We're back! Here's Drew in the tree over Thanksgiving at the Cherry household.
(c) 2004-2005 Scott Everett
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Sunday, November 13, 2005
And we're off!
To see the wizard? No, to see the family in VA. We'll be back on 11/29. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
skot
skot
Friday, November 11, 2005
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Saturday, November 05, 2005
What a trooper.
We're back from our quickly planned excursion to the pediatric surgery center. Wait, wait, there was no acute trauma or need associated with this visit. Drew was just being tested. You see,....
We had an appointment scheduled last week with the specialist, his first in three months. Drew had been gaining weight relatively steadily (about 0.75 lb per month) and the doctor was starting to get a little more comfortable with his growth (he'd never let us know that, but that's what it seemed like), so he scheduled his next appointment not a month along, but three. We were all prepared to tell the doctor that we weren't coming back to see him, since we have seen the trend in Drew's growth. All went pear-shaped when we actually had Andrew weighed on that visit. Inistead of gaining about 2-2.5 lbs over the previous three months, the scale read a net of -0.5 lbs. Yes, you read that correctly, negative 1/2 pound -- he had lost weight! This was definitely a shock to all of us. At this point I think we all agreed that the endoscopy was necessary. So, about a week or so later, we all packed in the car for an overnight trip to the big city -- Fort Worth (Hurst to be accurate).
To say that Andrew behaved well these last couple days would be a gross understatement. We don't deserve to have a little boy so well-behaved after what he's been put through. We all woke up Thursday morning at about 4:30 (you know it's serious if I'm getting up at 4:30) and headed up to the surgical center. We got there at about 7 and the immediately checked us in and sent us back to the pre-op area. He had all his vitals checked (the blood pressure monitor was hilarious -- he giggled through that), he flirted with all of the nurses, and was told exactly how cute he is. When it came time to perform the procedure, Liz took him into a "separation room." Since we weren't to go into the OR during the operation, they took the two of them into a darkened room, gave Andrew a nasal sedative while he and Liz were cuddling, and when he was totally relaxed and barely alert, the took him into the OR. He spent about 30 minutes in there, during which time they put a camera down his esophagus, place a pH probe near his stomach, and took X-rays to verify the placement of the pH probe. That had to have been the longest, most stressful half hour of my entire life. I thought that I would be able to handle it pretty well, and though I think I did, it was definitely harder that I ever would have imagined.
The doctor came out after about 15 to 20 minutes to discuss the results of the endoscopy and said everything looked fine except a few white spots in Drew's esophagus. That could be a sign of some sort of food allergy, he said, and it would cause the walls of the esophagus to become stiff during eating, leading to him eating less. Those were biopsied along with five other locations and we should have results back in the next two weeks or so. While we were in consultation with the gastroenterologist, they were placing the pH probe. Maybe ten minutes later a volunteer with the hospital ushered us back to where Drew was in step-down recovery, emerging from anesthesia; the worst was over.
Or so we thought. Up until this point, Andrew had barely uttered a peep during any of the tests or procedures; pulse -- pretty cool band-aid sensor, blood pressure -- as I mentioned earlier, tickled, weight -- a ride on a floaty scale, length -- a chance to fall back onto a bed, sedative -- cuddling with mom. As he was coming out of the anesthetic he must have been completely disoriented, confused, uncomfortable, and not to mention seriously hungry because he was in the most hysterical state we have ever seen him in. The nurses kept asking us what would calm him down, but we didn't know; he'd never been like that in the previous 15 months of his life. He had three tubes coming out of him (pH probe, IV fluids, and a pulse monitor), strangers man-handling him, and his arms bound. Apparently, he kept tugging at the IV tube, so they had to restrain his arms with a pair of splints (or in pediatric parlance "no-no's"). Since he was a newborn, Drew has hated having his arms bound. We have never been able to bundle him; not for sleeping, not after bathtime, never. Though they prevented him from pulling at any of the tubes, I think that just sent him further into hysteria. Then the nurses checked the X-ray and found that the pH probe wasn't low enough in his esopagus. Though it didn't hurt, they had to pin Drew down to the bed and pushed the tube further down his throat. I have never heard a more heart-wrenching scream come out of my son than that moment. I didn't know what to do. I just wanted to grab him and take off, but we really do need to find out what's going on. That over, we went back to recovery and tried to get him calmed down.
To try to get him calm, we took one arm out of a splint (the one without the IV) and though it seemed to work a little, he was still screaming. Mind you, this child has not eaten since 8:00pm the night before and it was then about 10:30am. The nurse brought over a popsicle and that seemed to do the trick. He ate almost the whole thing even thought it was his first and then almost fell asleep in Liz's arms while waiting to be discharged.
