"Hello NICU my old friend...."
Alright, not exactly the post I was hoping to write today, but seems our boy needed to have one more bit of excitement before his due date this coming Friday. On Tuesday morning he cried uncontrolably for the first time in the nine weeks he has blessed our lives. We thought the dreaded 'colic' may have finally set in, but were corrected in our thinking when we changed his nappy to find a very enlarged groin. Seems our boy managed to get a pretty inflamed hernia in the groin area.
We called his paediatrician who told us to be there in 45minutes (we live nearly an hour away considering the road, traffic and ancient car). Long story short, he examined him then whisked us to the paediatric surgeon. Must say, we were rather relieved to see 'Professor Rob Brown' on the door, with lots of degrees cum laude against the wall...I mean, if you are going to have your baby operated on...
Long story short, Luka went in for an emergency herniotomy at 1500 on Tuesday afternoon at the Life Vincent Pallotti hospital in Pinelands outside of Cape Town (incidentally exactly nine weeks after he was born at 1500 in Darwin). After over an hour in surgery, we were told that unfortunately the bowel was extremely constricted through the hernia, when it was pulled back through it acquired a small tear.
The good part is that we caught it early enough to avoide a 'incarcerated hernia' that would have required removal of part of the bowel. The bad part is that the bowel did tear and we now have to wait for the bowels to function again before he can have something to eat. He is currently on pretty hectic pain medication in addition to flagyl for the infection. In addition he is on a drip with electrolytes, sugars and fluids - think living on gatorade for a few days when you are used to lobster and steak. And mom, I'm feeding the electric pump again.
He is doing well, stable, slightly sedated. Mom and dad are okay - the NICU is strangely familiar...more on that later.
In the past 24-hours we have not had any bowel action as of yet, we will follow up when the surgeon does rounds again tonight to see whether he is ready to be fed or not. Either way, Chris and I have once again booked into a guest house five minutes away from hospital and surviving just fine on our new undies, toothbrush and socks we acquired yesterday.
Alright, not exactly the post I was hoping to write today, but seems our boy needed to have one more bit of excitement before his due date this coming Friday. On Tuesday morning he cried uncontrolably for the first time in the nine weeks he has blessed our lives. We thought the dreaded 'colic' may have finally set in, but were corrected in our thinking when we changed his nappy to find a very enlarged groin. Seems our boy managed to get a pretty inflamed hernia in the groin area.
We called his paediatrician who told us to be there in 45minutes (we live nearly an hour away considering the road, traffic and ancient car). Long story short, he examined him then whisked us to the paediatric surgeon. Must say, we were rather relieved to see 'Professor Rob Brown' on the door, with lots of degrees cum laude against the wall...I mean, if you are going to have your baby operated on...
Long story short, Luka went in for an emergency herniotomy at 1500 on Tuesday afternoon at the Life Vincent Pallotti hospital in Pinelands outside of Cape Town (incidentally exactly nine weeks after he was born at 1500 in Darwin). After over an hour in surgery, we were told that unfortunately the bowel was extremely constricted through the hernia, when it was pulled back through it acquired a small tear.
The good part is that we caught it early enough to avoide a 'incarcerated hernia' that would have required removal of part of the bowel. The bad part is that the bowel did tear and we now have to wait for the bowels to function again before he can have something to eat. He is currently on pretty hectic pain medication in addition to flagyl for the infection. In addition he is on a drip with electrolytes, sugars and fluids - think living on gatorade for a few days when you are used to lobster and steak. And mom, I'm feeding the electric pump again.
He is doing well, stable, slightly sedated. Mom and dad are okay - the NICU is strangely familiar...more on that later.
In the past 24-hours we have not had any bowel action as of yet, we will follow up when the surgeon does rounds again tonight to see whether he is ready to be fed or not. Either way, Chris and I have once again booked into a guest house five minutes away from hospital and surviving just fine on our new undies, toothbrush and socks we acquired yesterday.
You all in my thoughts and prayers. Thanks for the blogs. Thankful for technology. Luka - we all love you. Sending you get well soon wishes from Harare, Zimbabwe.
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry that you are all going through this. Thank you for taking the time to let us all know about this turn of events. Luka will be in our family's prayers as he heals. May God bless you all with strength and comfort for the days ahead. Sending lots of love your way,
ReplyDeleteDonna Lee & Kelly
Sending positive vibes across the globe! You know Luka's a badass already though, he'll be fine :) Love you all so much! Remember to take care of yourselves too!
ReplyDelete