Sunday, October 16, 2011

Journey of a new ticker...part 2


Sorry for the delay again!

Ok ...where was I...

Oh yes! Recovery.

The "original plan was for Mason for surgery to take 2-4 hrs, 2days in PICU, and home in 5 days. Well that didnt happen what so ever!

First off Mason's surgery lasted 7 hrs. Since he had to be put on bypass twice & on bypass for twice as long, recovery was long and hard. He was to get his breathing tube out the next day after surgery....well that didnt happen either. Mason had a difficult time with his recovery . He was on the ventilator for 5 days. Things kinda snowballed from there.

Since he was on bypass so long he was on the vent for 5 days> since he was on the vent so long he got pneumonia> because he had pneumonia he couldnt leave the PICU.

He was in the hospital a total of 16day. Mason also had Chylothorax (A chylothorax (or chyle leak) is a type of pleural effusion. It results from lymphatic fluid (chyle) accumulating in the pleural cavity.) We noticed when he finally got to eat that his drain tube from his chest had a milky color to it. Well it only got worse the next few days. Appearently the surgen cut into Mason's lymphatic duct or system and he was leaking lympatic fluid into his body. They said if it didnt get better then he would have to stop breastfeeding and be put on a special formula. **Momma was not happy. Finally about 6 days later it was getting better and finally stopped all together. *PS* they couldnt take his drain tube out untill the Chyle was gone. We were so thankful that it was healing a they could finally take his drain tube out!

During the same day they took his drain tube out they asked me if Mason still sounded hourse... I told them yes. I thought it was from the vent tube (they said he would be hourse for a while). Well they said they wanted the ENT to come and look at him just in case. So shortly there after the r ENT Dr came in and used a long camera and looked at Mason's vocal cords. His findings were upsetting. Mason's left vocal cord is paralyzed right now. They think the nerve is "pinched, bruised, or cut". We will know more in about 6mo. So right now Mason has a very quite cry and raspy voice. They said it should get better with time....... Im praying its only bruised.

The rest of our stay was just "keeping an eye on him" type of stuff and pretty uneventful. All I can say is that I am so very glad we are home!

2 comments:

  1. Oh my word! What your family has been through. I am so happy that he is home and through those woods. We'll pray for his vocal cords to heal. Go Mason!!

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  2. Poor little Buddy :( But the most important thing...is everything good with his little ticker now? Praying that his vocal cords are just bruised from being on the vent for so long. My voice was raspy for like a week after a 1 hour Gallbladder surgery from the intubation.

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