Ellie lasted until just after 12am before she woke up again. When the nurse brought in the formula I noticed that it was quite a lot cooler than how we usually have it, but I was in a hurry to get the feed over with so I didn't question the temperature. Surprisingly, Ellie actually drank almost half before she gave up and started protesting again. She also managed to settle quicker, and I was soon ready to go back to sleep.
The nurse had noticed the strange squeezing sound that she makes in her sleep, and decided to attach the apnoea monitor again just in case. I was happy with that,we'd always wondered if we should wake her up when she started squeaking, so I was pleased to think we might soon have an answer.
I managed another couple of hours of sleep before Ellie woke again at 3.30am. This time I didn't want the screaming that comes with syringe feeding to wake everyone in the room, so I settled her without a feed. She lasted until 5.30am after that cuddle, but I didn't manage to go back to sleep because the other babies were starting to stir by the time I got her back in the cot. The nurse said that the apnoea monitor hadn't sounded at all, so the squeak stemmed to just be another one of Ellie's harmless little quirks. She left it attached just in case though.
I went across the hall to make a coffee and while I was enjoying my second cup the nurse came over to tell me that Ellie was starting to stir. She said she was fine, so we stayed and chatted for a little while before we both went back in to the nursery. What we found there was funny, but a little scary at the same time. Ellie had wriggled herself under the blanket, so her face was covered from the nose down. When I pulled the blanket back, the little monkey was laying there with both arms out of her splints, having a grand old time sticking her fingers in her mouth and up her nose. She was very happy with herself too, babbling and laughing. Obviously she wasn't in any pain any more!
Feeding was getting better and better, and she managed to drink three quarters of the bottle at 5.30am. Her volume was increasing dramatically, and I was feeling a lot more positive about her discharge chances. It was at the nurse-changeover that I discovered why things were improving so much. Apparently Doctor Kimble had ordered in his post-op notes that all liquids needed to be at room temperature, but the nurse that had handed over the previous morning had failed to point it out. The day before we had been heating the formula to the same temperature she has it at home, hence why she hadn't been drinking it.
By the time the plastics registrar rounded at 8am, feeds were almost 100%. He was happy for her to be discharged as soon as he checked it with Doctor Kimble. The pain from the repair was much more under control, and she hadn't had anything stronger than panadol since the night before. He checked the repair after I explained about Ellie's little adventure that morning, and left us to wait for further instructions.
After that we were visited by an opthomologist. During the surgery Doctor Kimble had noticed Ellie's sticky eyes and requested a consult to see if we could work out what was causing it. The opthomologist thought it was probably a blocked tear duct, and recommended that we see our GP to get a referral to a specialist back home so that we didn't have to travel back to Hobart yet again. She explained that in a lot of cases the blockage clears up by itself, but if it doesn't they need to flush it out and possibly I sent stents to keep it open.
Bec and Ash arrived around lunch time and I left to get something to eat and get changed while they took it in turns to visit. When I returned I asked the nurse on duty to find out what was happening with our discharge. I didn't mind having to stay another night, and it was a public holiday so I wasn't really expecting much to happen. But if we could get out that afternoon or early enough the next day Drew would be able to go back to work on the weekend, meaning we would have income coming in sooner than we expected.
Drew is officially employed part time, so he does get some annual leave and sick leave, but only for the few shifts a week that form part of his contact. The majority of the hours that he gets are casual though, and that means that at times that he is off work for a week or more we lose a lot of income. I'd been careful to save as much as we could leading up to the surgery and get a couple of weeks rent paid in advance, but the longer we were away the harder it was going to be financially once we got home. Just because we have free accommodation in Hobart doesn't mean we stop paying our regular expenses back home.
At 4pm we got the fantastic news that Ellie was being discharged there and then. The nurse removed her IV line and the apnoea monitor, and I was finally able to dress her and cuddle her wire-free. We packed up her stuff, said goodbye to the nurses, and took her back to Ronald McDonald House. It was incredible to think that only two days ago we had walked in to the hospital scared out of our minds and expecting to be there for at least four days, and now we were leaving so soon.
The staff at the house were amazed to see her out so soon. Everyone was equally amazed by how amazing the repair looked already. It was hard to believe she was still the same little girl. I was still adjusting myself and I'm her mother, so it must have seemed even more incredible to those seeing her for the first time.
I fed and settled her in the portacot, and we went downstairs for dinner. Soph had a great time playing with her friend, and we were smiling and laughing. The journey was over yet again, and the next night we would all get to sleep in our own beds again and start getting our lives back to normal.
The first day, when everything went so badly, was horrible, but apart from that our experiences were all positive. doctor Kimble is an amazing surgeon who clearly loves what he does and cares about the children who's lives he changes so much. We had brilliant nurses who took care of Ellie perfectly, and of course the amazing staff at Ronald McDonald House as well. We were very lucky, and very grateful to everyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment