Second Surgery
Liam had to be NPO (no food or drink) after midnight, but his surgery wasn’t scheduled until 3:15. He and I needed to be at pre-op by 1:15. I hate when kids don’t get surgery first thing in the morning because they are even stricter about no clear fluids with kids than adults, but when your surgery is an add on it can’t be helped.
We got an Uber to get there and it was like God gave us a hug. The driver showed up in a minivan with a wheelchair lift! It was amazing! He simply wheeled Liam in and strapped his chair.
The first surgeries of the day went much, much longer than expected and Liam didn’t go to the OR until 7:30! That is a long time to go without food and water when you’re a kid and a very long time to hang out in a pre-op bed.
When anesthesia came I asked if he’s getting an epidural and he said, “I don’t know. I don’t see one slated.” I assumed the surgery must not be very intensive. They had told me I could stay since it was under three hours; but Liam said it made no difference to him so I opted to go home after the nurse liaison promised me repeatedly I’d be allowed back in.
We ate dinner, had a prayer meeting for Liam, and gave the kids baths and tucked them into bed. It is both a gift and heartbreak that this has become so normal for the little ones. They hardly know a life without Liam in and out of the hospital and living life mostly on the recliner and a mama who is there and not there in about equal parts.
But there are smiles and minutes of normal in our days because of them. Bella prayed that Liam’s leg wouldn’t look like a peanut anymore. 🙂
Our Uber driver was as astounded by our five acres of property in the country as we are by the highrises. He asked a lot about Liam’s leg and kept saying, “It’s going to be fine. You’re in the the place. Everyone comes here, even from all over the world. You’re in the right place.” And then he went back to our life in the country. “But you said you drive everywhere in the country instead of walking? How are you so skinny? You drive and you’re skinny? Country women are fat.” I burst out laughing. Big house and five kids keep after, I said.
Hard as it is for Liam, I am honestly grateful for this experience of city living for our kids. I wish it weren’t happening now because it is so incredibly hard on him; but I am so thankful their worlds are being expanded. I think we all become more gracious, well-rounded people the wider our life experiences are. We’re far less likely to see things only from our own narrow perspective, to be broken of some of our provincialism. In these days of not being able to travel, I’m so glad our kids get to experience a vastly different corner of America. I only wish Liam were whole and well and we could explore the city in wild adventures.
Surgery took much longer than the two hours they said and finally I told David just to take me back. When I got there they wouldn’t let me in because one of the patients had locked himself in a bathroom near the urgicare and fired a gun. Much of the hospital was on lockdown. Finally his surgery was over and the nurse came down to get me.
I went to the PACU (only later did I realize what a gift that was! Last time I wasn’t allowed) around 11:30 to find a child who was in horrific pain. They were only giving him fentanyl which wears off in five minutes and he was arching his back and crying, “Help me.” It was HORRIBLE. Finally the nurse from the next room came over to prod his nurses and they went to find the doctors and gave him dilaudid. He finally relaxed and got quiet. When they went on lunch break around 1:30 he came over to me, introduced himself and said, “How long have you been up?” I don’t know. Maybe since 7:30. “I’m going to go get you a stretcher so you can sleep.” I told him I’d be fine, but he insisted and said he’d get it right next to Liam so I could still be with him. He rearranged the room to get a stretcher right next to Liam. I almost cried. These days are stretched so thin that the smallest acts of kindness simply reduce me to tears.
When we got upstairs the nurse said, “Where are you from?” I said, “Virginia,” and Liam said, “How did you know we’re not from here?”
“Because your mom is way too nice.” She got the doctors to start a PCA for pain, but the dose wasn’t nearly high enough and Liam had so much pain overnight.
The next morning the pain team apologized and said, “I’m so sorry. This should never have happened. We never put our pediatric patients through a surgery like this without and epidural.”
I said he’s still in pain and she said, “I know. I’m taking over.” The day shift nurse told me she called the patient reps and they would call. “Please make sure you speak to them,” she said.
Hopefully that will never, ever happen again. Not to Liam. Not to any child.
I’ve been following along with your family’s journey with Liam. On January 5th and January 7th I was in the car for just a short while. I had the radio on and the song “Famous For” came on both times. It had been a little while since you had updated the blog, so I really had no idea what was going on, but I remembered that song was special to you (at some point awhile back). I prayed for you as I heard it!!
Oh, that gives me goosebumps. That was the very first song God brought me specifically for Liam and it was the first message about regrowing his bone. Long before I had any idea that was ever an option in osteosarcoma patients. January 5th is when his surgeon told him he had to take more and that his necrosis was so low and January 7th was his second surgery. Thank you for sharing that with me.