Simon was scheduled to go into the OR to have a Camino Intracranial Pressure Monitor placed. Basically, Dr. Tuite had to drill a small hole in Simon's skull to place a bolt. Then, a fiber optic wire would run from inside the skull, through the bolt, and out to a machine that hung on an IV pole. We had to report around 6:30 a.m. so that the procedure could be done around 7:30 a.m. At the check-in they were admitting us as inpatient because Simon had to be in the hospital all night and would go straight to surgery the next morning.
I was already nervous about the upcoming 24 hours when I was hit with another stomach churner: a $1,500 co-pay. No, I did not put the decimal in the wrong place. Apparently, that was the amount that I needed to cough up then and there. So many things ran through my head at that ungodly early hour, and then I had an out-of-control child jumping into the chair next to me and being obnoxious. (This child was not mine. Rather, it was a kid about Simon's age who was running all over the place, jumping onto seats next to all sorts of people, laughing, and going crazy. The parents said that she was autistic and that they could do nothing about it. I have my opinions about that situation, but I will keep them to myself for now.) I finally told the lady that I could put half on my FSA but would need to be billed the rest. In retrospect, I should have asked if she could bill me for the whole thing. Anyhow, that is what we did. Simon got his bracelets, and we waited.
The wait was not long before Simon went back for the surgery. Simon's white counts looked good; the chest x-ray had a little something that anesthesia had ignored. So, we were good to go!
He was a champ the whole time that we were in the pre-op area, and he happily went with them to the OR. Seeing him riding happily into the sunset got me a little choked up, but we made it out to the waiting room.
The procedure only took about 15 minutes, but we had to wait a little longer so that they could wake him up. When we went back to him, he was still groggy and a bit out of it. Once they were happy with all his vitals, we headed up to our new home for the day: the 7th floor.
He was still groggy for a while, but that did not stop him from exploring the video games and other fun stuff in his room. He had IVs in his hand, which frustrated him a bit, but he learned to deal with it.
Later in the day, my sister brought her older son to visit, and Simon had a blast playing games. After a while, the nurse set things up so that Simon could get up and move around.
The boys went to the play room and tried out the air hockey table and pretend grocery store. Back in the room, the child life cart had come by; and Simon picked out crafts, a Battleship game, a Lego set and some other things. Simon did the painting crafts with his cousin, and time passed quickly. They had to leave after a few hours, and we were left to have fun with our little wi-fi hot spot. I slept in the room that night, and Chris crashed at the Ronald McDonald House.
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