Saturday, August 20, 2011

9 days later...

    And we're still in the hospital. Alexanders' surgery went well, and the new incision line looks even neater and tidier than the last one! Unfortunately we're still here since he's sprung another leak. Maybe he'll become a plumber someday, fix his own leaks. Ha! I'm funny! Not so much? You'll have to forgive me, I've been in the hospital a lot lately. I know others have been here longer, but man. I don't get out much.

    Blood tests indicated that Alex had some inflammation and elevated white blood cell counts, so that indicated some infection, which Dr. W was able to find and clean up when he went in for surgery, right along his suture line internally. Not unheard of, and as the Dr. liked to say, it's not a step backwards, it's just a hiccup. The cultures that they took and grew in the lab indicated two different organisms were present, one was an e-coli (not surprising considering where the surgical site is) and the other was a ubiquitous skin bacteria, so they put him on two different iv antibiotics. Yay, another head iv! Good lord, how I hate IV's. I hate them on me, I hate them on him, I hate them in general. They obviously have their benefits, and he really needed those antibiotics to get in there and do their job, but they suck.

    Every time he gets a new one, in a different spot, I leave the room and let Charles take care of it. Call me chicken if you'd like, but I can't stand watching someone (however good and sweet they are, and they all are here) shave a bald spot on his already patchy head, poke and prod him, and stick another needle in him while he's screaming. Or tie off his tiny little arm in an effort to get it in his hand, or his foot. Now, to be honest, he's screaming because they're holding him down and not cuddling him, not because they're really hurting him. But I can't watch it. I can't watch when they put one in me either. There's just nothing I can do for him. Then he's tethered to a beeping machine that keeps sounding off alarms, tubes that twist and kink, and don't get me started on the constant vigilance required to keep little fingers from finding a loop in that tubing and pulling it out all on his own. He's very hard to maneuver and cuddle with all the cables as well.

   That being said, he's been off the iv for two days now! which makes my life sooooo much easier. It would only be easier if they'd send us home! Ha! Anyone? No? Okay.

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