He Needs Time

Zane’s surgery went well, but that doesn’t mean life is good for him right now. Sure, there’s the pain. But there’s also some extra challenges going into recovery. But I’ll get to that shortly.

Zane was taken back for surgery at 12:30. The surgeon told us once his part began, it would take three hours. The operation was expected to start around 1:30. At 2:30, the OR nurse called saying they just started because they had trouble getting an atrial line—something they never did get.

At 3:50 (with the update board showing Zane still in surgery), a nurse called us back. The surgeon had only been “on the job” for an hour and twenty minutes. We filled with dread, more like borderline panic. My heart rate immediately accelerated. I figured he didn’t make it through surgery. The situation and atmosphere felt dire. We prepared ourselves for the worst while we waited in a room for Dr. K (the surgeon) to arrive with his news.

I saw him emerge from behind the doorway, and his pace was so slow, I figured he was putting off the delivery of his grave news. But then Dr. K came in, closed the door, and told us everything went well. It was then I realized he was just a slow walker.

The rooms in the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit) were full. So we waited for three hours in recovery. But Zane was still on anesthesia. He had only opened his eyes twice at the sound of Jeff’s voice.

Once Zane was settled in the PICU, and I had given the doctors and nurses the low down on the various systems (neuro, cardio, renal, etc), we were able to turn off the lights and relax. But not for too long. At 3:30, I awoke to the sound of his monitor alarming. I looked at it to see the oxygen saturation dropping into the 80s. The nurse kicked up his oxygen, but the rate remained unresponsive. She paged the on-call resident and the respiratory therapist. They took a chest x-ray, determined he had atelectasis (which is like a collapsed lung), and hooked him up to a Bipap machine (bilevel positive airway pressure, which is a non-invasive way to provide ventilation to the lungs. He’s still on it as I write this post.

The plan today is to try to take him off of it and see how he does. They are trying to avoid reintubation, but they also want to make sure his left lung recovers and functions well. Zane is on two forms of pain medication: a generic form of morphine and Valium. He needs time.

As always, we appreciate the outpouring of support, positive thoughts, and prayers from everyone. I will continue to update when I have more information.