Post-Op Report

So, yesterday was the big day.  Here's a run-down on how it went:
We checked into Children's @ 8:50am
Sat in the pre-op waiting room for about an hour and a half where they checked his vitals and we changed him into his gown.  There were separate nurses who took his vitals, another who checked us in and asked us questions about Noah's health history and then the last one who would be in the OR with Noah.  All of them were very nice.  We talked to his anesthesiologist first, Dr. Wong, and she explained to us how everything would work.  She was super friendly and really loving towards Noah so that made me feel very much at ease.  Then we spoke to Noah's Gastroenterologist, Dr. Taylor, and she basically filled out paperwork with us, looked at Noah and listened to his breathing and briefly explained what she was going to do and what they would test for with the biopsies she collected.  Then his ENT doctor, Dr. Magit, came in and looked at Noah and explained what he was going to do and what to expect.  Before long, it was 10:30am and the OR nurse walked into our "room" and said they were ready.
At 10:35am Mike and I kissed and hugged Noah and watched as the nurse walked him down the hall to the OR.  I couldn't help but cry as a flood of memories from our NICU days came over me.  I remembered how I felt walking away from my son and wondering if he was going to be okay.  I was surprised at how overwhelmed I felt in that moment.  Thankfully, I have a wonderful husband who knew what I was thinking and respected my feelings at that moment and gave me my "time" to gather myself.  He hugged me in the waiting room and in only the way that he knows how, completely quelled my fears.

It seemed like only a few minutes passed, so shortly in fact that when Dr. Taylor walked out into the lobby I had to call Mike to get back from getting me a drink at McDonald's in the next building.  Dr. Taylor went to change her clothes while Mike came back.  At that point an administrator from the hospital called us back into the counseling room and my mom stayed behind to tell Dr. Taylor where they had taken us since she planned on meeting us in the lobby after changing.  We sat in there, the two of us, scared out of our minds and unsure what exactly what had been found, if anything.  It seemed like forever before Dr. Taylor entered the room and sat down to talk to us.  She said everything actually looked pretty good in his esophagus.  It wasn't until she got down near the bottom and by the duodenum that she noticed a couple inflamed areas and took biopsies from there.  She showed us four pictures and illustrated one area that she noticed had 3 small bumps which she suspected to be prior "damage" or swelling from what, she did not know.  She indicated that swelling can linger for months and years so she wasn't overly concerned.  His coloring was pink and everything was very smooth so she said those were all positive signs.  There wasn't anything that showed damage from reflux so that was also very good news.  At this point she said we just have to wait for the lab results for the biopsies, I am going to call and see if we'll find out before our appointment next week.
At the very end of our conversation Dr. Magit walked in and waited for her to finish.  After she did, he sat down and shared his information with us.  He said that his adenoids were very large, something we had suspected from the xrays but couldn't confirm until they actually got in there to take a look.  He said the procedure went very smoothly aside from a small blister he got on his lip from one of the instruments.  He gave us some antibiotic ointment to put on his lip along with a post-op informational sheet on adenoidectomies.  I was saddened to learn that he would still be congested because of the swelling for at least another 1-2 weeks, but we're hoping that he heals up and this whole congestion thing will be a thing of the past.  He wants us to return in two weeks for a follow-up.
After that, we went back to the lobby to wait with my mom and share the news with her while we waited for Noah to wake up from sedation.  We were surprised with an unexpected visit from Mike's brother Al, something that was very nice and appreciated.  It's good to know that Mike has real family that he can count on in times like this.  We waited for what felt like forever (but was probably around 45 minutes to an hour) before a nurse came out to retrieve us, Noah was finally awake!  I can't tell you how anxious I was to see my monkey.  As I rounded the corner to his curtain I was shocked to find Noah flirting with his nurse and kicking the mattress in his crib bed.  The relief I felt cannot be put into words, there he was, my crazy little kid acting like he just hadn't gone through two surgeries.  Are babies resilient or what?

His recovery room nurse was changing shifts but before she introduced us to our new nurse she told us she had been giving him an albuterol treatment for some weaziness and that's what he woke up to and was not happy about that so she had given him some demerol, I believe, for pain and help him relax a bit.  I proceeded to pick him up and give him a hug and kiss before they watched me feed him (one of the requirements to release him) and monitor his ability to swallow and hold his bottle down.  Noah only took a little less than 4.5 oz and I thought he was going to take more than that because he hadn't eaten since 11pm the night before.  But he was sleepy and wanted to go back to sleep so we let him.  When he woke up about 30 minutes later we sat around and waited to have his IV taken out so we could dress him and they could give us the discharge papers.  We walked out of the hospital at around 1:40pm!
After we got back home, it appeared as if Noah's meds had worn off because he got very cranky quickly.  We gave him Tylenol and plan to keep him on it around the clock for the next couple days.  He didn't sleep well last night because he sounded so congested and mucousy(sp?).  After calling the nurses line and speaking to someone in Dr. Magit's office today, we got the go-ahead to do a nasal rinse and suction him so we've been doing that and while it helps for a little while, it eventually starts all over again. My poor guy.  He's eating fairly well considering all that he's been through but hasn't increased his intake or anything.  He has been losing weight these past couple of days before the procedure because of his lack of appetite and I'm hoping he starts going the other direction here very soon.
I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to all our family and friends who took time out of their nights/days to say a little prayer for Noah.  We are continually amazed at the work God is doing in our lives to bring us closer to him everyday.  He's got big plans for this little guy and we feel so blessed to have amazing people surrounding us.  God is good!