The surgery to reconnect what was left of Mitchie's large intestine (reanastomosis) was scheduled for Monday, July 11th (coincidentally my father's birthday). We had been waiting for this day for so long. Once he was reconnected, it would only be a matter of maybe 3-4 weeks before he could go home. That is, barring any complications, of course. |
We arrived before 8:00am on Monday so that we could see him before he went down to surgery. When we arrived we noticed that his heart rate was around 100, pretty low for him (or for any baby his size). We asked Lisa what the problem was and she reassured us that everything was fine. The surgical transport had been called and would be arriving shortly. |
Lisa had to take his vital signs right before he went down to surgery as a matter of procedure. It was then that we discovered that he was hypothermic --- his body temperature had dropped to around 96 degrees F! This was not a good sign since hypothermia, like fever, indicates the possibility of serious infection. The attending physician, Dr. Fletcher was notified and she came into Mitchie's room with an entourage of residents. |
Dr. Hino, a neonatology Fellow, ordered a complete septic workup to rule out infection. Mitchie was immediately put on antibiotic therapy. As you might have guessed, Dr. Powell came up to tell us that surgery would have to be delayed until Mitchie's condition improved. We were devastated. Another major setback ... |
Fortunately, surgery was delayed only a week; his cultures came back negative and after a day under the warmer he seemed to be just fine. To this day, no one can explain why his temperature dropped. As Dr. Fletcher said the day his surgery was delayed, "He's just cold. It is cold in this room." She was the only doctor that said that. She was probably right. |
We did talk to Dr. Gilbert a few days later and he said he had heard about the delay and that he was sorry it happened. Then he said, "I would not have been part of the surgical team that day anyway. I'll be operating on Mitchie with Dr. Powell next week though." Go figure. Divine intervention, perhaps. |
Anyway, Mitchie went to surgery on Monday, July 18th. It would take a few hours to complete the reconnection. A few hours passed and we didn't hear anything. More time passed, no word. We started to get pretty tense so I left the surgical waiting room and started walking the halls. I turned the corner to see Dr. Powell at the other end of the hall walking toward me with his lunch! Isn't he supposed to be operating on Mitchie???? It turned out that he had looked for us in the NICU waiting room and not the SURGICAL waiting room. He told us the good news --- the operation was a complete success and Mitchie would be returning to the NICU breathing on his own with no help from a ventilator. He would receive his nutrition intravenously while he healed. |
Now we just had to wait for him to poop. That would indicate that everything was working correctly again but it might take a week or so. I received a call at work from Vickie 3 days later. "Your son pooped!" It sounds funny but we were ecstatic. |
Mitchie resumed feeding on Sunday, July 24th. He would receive just a tiny amount every few hours. Everyday he would get a little more and on Thursday, July 28th, he started getting dried banana flakes mixed in with his breast milk! He loved it and he progressed remarkably well. By Friday, August 5th he was consuming about 3 ounces every 3 hours. |
We expected to be discharged sometime around mid-August but we got a call from Children's on Friday morning, August 5th. "You can take your son home today!" they said. We were totally in shock. Vickie and I decided that she would spend Friday night in the hospital with Mitchie and then we would take him home on Saturday, August 6th. |
Friday night was kind of scary. Vickie and Mitchie spent the night together alone for the first time ever. Vickie was to do everything a normal Mom would do. Only Vickie could stay in the Parents Room so I went home to prepare for Mitchie's homecoming. |
We put Mitchie in his car seat and said our goodbyes to the nurses on shift Saturday morning. Unfortunately, some of the nurses we had become closest to weren't there to see Mitchie go home. It was weird to leave after being there for so long. It was surreal. There were many days when we thought he'd never make it. |
89 days after he was born and weighing a whopping 6 pounds, Mitchie finally came home. During those 89 days Mitchie had over 60 nurses and about 20 doctors care for him at 2 hospitals. He survived 2 major surgeries, had over 20 distinct procedures performed on him, and consumed over 30 different medications. His medical bills totaled nearly $300,000.00. |
We turned onto our street at around 11:30am and arrived at our house to a wonderful crowd of our friends and neighbors and a big banner I hung across the front of our house. It said simply --- MITCHIE IS HOME !!! |
And so began Mitchie's precious life. To God be the glory. |
