Penile Adhesions

I'll bet that title got your attention!
Don't worry.
G rated info here.

(Really LONG post.
  Details are mostly for my and Levi's remembrance.
Writing it all down was also therapeutic for me.
Rough 24 hours.)

So as most of you know, Levi's circumcision healed wrong.
His body formed skin bridges, or really thick scar tissue at the circ. site.
This condition can only be fixed by a Pediatric Urologist
 and only under general anesthesia.
So we made a trip to SLC to Primary Children's Hospital.


 Since Levi could not eat anything after midnight,
and then could only have clear liquids for breakfast,
he was peeing like a racehorse!
Here's stop #4 in the first hour.











Here's the end of hour two:
"I'm HUUUUUUUUUUUNGRY!!!!"

Finally a distraction!
The nurses came to take all his vitals and he liked all the gadgets and gizmos.

Here he's talking to a "Child Life Specialist."
As far as I can tell, her wonderful job is to meet with each young patient
and sugar him up with some toys, like a box of Lightning McQueen cars,
and explain to them what they're going to see.
She showed him a gas mask,
let him smell lots of yummy scents and choose one for his mask
(he chose Bubble Gum)
And showed him some pictures of the procedure room.
She also let him watch some Mater on her Ipad.
When she told him he was going to have a mask in the room,
He said, "No, I don't need to."
I was so grateful for her.

 The anesthesiologist talked with us a bit.
He reminded me a lot of Dr. House (TV show)
only super nice!

I just feel the need to express gratitude for a place like Primary Children's.
They have made every effort possible to make a place
 where some painful, sad and scary things happen to some sweet, small people
feel happy, fun and inviting.
The staff are amazing.
Levi was surrounded from the get go with happy, positive, fun, smiling people.
As we passed wings called
Cardiology and Oncology,
we felt very grateful for our minor medical problems.

I went with Levi to the procedure room
(where no cameras were allowed)
and helped him up on the gurney and held his hand as he breathed in the mask and watched Mater.
It took about 1 minute for him to start slouching and falling asleep.
His whole body went limp except for the arm and hand that had been holding onto me.
It stayed stiff, reaching out to the side for me,grasping, even though I was still holding his hand.
(sniff, sniff, giggle)

The procedure only took about 10 minutes.
I knew it would be quick and that I would get to be with him as he woke up.
So I was surprised when I suddenly heard him screaming.
I was standing up as the nurse opened the door to get me.
The anesthesia wore off faster than usual
so Levi was still technically out of it,
but he was thrashing and wailing on his gurney.
Very hard to see.
Several nurses, the anesthesiologist and the doctor were standing around him
asking him to open his eyes, wondering if he was in pain, apologizing to me for the rapid awakening.
I just held him and rocked him and kept telling him
 "Mommy's here.  Time to go home.  Can you look at me?"
It took about 20 minutes for him to settle down and be fully awake.
The first thing he said was
"I want to go home now."

I was so touched when they asked him if he would like a package of Oreos to eat
and he answered "Yes please, but I need one for my daddy too."
They let him choose lots of snacks and cookies and juices to take.
He was still very clingy and wary and unsure of everything as we gathered our things to leave.
Dean carried him to the other side of the hospital to the pharmacy
to wait for his pain meds.

Once he had some Oreos in him

and had talked to these fish for a bit,
(he took that picture :)
he seemed a lot more like himself.
Chatty with a voracious appetite.
He was very kind to share his snacks with Jonathan.

Funny first post-op potty try:
He felt the need to go so we went to the bathroom.
He could feel the need, but couldn't feel the action because he was so numbed.
So he got frustrated "It's not working!!!"
He would throw his head back and wail.
The abdominal muscles he used to wail would also press on his bladder
and some pee would come out but he couldn't see it or feel it.
I would say, "Look!  There it goes!"
He would calm down, quit peeing and look.
"NO IT IS NOT WORKING!!!"
Wail, pee, repeat 3 or 4 times....
I was silent-laughing so hard!

Happy to be in the car headed home.
 

Just tuckered out.


Our night was a lot less fun or funny.
Local anesthetic gone now.
As he was getting ready for bed he had to go potty.
He had been holding it a LONG time.
He sat down and started screaming.
He was in incredible pain when any pee would come out,
and there was a lot that needed to get out.
It took several minutes.
He was in agony.
I was in tears.

It was awful.

He collapsed in my arms when he was done.
Totally wiped out.
This went on until about 24 hours post-op,
catching an hour or so of sleep here and there,
fighting with the need to go potty and the fear of going potty.
He would doze a bit and then ask me for more medicine.
He's supposed to have it every 4 hours but he was asking every 2 hours.
At one point, around 3 a.m., he cried out to me
"Mommy, why won't you give me any medicine?!?"
So sad.
Pretty sure that's the dose I did not make him wait 4 hours for.
Looooooong night.

We were supposed to leave the dressing on until Sunday morning
but it looked so tight to me and the Urology Resident I spoke to on the phone said we could take it off.
Levi was terrified of any more pain or procedures down there
so it was quite the mommy - daddy tag-team to get the job done
but once we did
ahhhhhhhhhhhhh
sweet relief. 
He was in the tub and started to pee,
started to think he needed to freak out,
then realized everything was ok.
I think I heard angels singing when Dean told me this happened.

There are still open wounds and tender areas that need caring for
but since we took the dressing off about noon,
he has been running around, playing, wrestling and
PEEING WITHOUT PAIN!!!
Happy dance!