We left the surgery center with the pH monitor in tow and checked in at the hotel (an AmeriSuites which gives discounts to people who have children undergoing procedures), tried to get Drew to eat something (which must have felt strange with a small tube down the back of his throat), and put him down for a nap. He ate a little, but not enough to really satisfy his empty stomach, but he was exhausted and so were we We were too nervous to get any sleep ourselves. Child safety experts always tell you not to let your small children sleep with anything hanging near the crib since they might strangle themselves and here we were putting Drew down with about three feet of tubing coming out of his nose. He didn't sleep for long, though, and when he woke up we tried to play with him like normal. Now, again, this child hadn't been able to eat in about 15 hours or so and, though he ate a little at about 11:30, we weren't supposed to feed him for four hours. He usually eats about every two to three hours. By the time 2:30 rolled around, he was starving. I held him off as long as I could, but he was so hungry that I let him eat a little early; it won't affect the tests at all, they just need a solid block of time to measure any acid churning up and out of his stomach. This was repeated several times during the day until he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer. We put him to be at about 8:00pm and Liz went to sleep soon thereafter. I stayed up a little while longer and checked on him every few minutes. At about midnight, I was too tired to stay up and went to sleep myself.
Liz woke up at about 4:30 and couldn't get back to sleep for nerves. Andrew and I woke up at about 6:00 and we declare the pH test officially over. We took off all of the tape holding everything in place (about four inches across his upper lip and a small, one square inch piece on his back) which, though painful, held nothing to the experiences of the day before, and swiftly removed the tubing. It was over.
He ate a little breakfast, slept the whole trip home, and played for about an hour at the house until we all got hungry and went out for lunch. He ate a little lunch, fell asleep on the way home, and I was able to get him into his own bed without waking him. Liz and I both crawled into our bed and we all took about a three hour nap this afternoon. When we woke up, Andrew did not stop eating until bathtime! He ate Goldfish crackers constantly all afternoon until dinner time, washed those down with PediaSure and apple juice. For dinner, he had applesauce and mashed potatoes (which he fed himself), ham, cheerios, green beans, milk, and chocolate brownie. If he ate like that all the time, we wouldn't have had to got through all of this!
There is no way we can possibly have expected how well the little guy handled all of this. From all of the pre-op tests through the operation and after he handled it all with aplomb. Even the hysteria coming out of the anesthesia, though no fun, should have been expected. We asked so much of him this week and he delivered extra. We don't deserve him.
He's down to bed now and shouldn't wake until morning. I'm off to work while he and Liz relax for the first day in the last three. I am hopeful that we won't have to do this again, but I'm afraid that the doctor will want to verify that whatever treatment we do is effective and request another test. It should only be the endoscopy which was the less stressful of the two tests, but still no fun.
Unfortunately, we forgot our camera and though we don't actually want to remember this ordeal, we should have taken some pictures. If I can get my scanner working again, I'll post some pictures of Andrew from the inside.
Later,
skot
We had an appointment scheduled last week with the specialist, his first in three months. Drew had been gaining weight relatively steadily (about 0.75 lb per month) and the doctor was starting to get a little more comfortable with his growth (he'd never let us know that, but that's what it seemed like), so he scheduled his next appointment not a month along, but three. We were all prepared to tell the doctor that we weren't coming back to see him, since we have seen the trend in Drew's growth. All went pear-shaped when we actually had Andrew weighed on that visit. Inistead of gaining about 2-2.5 lbs over the previous three months, the scale read a net of -0.5 lbs. Yes, you read that correctly, negative 1/2 pound -- he had lost weight! This was definitely a shock to all of us. At this point I think we all agreed that the endoscopy was necessary. So, about a week or so later, we all packed in the car for an overnight trip to the big city -- Fort Worth (Hurst to be accurate).
To say that Andrew behaved well these last couple days would be a gross understatement. We don't deserve to have a little boy so well-behaved after what he's been put through. We all woke up Thursday morning at about 4:30 (you know it's serious if I'm getting up at 4:30) and headed up to the surgical center. We got there at about 7 and the immediately checked us in and sent us back to the pre-op area. He had all his vitals checked (the blood pressure monitor was hilarious -- he giggled through that), he flirted with all of the nurses, and was told exactly how cute he is. When it came time to perform the procedure, Liz took him into a "separation room." Since we weren't to go into the OR during the operation, they took the two of them into a darkened room, gave Andrew a nasal sedative while he and Liz were cuddling, and when he was totally relaxed and barely alert, the took him into the OR. He spent about 30 minutes in there, during which time they put a camera down his esophagus, place a pH probe near his stomach, and took X-rays to verify the placement of the pH probe. That had to have been the longest, most stressful half hour of my entire life. I thought that I would be able to handle it pretty well, and though I think I did, it was definitely harder that I ever would have imagined.
The doctor came out after about 15 to 20 minutes to discuss the results of the endoscopy and said everything looked fine except a few white spots in Drew's esophagus. That could be a sign of some sort of food allergy, he said, and it would cause the walls of the esophagus to become stiff during eating, leading to him eating less. Those were biopsied along with five other locations and we should have results back in the next two weeks or so. While we were in consultation with the gastroenterologist, they were placing the pH probe. Maybe ten minutes later a volunteer with the hospital ushered us back to where Drew was in step-down recovery, emerging from anesthesia; the worst was over.
