Just a quick update on K.C. and his surgery. I'll make this as short as possible :)
K.C. came out of Anesthesia fighting, crying and pulling his hair out. The nurses called me back to recovery as soon as he woke up because he was so upset. When I walked back to recovery I saw 4 nurses surrounding him. Each nurse had a foot and a arm. K.C. had ripped the i.v. out and they were trying their best to put the i.v. back in his foot this this time. It broke my heart to see him so upset. The nurses decided to move this to a recovery room that had a sliding door to it. We kept the door shut to not disturb the other patients (children) who were in recovery. Everything that we tried to calm K.C. with didn't work. The nurse left saying she was going to call the doctor and when she came back she had a needle with meds in it. I asked her what it was and she said Morphine. She gave him the shot and he fell asleep almost immediately. I could hear the blood in his throat for him screaming so much. His little nose was bloody too. She suctioned both out after she gave the shot. I stayed with him and the nurse took a seat and monitored him. They had this thing on his finger that monitors how much oxygen your body is getting and K.C.'s kept dropping down into the 70's. The Morphine had a bad affect on him. The nurse got an oxygen mask and put it to his nose and turned the oxygen on. He wore it for about an hour and slowly his oxygen levels returned. Thank God, I was so scared I thought I was going to totally lose it.
After recovery the nurses wheeled him down to a room, a private room to rest. I can honestly tell all the Mom's and Dad's out there it is the toughest thing I have ever had to do. Keeping a child, any child for that matter in a hospital room for three days is HARD. Ont he second day he was better but sore. I could tell cause he sounded so raspy and kept trying to stick his fingers down his throat and up his nose. I brought all his movies, markers, pens ETC. I knew we were in for a long 3 days. K.C. refused to wear the hospital gown they gave him and kept taking it off so I put his regular shirt on.
Today he is still sore and last night his breathing was sounding obstructed so I looked up his nose and he had a big blood clot up there. I couldn't get it out because his nose is still sore and he doesn't know how to blow his nose. Today we have an appt. to see if the doctor can get it out. I forgot to mention that in one of K.C.'s ears the doctor said, "there was a foreign body in his right ear." I asked what it was and he said, "skittles." I guess that K.C.'s reinforcer for ABA also went in his ears. We will have to watch more carefully.
The boys stayed with our helper friend and Big Brother called quite a bit saying the house was so quiet without K.C. and wanted him to come home. He really missed him. Ad-Man Adam has started growing hairs on his chin! This is all new for us and I am wondering how to deal with it that's best for Adam. I wish I could ask Adam if he would like to keep the hair growing on his chin or take it off. We are going to make cards of both choices and see if we can get him to tell us that way. I always want to respect whatever he does and I can bet that Adam knows so much in his head and certainly can decide if he wants to shave or not. He just cannot communicate it. Wish us luck!
K.C.'s Autism class sent his a big get well card, each child had their thumb print on and the teacher put each child's name under their thumb print. His OT and Speech teacher signed it too. Yesterday I read it to him and he was very quiet, I read it twice to make sure he heard and understood. Guess what? He didn't tear the card up or scribble on it. He looked at it through out the day, feeling it and just looking at it. He knows. He knows.
P.S. yes that is a baby bottle you see in one of the photos. Yes K.C. still has a bottle when he's upset to calm him. He has only one a day. I know that he shouldn't but I can't see how it hurts anything and the way it calms him benefits him. I hope I don't get bashed too much for saying that.
Thanks for reading and stopping by to check on K.C. and the boys. We love you guys!
19 comments:
Thank God he is okay..how scary for you! My little guy, TC, had a lot of caps put on his teeth last year and he had to be put under anaesthesia. Girl, when he came to, he was a madman! He cried and screamed for 2 hours after recovery. His face was all swollen and he didn't understand what was going on! Thankfully once in the car, he slept all the way home. I am praying for you guys as always!
Sounds like Adam is going through some serious puberty. Whoa!
Oh, honey! I *know* how hard it is to watch KC struggle the way he did. No parent should have to go through that and yet, we do. I'm so glad you have your helper to take care of the other boys while you were away.
About that bottle? Anyone who wants to bash you for it should spend a day or two living your life and helping your boys the way you do before they are allowed to make one peep. It's not like you let him walk around all day with it or take it to school. It's no different than a chewy tube or other sensory soother. If it works, keep on using it until you can find an alternative that KC will accept.
Skittles in the ear? That had to be painful when it went in! Yikes.
Nik, Niksdad and I send lots of hugs and good wishes for you and all your wonderful boys. xo
The LAST thing ANYONE would ever do is judge you for giving a bottle to K.C.!!!! You go through so much, with such a stellar attitude, that you are a saint in my eyes. The more ways you can soothe YOUR child that don't harm anyone else, the better, in my eyes! What an ordeal...thank you for the update... XO R
Thanks for the update, and I'm glad to know you are all ok! The bit about the morphine scared me- of course it scared you!! Are you remembering to take care of yourself??
For some reason I can't stop looking at the photo where K.C. is looking at the camera- I feel like I'm looking right into his eyes.
