On Monday, April 12th, Dash started getting very fussy around 9am. I put him down for his usual nap, but he wouldn't sleep. I went into his room to check his diaper and once I opened the diaper, things just didn't look right. After watching things for a while, I noticed that his scrotum had started to swell on one side, so I grabbed Delaney and we all rushed to our pediatrician.
They got us in and we saw Tammy, one of the nurse practitioners. Tammy looked at Dash, who by this time was pale and sleepy. I was really starting to get scared.
Tammy believed that Dash has a twisted testicle and called Mary Bridge Childrens Hospital, in Tacoma, to let the ER know that we were headed in.
I called Zap at work, who thankfully had driven that day, and asked him to meet us there. My mom was on her way down to us, so she just met us at the ER. Jerry, Zap's dad came along as well so that he could watch Delaney and help out and be there for us.
We got checked into the ER around 11:30 and by this point, Dash was pale and scary lethargic. This was no longer my child.
The ER doctors immediately recognized it as a hernia and they talked to us about how to place it back into the correct place. At first they tried it without sedation, which seemed like it was worth a shot, but the hernia wasn't budging. Then we headed to ultrasound so they could visualize the hernia. After that, and remember that few things happen quickly in an ER unless you are critical, we went back to the room and they sedated Dash to attempt to manually reposition the hernia.
This was hard to watch, but I wanted to stay in the room while he was under sedation. It seemed like those ER doctors were pressing so hard on his scrotum, but they said that it just looked painful. I just knew he'd have bruises after, but he didn't.
They were able to manually fix the hernia and after another ultrasound to verify their work, I was able to nurse Dash. After he nursed, he was back to his old self, which was so reassuring for us. We left the ER around 5:30, so it was a very long day for us all.
They let us know that he would need surgery, and I think I was expecting a few weeks out. Before we checked out, the surgeon came in and said "I've got you scheduled for 8AM this Wednesday".. What?? Already?? Ok. I'm just processing this experience and now I've got to process putting my infant under sedation again and letting you cut into him??
So bright and early Wednesday morning, Zap, Dash and I headed back out to Mary Bridge. Thanks for friends and family, Delaney stayed with Grandpa and our friends Natalie and Emma.
We got checked into our personal surgery room and Dash thought it was a great day.
(the picture was taken from my iphone, sorry for the quality).We spoke with the surgical nurse, the surgeon, and the anesthesiologist before they took Dash back. I knew I'd be okay with everything until they took him away. I'm just never not near the kids and it is so hard to be away. He went right back with the nurse and they sent us to the surgery room.
We were able to watch his status on a tv in the waiting room. It changed from "in OR" to "incision closing" and when it switched to "recovery room" the waiting room volunteer came to get us. We sat in a conference room and talked to the surgeon. Everything went well and just like she expected.
Right after that, we headed to recovery to see him. He was looking a little groggy, but he snuggled and nursed right away. The anesthesiologist had given him a pain/feeling block so his legs were HEAVY! We spent about fifteen minutes in recovery with him then we all went down to our original surgery room so that he could be observed another hour.
He did really well with everything. We kept him on Tylenol and Motrin the first few days, but a few days after surgery he seemed to be feeling much better. He seemed to be a new baby; he was less fussy and clingy than he typically is.
Starting about five days after surgery though, he started to come back to fussiness. We're still working it out and we've seen the surgeon once about it. She said he looks great and that he seems like a little guy who is four weeks past surgery, not one. We've also been seeing our pediatricians and some theories we are working on is that he's coming out of the anesthesia still and having some stomach upsets from that.
Delaney has been doing well. She learned to sing "Sally the camel has two humps" and it is so adorable to hear her sing it.
We're working through some tantrums and trying to figure out the best way to let her have some independence in small tasks through the day.
She's working on riding a tricycle and pedaling the wheels.
That's about it. I'm off to take Dash to a follow up appointment today.
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