Or so we thought. Up until this point, Andrew had barely uttered a peep during any of the tests or procedures; pulse -- pretty cool band-aid sensor, blood pressure -- as I mentioned earlier, tickled, weight -- a ride on a floaty scale, length -- a chance to fall back onto a bed, sedative -- cuddling with mom. As he was coming out of the anesthetic he must have been completely disoriented, confused, uncomfortable, and not to mention seriously hungry because he was in the most hysterical state we have ever seen him in. The nurses kept asking us what would calm him down, but we didn't know; he'd never been like that in the previous 15 months of his life. He had three tubes coming out of him (pH probe, IV fluids, and a pulse monitor), strangers man-handling him, and his arms bound. Apparently, he kept tugging at the IV tube, so they had to restrain his arms with a pair of splints (or in pediatric parlance "no-no's"). Since he was a newborn, Drew has hated having his arms bound. We have never been able to bundle him; not for sleeping, not after bathtime, never. Though they prevented him from pulling at any of the tubes, I think that just sent him further into hysteria. Then the nurses checked the X-ray and found that the pH probe wasn't low enough in his esopagus. Though it didn't hurt, they had to pin Drew down to the bed and pushed the tube further down his throat. I have never heard a more heart-wrenching scream come out of my son than that moment. I didn't know what to do. I just wanted to grab him and take off, but we really do need to find out what's going on. That over, we went back to recovery and tried to get him calmed down.
To try to get him calm, we took one arm out of a splint (the one without the IV) and though it seemed to work a little, he was still screaming. Mind you, this child has not eaten since 8:00pm the night before and it was then about 10:30am. The nurse brought over a popsicle and that seemed to do the trick. He ate almost the whole thing even thought it was his first and then almost fell asleep in Liz's arms while waiting to be discharged.
We left the surgery center with the pH monitor in tow and checked in at the hotel (an AmeriSuites which gives discounts to people who have children undergoing procedures), tried to get Drew to eat something (which must have felt strange with a small tube down the back of his throat), and put him down for a nap. He ate a little, but not enough to really satisfy his empty stomach, but he was exhausted and so were we We were too nervous to get any sleep ourselves. Child safety experts always tell you not to let your small children sleep with anything hanging near the crib since they might strangle themselves and here we were putting Drew down with about three feet of tubing coming out of his nose. He didn't sleep for long, though, and when he woke up we tried to play with him like normal. Now, again, this child hadn't been able to eat in about 15 hours or so and, though he ate a little at about 11:30, we weren't supposed to feed him for four hours. He usually eats about every two to three hours. By the time 2:30 rolled around, he was starving. I held him off as long as I could, but he was so hungry that I let him eat a little early; it won't affect the tests at all, they just need a solid block of time to measure any acid churning up and out of his stomach. This was repeated several times during the day until he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer. We put him to be at about 8:00pm and Liz went to sleep soon thereafter. I stayed up a little while longer and checked on him every few minutes. At about midnight, I was too tired to stay up and went to sleep myself.
Liz woke up at about 4:30 and couldn't get back to sleep for nerves. Andrew and I woke up at about 6:00 and we declare the pH test officially over. We took off all of the tape holding everything in place (about four inches across his upper lip and a small, one square inch piece on his back) which, though painful, held nothing to the experiences of the day before, and swiftly removed the tubing. It was over.
He ate a little breakfast, slept the whole trip home, and played for about an hour at the house until we all got hungry and went out for lunch. He ate a little lunch, fell asleep on the way home, and I was able to get him into his own bed without waking him. Liz and I both crawled into our bed and we all took about a three hour nap this afternoon. When we woke up, Andrew did not stop eating until bathtime! He ate Goldfish crackers constantly all afternoon until dinner time, washed those down with PediaSure and apple juice. For dinner, he had applesauce and mashed potatoes (which he fed himself), ham, cheerios, green beans, milk, and chocolate brownie. If he ate like that all the time, we wouldn't have had to got through all of this!
There is no way we can possibly have expected how well the little guy handled all of this. From all of the pre-op tests through the operation and after he handled it all with aplomb. Even the hysteria coming out of the anesthesia, though no fun, should have been expected. We asked so much of him this week and he delivered extra. We don't deserve him.
He's down to bed now and shouldn't wake until morning. I'm off to work while he and Liz relax for the first day in the last three. I am hopeful that we won't have to do this again, but I'm afraid that the doctor will want to verify that whatever treatment we do is effective and request another test. It should only be the endoscopy which was the less stressful of the two tests, but still no fun.
Unfortunately, we forgot our camera and though we don't actually want to remember this ordeal, we should have taken some pictures. If I can get my scanner working again, I'll post some pictures of Andrew from the inside.
Later,
skot
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
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