LOL about the skittle! Too funny! He's got to feel better now that it's out!
I am so glad to hear that everything went relatively smoothly. My Nutkin had to have surgery last spring (undecended testicle), and I didn't know how he was going to handle it. The children's hopital here doesn't allow parents to spend the night in the room (no private rooms), so I dozed on a bench in the waiting area for two nights. Thankfully, the nurses were more than happy to get me whenever he woke up, since they could not communicate with him much at all. But, we got through it, and I slept for two days afterward!
It seems you got an extea bonus with the surgery. I'll bet having the skittles removed is much more comfortable, and he can probably hear better!
Oh, I had hoped it would have gone better...
DON'T pick stuff out of his nose!! G had two surgeries and the second was to get stuff out after the first... I don't suppose you're getting another or you would have mentioned it.
Poor guy.
Oh, and I'm with redhead about the bottle. You know, Woodjie just stopped with the bottle after he kept disassembling it and chewing the nipple.
THAT was a choking hazard and time to say goodbye after that no matter how much screaming we dealt with. I'll tell you, it's still HARD when I want him to sleep and there's no bottle around any more for him. :[
So hey, whatever works for you. Hope YOU are doing ok.
Tina - we are praying over here. Having spent a week with my son in the hospital, in a 2-month period, I totally totally empathise. After his brain tumor was removed, when Chayim Zvi was in the intensive care, was the worst, he was throwing up just from moving his head the least bit, and miserable, and it was awful. Thank G-d he recovered relatively quickly and we were only in the hospital a week each time. Every time he has an MRI (every 6 months) it's really hard for me, but I don't let on. He has to do one every 6 months.
G-d keep you and your kids! You are an amazing amazing mom.
Tina - I don't (think I) have an email address for you. I just want to say how touched I am that you are thinking of me in the midst of everything else challenging you. We are fine, and except for a false alarm last week (that my school kids heard but my husband and daughter at home didn't), we could easily forget there's a war on (or off - if the cease fire means anything). Hang in there and take care of YOURSELF as well as your wonderful boys.
i am sooooo sorry about how hard that was on you and KC. it's the most painful thing in the world to watch your child suffer in pain and fear and not be able to do anything about it! i am sending my best thoughts and our prayers to all of you!
Oh what a time. I'm with everyone on the bottle -- you do what you do. And it works.
Maybe someone has already pointed this book out to you, but if not, when things settle down, take a look at That Went Well, written by the sister of a special needs child. She's become a writer/speaker who tries to focus on the happy endings and kindnesses of strangers that her sister has experienced. I was just blown away by the ending. (But don't skip ahead! You'll deprive yourself of being able to savor the book!)
GOod luck and godspeed.
Im glad its behind you both now. Im just waiting for a date for C to go into hospital. And as we have been through this before i know how hard it is.
Hugs
Tina, I agree with everyone else above. You are an amazing mom (and sister). I actually had to go look for the bottle that you were talking about. Who cares?! (except maybe some idiot troll).
I second Gretchen: are you taking care of yourself? No more trips for you to the hospital!
I laughed about the Skittle. I swallowed a penny when I was a kid. Why? Who the hell knows. Kids just do funny things like that. Conor likes to draw all over himself. LOL
Sending lots of love and prayers your way. xoxo
Poor KC, that sounds like it must be so hard for him! As for the bottle, its a comfort item, he deserves it. Actually there have been times when Little Bear has been so upset (usually at bedtime) that I've offered her a "milk bottle" and filled one of her baby sister's bottles up with regular milk. It calms her down. Bottles are comforting.
I just came across your blog and wanted to say (((HUGS))) for what you went threw...and just wanted to say PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't think there is any shoulds with your child! Just because a NT child shouldn't be on a bottle does NOT mean YOUR child shouldn't!!! A lot of these kids lack the ability to self soothe, and if you've found something that works to help calm him down then way to go mom!!!! You're a step ahead of some of us, and how wonderful for him that he HAS something that will soothe him!
Do not worry about or feel a need to explain the bottle, it is okay. All of our kids have there "thing" and mine have theirs too. I do not care what anybody says. Mine still have blankies and Noddy has a Dragon Tales sippy he must have--he is 10 years old.
I hope he is recovered very soon and you get some good sleep. Sleep is good.
Oh Girl how brave and tired both you must be. On the other side now. I just wish I could of given you a big hug!
Your doing a great job with all of this. Remember to take good care of you.
I am so glad that K.C. is okay, what a difficult time for you guys. He is such a trooper and you are such an awesome mommy, you have been through so much and you just keep right on no matter what.
Your friends don't care about and will not judge you about the whole bottle thing.......no worries!
How are you feeling? Are you okay? You have so much to think about all the time and I am sure that it is easy for you to forget to take care of yourself but please do! All of us care very much for you guys and never wish to hear about trips to the hospital again.
We love you guys with all our hearts!
I am thankful you were able to finally get KC in a private room too.....I am sure that was better for you both! Hoping he gets better real soon and you hang in there too!
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