Finally, some good news
By Lisa Bicknell
A lot has happened since I wrote my last “Clay update.” Two weeks ago I said that the doctors wanted the baby as stable as possible before they would do the surgery to repair his hernia for the second time.
He was very, very sick the first couple of weeks, but during the third week, he seemed to be getting right where he needed to be for surgery— that’s when he developed a bit of pneumonia and had to be put back on another round of antibiotics.
We were afraid that meant the surgery wouldn’t happen for quite a while, but the surgeons made the decision to insert a G-tube (a feeding tube directly into the stomach) on Tuesday if Clay was stable enough, a procedure that takes about an hour.
Clay had a better-than-expected weekend, so when Tuesday came, the docs said they would insert the feeding tube, and if he handled that well, they would try the repair surgery.
Obviously, last Tuesday was a tense day for us, but Clay appeared ready for it. Despite having received so much sedative, he was awake when they took him down to the operating room—the most awake I’d seen him in the previous three weeks since he got so sick again.
About an hour after Clay was taken down, a nurse called the waiting room and said the doctors had changed their minds and decided to begin with the more complicated surgery—the repair surgery.
A few anxious hours later, we got word that the second repair was over, and the surgeon was pleased with the way it went.
The second and third days after surgery were really rough for the little guy. No matter how much pain and sedation medicine he got, Clay just couldn’t get comfortable. One of the nurses noticed that he broke out in hives and became more agitated after receiving blood through an IV. She guessed that he was having a reaction to a preservative in the blood product and was able to give him something to provide some relief.
Poor little guy! Not only did he suffer, but it was tough on everyone else to see him so unhappy.
After those first three days, though, the trend has been upward. Clay’s been awake a lot more, and the brave little guy is smiling again! Sometimes I wonder how, considering all that he’s been through.
I’m just hoping and praying that he doesn’t remember the misery of the past few weeks. So far, he doesn’t appear to be holding it against anyone.
Clay isn’t completely back to himself though. His muscles are weak and his joints are stiff from lack of use. He seems to have some difficulty focusing his eyes. He’s getting small feeds through a tube in his nose again, but he’s having some spit-up issues.
Our little guy is definitely on the road to recovery, but he has a lot of recuperating left to do. Prayers for his continued healing are appreciated, as always.