A Rough Recovery

So, scary is the word of the night. I don't think I have been this scared in quite awhile. Shortly after they moved us to the Intermediate Care Unit where we would be spending the night, things went south, quickly. I noticed that Travis was really red from his chest up on the walk over and mentioned it to the nurses but they dismissed it as part of the mild fever he was having. They fever never went away, even with Tylenol. Travis was SUPER irritable and just could not get comfortable. He was so sleepy but was thrashing around. His oxygen saturations kept fluctuating from the 50's to the 70s. They tried to put an oxygen cannula in his nose and he was irate about that. We COULD NOT keep it in. Not to mention he was screaming and WOULD.NOT.STOP. His heart rate was close to 200bpm. They called the cardiac team in. They did a quick echo and xray.....heart function looked good. They suspected that possibly it was a reaction to anesthesia so they gave him IV benedryl which calmed him a little but only as long as mommy held him and rocked him standing up. I tried to sit down several times and the screaming continued. To make matters worse the air in the room was not working so I felt as though I was going to pass out!

It was horrible when he is acting so out of sorts and the nurses kind of expect you to be able to figure out the problem. I was so frustrated today, I was in tears....nothing I was doing was helping!!! They kept leaving us in the room alone while he was screaming and flailing about. It really was terrifying when he was acting like that and his heart rate was so high!! I didn't know what to do.

Eventually, he calmed down enough to fall asleep on me. I managed to sit down with him. The doctors decided that they were not too worried with the crazy oxygen saturation since all of his other numbers looked good and he was looking calmer and more peaceful. After meeting, they came to the conclusion that this is probably an allergic reaction to the anesthesia and/or a horrible headache caused by the new pressures in his heart due to the stent opening. The plan is to let the anesthesia wear off (24 hours) and do another detailed echo in the morning just to make sure all is still good. His oxygen sats are still worrying me but the fellow keeps coming in and he seems calm about it. They have some oxygen blowing by Travis' head just to help a bit.

He did wake up from that earlier nap a little more happy. We put on Sesame Street videos on the computer and he was even dancing a bit to them. He definitely is fighting sleep still...he'll get so tired that he is sitting up with his eyes closed but then they will pop open and he will try to move around/dance/play. Right now, he is sleeping in the crib (first time all day I've managed to get him to lay in there and sleep). I am exhausted......Roger and I are splitting the night shift so my turn to rest is coming soon. I am hopeful that the morning will bring normal SATs and a back to normal Travis. I miss my happy guy....I HATE seeing him in discomfort/pain.

Pray for our little dude! Thank you.