WARNING: THIS POST IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. IT'S A GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF CARTER'S ER VISIT.
This all happened Tuesday evening. Why do emergencies never happen during the day? I spent Tuesday at my friend Jenny's house stuffing CD's. By the time we were done Carter was wrecked tired! After dinner he started complaining that his stoma hurt. I figured he was just tired and so I started getting him ready for bed. I took off his ostomy bag to put a new one on and realized why he was in so much pain. His stoma had prolapsed. Basically his stoma (intestines) had come out about 4 inches and it was incredibly swollen.
I called the surgeon on call and she said to come to the ER. So we drove to Primary Children's Hospital.
The surgical team came to look at Carter and tried to "stuff" the stoma back inside his belly. My heart ached so badly because Carter was in so much pain. One of the surgeons asked another to grab some sugar. WHAT??? Seriously?
So off he ran to the cafeteria to grab some sugar. They told me that it absorbs the water and helps reduce the swelling. I really started to freak out!
Because Carter was crying so badly they weren't able to get him to relax enough to push everything back in. So they sedated him with Ketamine. He looked dead while he was sedated.
Because they used Ketamine he had to be monitored constantly. As the surgeons were doing their "thing" Carter threw up. They quickly turned him on his side and suctioned his mouth out.
It seemed like it took them forever to get everything back in place. When all was said and done Carter was covered in vomit and blood. It was gross and I wanted to vomit myself seeing that.
While they cleaned him up I ran to the car and grabbed Carter's ostomy supplies. I also took that chance to move my car since it was parked illegally.
They admitted him just in case it prolapsed again. That night was one of the longest of my life. I didn't have my meds and my restless legs were BAD! I didn't sleep at all.
In the morning Carter was able to eat breakfast. He hardly ate though. The surgeons rounded and decided he could come home. So we were discharged and he's been fine ever since.
Want to know the worst part? It's the part of this story that makes me want to cry. He missed his Halloween pre-school program. He's been singing the songs all month long and we missed his program, his very last pre-school Halloween program ever. I'm not sure why I'm so sad about this part. I guess I was just looking forward to it so much.
I'm so glad he's doing so much better. What a day that was!
I called the surgeon on call and she said to come to the ER. So we drove to Primary Children's Hospital.
The surgical team came to look at Carter and tried to "stuff" the stoma back inside his belly. My heart ached so badly because Carter was in so much pain. One of the surgeons asked another to grab some sugar. WHAT??? Seriously?
Because Carter was crying so badly they weren't able to get him to relax enough to push everything back in. So they sedated him with Ketamine. He looked dead while he was sedated.
Because they used Ketamine he had to be monitored constantly. As the surgeons were doing their "thing" Carter threw up. They quickly turned him on his side and suctioned his mouth out.
It seemed like it took them forever to get everything back in place. When all was said and done Carter was covered in vomit and blood. It was gross and I wanted to vomit myself seeing that.
While they cleaned him up I ran to the car and grabbed Carter's ostomy supplies. I also took that chance to move my car since it was parked illegally.
They admitted him just in case it prolapsed again. That night was one of the longest of my life. I didn't have my meds and my restless legs were BAD! I didn't sleep at all.
In the morning Carter was able to eat breakfast. He hardly ate though. The surgeons rounded and decided he could come home. So we were discharged and he's been fine ever since.
Want to know the worst part? It's the part of this story that makes me want to cry. He missed his Halloween pre-school program. He's been singing the songs all month long and we missed his program, his very last pre-school Halloween program ever. I'm not sure why I'm so sad about this part. I guess I was just looking forward to it so much.
I'm so glad he's doing so much better. What a day that was!
1 comments:
Oh Tami...I wish I had words of comfort. I can't imagine. I love you. You are so loved...
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