with the IV and I’m there holding and calming Kayden. She asks me to hold his hand and keep pressure where the line came out as she moves onto the low flow prongs. He starts to get upset about the stickers peeling off and she goes quickly and gently. She’s all done and I instinctively went to lift him to comfort him and gush… whoops. I let go of his hand from the IV and blood just squirted across the room and on me like a movie scene. I looked at nurse and said sorry that’s my bad. We kinda laughed it off, Kayden thankfully didn’t bat an eye.
At home Kayden was much more settled and I was completely shattered. Kayden and I slept through the night and Lee kept getting up to check him.
He is all good just two funny dots marked on his forehead.
I’m continually amazed by him. How have we gotten away with no major surgery born 18 weeks early. That’s absolutely WILD.
He is a marvel.
