We went in on wednesday like planned and the procedure itself was pretty uneventful. The doctor was able to get to all the glands he needed to and no nerves or anything got in the way. Afterwards though, Charlie didn't do so hot. They had to work pretty hard to keep from re-venting her. They had her on cpap and had to hold her head back and keep her jaw open and had one person just assigned to suctioning. But she did better after an hour or so. It's hmmm...40 hours later now and she's STILL on cpap. She's really swollen so I don't think she'll be able to come off until the swelling goes down. We tried once yesterday and within 30 seconds she was struggling. So she already seems to have a lot less secretions, but I'm still not getting my hopes up. We won't know until after she's off cpap and the swelling is down just how much effect the procedure had.
They are giving her steroids to help with the swelling and she's doing well with just her regular pain medication schedule. She had quite a bit of pain a few hours after the procedure, when her first dose of meds wore off. But once her bedtime meds were in her, she was fine. Scared the nurses a little though, because she was all over the place with her breathing and sats. It was a little worse than normal, but I chalked it up to her being SO exhausted (and I've seen worse). They turned her settings up and she was fine. Low, but fine. It was kind of funny...they were all rushing around, freaking out and I kept telling them it was fine. One other nurse walked in and I'm just sitting on the couch copying recipes from a magazine into my notebook and she looked around and said to me, "Well, I'm assuming from how relaxed you are that this is pretty normal for her." I was like "yup". And then she said, "well it's either that or you just don't care...but I don't think that's it." I think that was a foot in mouth moment for her because she seemed embarrased that she said it. The first statement was plenty enough to convey her thoughts. LOL
Anyway, here's a pic of her waiting to go in:
They are giving her steroids to help with the swelling and she's doing well with just her regular pain medication schedule. She had quite a bit of pain a few hours after the procedure, when her first dose of meds wore off. But once her bedtime meds were in her, she was fine. Scared the nurses a little though, because she was all over the place with her breathing and sats. It was a little worse than normal, but I chalked it up to her being SO exhausted (and I've seen worse). They turned her settings up and she was fine. Low, but fine. It was kind of funny...they were all rushing around, freaking out and I kept telling them it was fine. One other nurse walked in and I'm just sitting on the couch copying recipes from a magazine into my notebook and she looked around and said to me, "Well, I'm assuming from how relaxed you are that this is pretty normal for her." I was like "yup". And then she said, "well it's either that or you just don't care...but I don't think that's it." I think that was a foot in mouth moment for her because she seemed embarrased that she said it. The first statement was plenty enough to convey her thoughts. LOL
Anyway, here's a pic of her waiting to go in:
And after...poor baby!:
I'll update more later of course, with more pics as the swelling goes down and how she's doing with her secretions.
2 comments:
poor baby! glad it's over with and hope it helps her... I know you just can't wait to get her home and love on her there.
Glad that it is over and done with!! Poor girl, that swelling looks mighty uncomfortable. I'm sure she'll be back to her old self (minus excessive secretions of course!) in no time! Many hugs to you and Charlie :)
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