Ben has finally, finally been healthy enough that they scheduled him for his biopsy and ear tubes! And it couldn't have come at a better time. Just last week at his ENT appointment, the doctor said he had fluid in his ears again. So he is probably on the verge of another ear infection. He does have a little bit of a runny nose. But, they understand that they NEED to get him in for his ear tubes, so, no better time than now to do his biopsy as well.
So, we stayed at Ronald McDonald house last night, knowing it was going to be an early day today. It wouldn't have been such an early day, if it wasn't for the fact that his meds are due at 6:30 in the morning. This mean they have to draw labs before his meds are due. His procedure was not even until 9:30. Which confused the nurse as to why we were there so early. He escorted us back and said "you know, you're a little early?" I said, "Yeah, they told us we had to be here at 6:30 for his meds draw." He said, "oh, yeah, they won't do that until around 9 though, but you can come on back." I had to explain to him that no, they in fact needed to do it right away or his prograf level would be off. He got a lab tech up there by 7.
SO, after his labs, we had quite a while to wait. I had given Ben some jello at 6:15. He was allowed liquids all the way up until 6:30. He was able to be held over by that until about 8:30. Then he was pissed and wanted "a food" and " a pretzel". We wandered the hallways a lot!
 |
| I'm outta here! |
Ben seemed to think he could just leave and go get his own food ;)
He had a really great APN that took care of him. She even got down on the floor to examine him, since he was so crabby and didn't want to get back in bed. And she examined his Thomas train first, and then examined Ben after.
 |
| Thomas has an exam |
 |
| Then Ben has an exam |
At about 9:30 Ben was called back. He had already had some meds to calm him down and was sleepy. But, he still cried when they took him away. Everything took about 2 and a half hours to do. The ear tubes were the easiest part. His cath and biopsy went smoothly as well. He did have some mild rejection. Status 1a. They do not do anything for this. They just will monitor him more closely. If the rejection worsens at all, they may add in a steroid, or up his immunosuppressants. But, for now, we are just monitoring him and calling if he has any new symptoms at all. It's so hard with a kid his age though. We have to be extra vigilant, because, he can't tell us "I have chest pain" or "I'm feeling kind of out of breath" or things like that. So, we have to look for things that are out of the ordinary.
When he came out of surgery, he had to lay on his back and stay still for 6 hours. I know! HAHAHAHAHA! I was highly amused as well. It was not easy keeping him still. And at one point, one of the APN's was in the room with me when he kept just using his ab muscles to get up and the his nurse came in and said "mom, he really has to stay on his back." I said "I know, but he keeps getting up! If you can make him stay down, please do!" The APN said "I saw him, he just used his abs to lift himself up, she didn't lift him up at all." So, they really strapped him down, and gave hum tylenol and he slept for 3 hours. Then it was time to go get an x-ray and go home.
 |
| Eating chicken nuggets on the way out |
The next day, he was playing, albeit a little slower, like nothing had happened. He still has a bruise on his legs from where the cath was done. Darn aspirin! And we think he got a big bolus of antibiotics during his ear tubes because he had some horrendous diarrhea for about a week following the procedures. And now it is gone. But, other than that, he did very well!
 |
| Playing in the snow the next day |
