A Day Straight From Hell

December 6th, 2013- 

 

I'm going to go back and write about the events of this week. You guys know how rough Tuesday was from the previous post. Well, turns out Tuesday was just a warmup for the complete body slam we would be getting on Wednesday. Let me take you back to Wednesday of this week. We got to the boy's room about 8:15 and did our review of their night with their nurses. Henry seemed to be recovering well from his surgery the day before and the drains were working. It looked like Charlie has a slight bluish area on his very low abdomen. The lead resident saw it and we agreed we would let surgery know so they could look at him when they did his drain check. About 15 minutes later the surgery team walked in. The attending surgeon walked in like a game show host all loud and obnoxious and putting on his usual show for whoever he thinks is interested. He checked Henry out and we got our usual spiel from him that everything looked good, drains were working and they were pleased with how he looked.  Excellent news, go Henry!  Then they moved onto Charlie.  When they looked at Charlie they decided to irrigate his drain. Well I've seen how this crew works before and I know that sometimes they have a problem listening to the nurses before they start doing things. I wanted to make sure Charlie had pain meds before they started and that they were being gentle with his tiny broken body. As they started the irrigation Charlie began to desat on his oxygen. His nurse said, "stop let me turn up his oxygen." The arrogant prick that is the surgical resident does not stop. The nurse says again louder, "stop, he needs more oxygen." He still doesn't stop. I hear and see all of this and when he didn't stop the 2nd time I physically pulled him off my child and told him to listen to the nurse and to take time with my child. She finally gets his oxygen back to where she wants it and they begin again. And then it happened. All of the sudden the surgical team backs away and the attending surgeon comes over to David and I. He begins to to talk and tells us that Charlie's intestines came out of his body and were lying on his little baby bed next to him. He tells us this almost never happens. Some other dipshit surgical team member tells me she expected to see this Henry but not Charlie.  The attending surgeon is suddenly not cocky at all. We discuss what they are going to do. He steps out to make a phone call and I talk to Charlie's nurse asking to get more pain meds for him. I look at my sweet broken baby and I see the mess they have made of him and I am filled with such rage I can barely see.   I am so sick with worry and angry and in shock from seeing his intestines next to him. No mother should ever have to see that. 

I forgot to mention that during this time Dr. Marvelous and his team were in the room about to start rounds. Thank God they were there, they help to calm me down. Dr. Miracle is on it and he's talking with the surgical team and protecting my baby. The surgical attending comes back in and says he talked to his chief and they want to do surgery in the room right now. This is where I absolutely lose my religion and tell the surgery team exactly what I think of what just happens. You know that cry you get when you can't breathe and it makes talking difficult? Well that's the cry I got and then I unleashed, in front of the entire medical team. I told the surgical team that they were cocky and rushed and didn't listen to the people who know my babies best and because they rushed and weren't gentle my babies were suffering and I had had it. The surgical attending agreed there were "opportunities"   to learn" from what had happened. Gee, ya think? 

We immediately ask Dr. Marvelous what he thinks and he agrees that this is our best option. Within 30 minutes their room is turned into an OR and they begin the surgery.  It was a quick surgery and Charlie's vitals did great which kind of surprised everyone.  Now we just continue to watch him and let his bowel heal as much as possible. Both boys will need another surgery but the soonest they will do it, unless it is an absolute emergency is 6 weeks. We need them to get bigger and stronger before they are put through more bowel procedures.

 The rest of Wednesday passes in a blur and then suddenly it's Thursday. To be honest, Thursday sucked in a whole new way and I have to get in the shower to get to the hospital so I'll have recount Thursday later. 

(A) 

*David usually edits for me but he's asleep and he needs it so please excuse any grammatical or spelling errors. I just don't have the time to go back through this and correct.*