04/30/10 Surgery Day

Eli had his surgery at about 2:30pm this afternoon. Grandma and Grandpa McCormick came down to the hospital today to support us. The procedure took about 30 minutes and went very well. We thought we were out of the woods at that point and we were waiting for Eli to be transported back to the NICU for recovery when we got word that he wasn't waking up and breathing on his own.

Prior to the surgery Patricia and I had expressed our concerns about Eli's breathing and the effect anesthesia would have on him. We were told that they would take every precaution to make sure Eli was ok. They had intubated Eli prior to the surgery and he was on a ventilator during the procedure.

The recovery didn't go quite the way everyone planned. Under normal circumstances, you come out of surgery and they stop giving you anesthesia. You usually wake up within 5 to 10 minutes and start breathing on your own. You'd probably be very groggy and tired and want to "sleep" but your body's automated functions kick in. Eli has an issue with these automated functions and when he sleeps his brain doesn't work quite right so he forgets to breathe.

Once the surgery ended we had a quick visit by the GI doctor who told us the procedure went perfectly. It was almost bloodless. She showed us a picture of the inside of Eli's belly where the G-Tube was inserted through the stomach wall. Everything went well and we could head down to the NICU to wait for Eli. Everyone had previously agreed to recover Eli in the NICU after the surgery.

We headed down to the NICU as instructed and sat in the lobby waiting for 10 minutes, then 20 minutes, then 30 minutes. What's going on? Finally we hear our NICU nurse being paged. She comes out to tell us that there's been a little problem bringing Eli out of sedation but it isn't a big deal. They are going to wheel him down now and continue the process in the NICU.

After a little while we see them wheeling Eli's bed down the hallway. As they come into view we can see they are manually bagging him to keep him breathing. This was our number one concern when he went into the surgery. With his central breathing issues and his brain not telling him to breathe when he's asleep we were worried about intentionally putting him under anesthesia. Seeing them bagging Eli to keep him breathing upped the stress level on an otherwise already stressful day.

Back in the room they start work on getting the ventilator set up. There are some moments when they are trying to swap Eli over from manual bagging to ventilator support where he desaturated pretty significantly and they have to start bagging him again. The 4 of us are crowded into the room along with 5 doctors and nurses. Normally you're only allowed to have 3 people in a NICU room but I think they're making an exception and it's nice to have my parents there for support. The process to get the ventilator up and running is taking forever and I'm feeling so stressed out right now that I think I'm going to be sick. At one point Patricia says she needs some air and leaves. Soon after my parents go out to make sure Patricia is ok.

It takes a lot of work but they eventually get Eli set up on the ventilator. He appears to be stable and he's holding his oxygen saturation level now. He still isn't breathing on his own yet. There are points where he will start to gag or vomit because of the tube sitting in his throat but he isn't waking up fully enough to breathe consistently. The attending physician in the NICU is telling us we might need to have Eli on the ventilator all night.

Some more time has passed. Patricia and I are both sitting in the room with Eli. My parents left the hospital to go get the boys. They are going to take Ian and Obie back to their house for dinner and to spend the night while Patricia and I deal with Eli tonight. Patricia and I have been pretty scared and I don't think I've ever physically felt the effects of stress before but today we've both taken a beating. I think it's around 5:00pm now. They've had to suction Eli's lungs a couple times to drain some of his secretions. I'm not 100% sure we understand why he has secretions and why they have to suction him so it only adds to our stress level. By 7:00pm they have him stable and settled in for the night on the ventilator.

Patricia and I are starving and we feel like we've been put through the ringer. We definitely need some sleep but we want to stay with Eli a little longer. We pop out to get a quick bite to eat and then we're back with Eli for the rest of the night. We decide to head home around 11:00pm. Eli seems to be doing ok on the ventilator and he's sleeping. Hopefully we'll be able to extubate him tomorrow and he'll be breathing on his own.