Alex has responded well to the surgery with no trouble swallowing liquids or eating ice chips. His pain level is at a 6 which is awesome considering the last operation we had on his throat he was saying it was a 10 for days, lol. He must be getting imune to pain after all these surgeries, lol! So, I am sitting in the car waiting for Nick to bring him out, head to Walgreens to get the prescrips and heading home! WHEW WHAT A DAY! After waking up at 3:45am and just now getting to leave the hospital.... it makes for a long day! You know me... I always have visuals for ya'll.... below are the before and after pics of Alex's throat:
Notice the red thin line... this is where Dr Beck performed the last surgery trying to split the tissue so there would be an airway and the scar tissue just fused back together once again leaving Alex little or an almost non existant airway.
Notice on this image that the airway has been lasered open and is much bigger.
So I wrote all that before we left Memorial... OMG.... Nick and I got Alex in my car... I dropped Nick off at his car, he went home and Alex and I went to Walgreens to get his prescrips. I pull up to the drive thru window closest to Walgreens, tell the girl I need prescrips for Alex Ross and as soon as I finished that sentence... Alex began throwing up in the back seat. Well I was so close to the window that I couldnt get out of my door to get to him in the back and I'm trying to talk to the lady in the window at the same time all this is going on! I don't want to pull up because I need to get the drugs.... but I NEED to pull up to help Alley Pooh in the back seat! I didn't know if I was coming or going.... freaking out... So I pull up enough to get out and grab a towel in the back seat and put in his lap. By this time he is drenched with bile, but I just threw the towel on him to stop him from getting anymore on him for the ride home. I grab the pills, pay and want to drive like a bat outta hell to get him home poor guy! He can't speak... so he kept texting me from his phone in between vomit sessions... WHAT A NIGHTMARE! I finally get him home, take him straight to his room so that I can clean him up, give sponge bath, get him all squared away....bring him into the living room and he is throwing up all over again. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh! Carly has bucket while he just keeps throwing up over and over and over and over... where it came from.. I have no idea! he has had nothing to eat alllll day! I check the meds to see what he has for pain and nausea.... he has some HORSE PILLS for pain so I call the doc to see if we can get a smaller pill for pain or in liquid form... no such luck as those are narcotics and have to be handwritten... we will have to mash it up. We discuss the nausea and he says to use the suppositories that were in the drugs that I had. Alex wasn't real impressed but wanted to stop throwing up so I get him ready... get the suppository in... sit him up... WAIT... Mom.. I have to poop... and throw up! Carly grabs the bucket... Nick runs to get his mobile toilet and bring into the living room... WHAT IN THE HECK IS GOING ON! I am running on NO SLEEP.... exhausted... I really just couldn't wait to get home and RELAX... not the case! I have been running my butt off since I got home! So now it's coming out of both ends... he goes... i get him up and dressed again, sit him on the sofa... oh crap mom, I think I still have to goooo.....are u kidding me???? Undress back on the commode... and I'm thinking.. we still gotta get his meds in him that he NORMALLY takes on top of the NEW DRUGS.... LORD HELP US! With throat surgery the doc said he may have trouble with thin liquids...yes this is the case! So we thought we would try milk... yuck he hates that... ok, what if I put hershey syrup in it... OK.... drink... choke... out comes choc milk... outta trach too... WHAT THE HECK! Sooooo, we decide to try pudding. It's thicker... we put one pill per spoon full of pudding and it was going and staying down! YAY! He was still hungry so we tried some good old chicken noodle soup. Drain the noodles and it worked wonders. He had about 8 bites of that and he was done. Nick suggested a smoothie... he wasn't fond of that but asked if we had ice cream for a shake. Chad hooked him up, put a little protein in the shake since he hadn't eaten all day.... THE SHAKE WORKED! no choking on that... THANK GOD! I was freaking out... my poor baby was having such a hard time... I thought I may have to take him back to the hospital! All he kept saying was... WE NEVER SHOULD HAVE LEFT. Great! So, finally about 10 pm we get him to where he is no longer throwing up, no choking.... relaixing on the sofa. I want to be near him... I have convinced him to sleep on sofa... Nick drove to father in laws to borrow air mattress so that I can put on the floor next to him. I will be paranoid tonight... probably no sleep.... on pins and needles with his coughing and choking episodes! Pray for us... pray for rest and fast healing! I gotta run.. he just woke up and is calling me!
No time to edit... hope I typed all this right, lol
NITE!
PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
Lisa
